The EU should be ashamed to lecture Israel on Democracy

 

The nation of Israel has gone through five elections in three years after leftist, EU-funded NGOs brought trumped-up corruption charges against the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.

 Now, Benjamin Netanyahu is back in office and the government finally has a stable, conservative majority to rein in an out-of-control Supreme Court which has given itself the power to strike down laws it deems ‘inappropriate’, vote out democratically elected Ministers, and nominate its own members in perpetuity.

There is nothing undemocratic about seeking to reform the Supreme Court in line with legal standards common in any EU Country.

Instead, the radical left is calling for violence and civil war, attempted to storm the Knesset during the judicial reform vote, blockaded Knesset members in their homes and threatened the Prime Minister’s wife in her hair salon last week. These radical leftist NGOs are funded by the EU and the Biden administration, as Caroline Glick revealed last week.

Israel National News revealed that protestors were being offered 70$ plus gas money via WhatsApp to blockade the only international airport in the country last week.

The EU funds NGOs that are fronts for the PFLP terror organization, pays for UNRWA school books that promote killing Jews, funds the Palestinian Authority and its “pay-for-slay” program, and funds illegal Arab settlements in Judea and Samaria, which it has the gall to refer to as “occupied territories” although they are at worst "disputed territories."

The EU should be ashamed of itself.

MEP Joachim Kuhs (I&D Group) is Member of the EU Budget Committee and Shadow Rapporteur for the Budget Control Committee of the European Parliament.

Rabbi Halpern “dangerous and sick” and the center of sex assault claims leads Purim party

 

An Orthodox rabbi who is the subject of a local authority child safeguarding alert led Purim celebrations surrounded by members of his community including children, pictures and video obtained by the JC reveal.

Despite the highly unusual warning, Rabbi Chaim Halpern was the honored guest at a party attended by around 50 men and young boys on Tuesday lunchtime.

Photographs and footage of the event show Halpern addressing the congregation and dancing with guests at the Beis Shmuel synagogue in Golders Green, north London, which is run by his brother Moshe, another rabbi.

In the video, speaking in Yiddish, Moshe Halpern, sitting next to his brother at the top table with other community leaders, refers obliquely to “graciousness in not responding to people speaking about you”.

Chaim Halpern, 64, also known as Aaron Halpern, who leads the nearby Divrei Chaim synagogue, was the subject of a police investigation into sexual assault a decade ago and is currently facing a rabbinical inquiry into his conduct.

Halpern has regularly involved in providing counselling to women in London’s ultra-orthodox Charedi community. But last year a 21-year-old woman who went to him for help branded him “dangerous and sick”, claiming he used his position to groom and assault her.

The unnamed woman went on television in Israel to accuse Halpern of assaulting her — touching her “private parts” — when she went to him for spiritual guidance. She said he was “evil and must be stopped”.

She later told the JC: “The truth is overdue. Reb Chaim thinks that because he’s a rabbi, he can do whatever he wishes. “He tricked me into trusting him by acting charming, giving attention and compliments. He invests time into phone calls and emails, but it’s all just grooming.”

Reacting to the allegations, Chief Rabbi Mirvis said: “Allegations of serious sexual abuse by a rabbi in London highlight the extent to which abusers can manipulate a culture of respect to serve their own depraved criminality.

“For a rabbi to hold private meetings with women behind closed doors is a transgression of halachah and creates an environment in which abuse can take place. I urge victims and anyone aware of abuse to report it without hesitation.”

At the end of last month, Hackney Council’s education chief took the extraordinary step of sending a letter to headteachers and community children’s group leaders “strongly advising” them to keep children in their care away from the rabbi due to the “very serious” claims against him.

Referring to the ongoing inquiry into his conduct by the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations (UOHC), which oversees his synagogue, Paul Senior, the council’s interim education director, wrote: “Whilst this investigation continues we would strongly advise you not to refer any children in your care to Chaim Halpern, and to ensure that the parents, carers and families of your children are also made aware of this situation.”

He added: “As a local authority, having been made aware of these concerns, we felt it was important to ensure that you too had sight of them.”

In 2012, Halpern had been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault but the case was dropped due to insufficient evidence following a nine-month probe.

As the JC has revealed, despite the claims, Halpern is a member of the board which runs a number of schools in north London.

Halpern has been previously listed as a “rabbinical adviser” to the group of schools.

Halpern has given counselling to the victims of rape and sexual assault in his community, including a young woman, who told the JC that after she was assaulted from the age of 13, she was offered cash on behalf of her abuser by two rabbis, including Halpern, to whom she was sent for guidance. She added: “There will be dozens and dozens of girls and women like me who have been through this process with Rabbi Halpern.”

The woman said she was sent to Rabbi Halpern in 2011, about a year before he was accused of the sexual assault.

Halpern, she said, acted as a form of “mediator” between her abuser and herself.

Halpern denies all allegations. Asked about his client’s involvement in the Purim event, the rabbi’s solicitor, David Sonn, refused to comment.

Oops! Greta Thunberg Deletes Tweet After World Doesn’t End

 

Biden administration funding mass protests in Israel

 

A senior member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration said that the mass protests against potential reforms to Israel’s judicial system are being partially funded by the American government.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity to Hebrew-language news outlet Zman Israel on Friday, the official said that “this protest is financed and organized with millions of dollars.”

He added that the protests, which have seen hundreds of thousands of demonstrators block traffic and march through Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on a weekly basis, are being funded from a central source.

“This is a very high-level organization. There is an organized center from which all the demonstrators branch out in an orderly manner,” the official said. “Who finances the transportation, the flags, the stages? It’s clear to us.”

Though the official did not explicitly name the Biden administration or the U.S. as the source of the funding, other senior figures have said they believe American money is fueling the protests.

Netanyahu’s son recently tweeted a link to a Breitbart article which linked the U.S. State Department with a major organizer of the protests.

That Breitbart article heavily referenced a Washington Free Beacon report which claimed that U.S. taxpayer funds are being provided to the Movement for Quality Government (MQG), an NGO that is promoting the demonstrations.

Iran's Official Newspaper: "Israel Doesn't Need Iran to Destroy her They are Eating Each other Alive!"

 

The "Screaming Rabbi" Doesn't Know what is "Whatsapp"

 

BTW this guy is serious this is not a Purim Skit!

Bobover Rebbe 48 Impressed that the "New Generation Wears "viseh zokin" and "curly peyos"

The Bobover Rebbe Shlitah, Reb Ben-Zion, was illustrating how far the latest generation has come, that now "everyone wears the peyois outside their ears and wear white socks.

He pointed out that the previous generation wore their "peyois behind their ears" and didn't wear "white socks." 

As an aside I remember when his father z"l Reb Shlomo, didn't wear "white socks" but wore regular pants with regular socks.

As I listened to this guy talking, I was scratching my head in disbelief. This rebbe is a leader of thousands, I am not exaggerating, literally thousands, I was wondering as I was watching the guys sitting at the dais looking at him stoically, what was going thru their minds listening to their leader talk absolute nonsense.

Is this what is important today? Have we all become a nation of morons? 

The world is falling apart, members of our own community have not been spared, as many are going "off the derech," committing suicide, doing drugs, families are being torn asunder, suicides, mental health issues, people have lost their life savings in ponzi schemes just in the past year, and he is talking whether one should wear his peyos behind the ears or to curl them and wear them outside! 

Have we all become insane? 

There is no question in my mind that he is living in an alternate universe and not at all tuned into reality! 

Woe to our generation that these are our leaders! And he is not alone living in the world of absurdity.

פני דורו כפני כלב 

Testimony from a Heart-Broken Mother Who lives near Huwara

 From someone who lives in the community next to Huwara

My Huwara Testimony

About Huwara and my life in it, we have to go back to the beginning. 

When Itamar was just being set up on the empty barren lands, as one Arab put it when talking with Gilad Zar (HY"D) who scouted the region before the inception of settlement out here, - "the hills of death", he termed it. He said nothing grew here and it would be a waste of time and effort. 

That was close to forty years ago and today Itamar is a thriving agricultural community focusing on organic horticulture and agronomy. 

The culture of the pioneers that live here is one of kind to the earth and livestock methods which have been proven to be par excellence upholding the strictest laws of clean environment and kindness. The topography here has changed from grey to green in kind to ecology methods being applied... But getting back to how the trucks of produce leave the farms and return back home to Itamar- the only road is through the bottleneck of Huwara, as do all the population of the four communities of Itamar, Yitzhar, Elon Moreh and Har Bracha. 

If the Democratically Elected Government of Israel Capitulates on Judicial Reform now, know that the putsch will not stop with judicial reform

 

by Rabbi Prof. Dov Fischer

I have written previously regarding the judicial-reform issues for which there is no room to compromise. That article is foundational to my legal and Judaic thinking on the matter, as I contemplate some of the compromises now floating around. For example:

1. A judiciary must be fair and balanced. The current Israeli Supreme Court is corrupt and imbalanced, and has been since Aharon Barak took off his mask and made it into a tyranny of the Left thirty years ago. Therefore, because politics is cyclical, one approach to getting a more balanced court is the American way: to allow elected governments to select the judges. That way, when Democrats and the Left are elected, their president and senate select and confirm their judges, and then the Republicans and the Right get their chance to balance it all when they win. It keeps bouncing back and forth in cycles.

If the Israeli Left now wants judicial democracy like America, that would see Israel’s judges named by the elected prime minister and approved by the elected Knesset. That is exactly the American system. Begin names judges approved by Likud. Then Rabin gets his day. Then Shamir. Then Peres. Then Bibi. Then Barak. Etc.

Moody the Credit Rating Company that predicted a "dark future for Israel" Gave SVB Financial an A3 Rating Just this past Sunday

 

If I were to give in to my religious aspirations, I would be pointing out the hand of God in the recent downfall of Israeli companies that openly declared their desire to destroy Israel’s economy only to be hit by the collapse of the Silicone Valley Bank (Israel Supporting Hi-Techs that Pulled Out Billions to Destroy Its Economy in Judicial Reform Protest).

But whether you believe in the hand of God, karma, or just luck, you have to agree that one recent agent of chaos that tried to arm-wrestle with Netanyahu’s government, the credit rating company Moody’s, stood out among its competitors in predicting a dark future for Israel (Moody’s Ultimatum to Netanyahu: Stop Judicial Reform or Face Diminished Credit Rating) – that agent of chaos has now taken it on the chin big time.

Listen to this: On March 10, Moody’s downgraded SVB Financial Group to C and announced it will withdraw the failed bank’s previous rating given three days earlier. That previous rating was A3.

In the future, should investors wish to rely on Moody’s judgment, all they need to do is check out their enthusiastic support of SVB the same week it lost $80 billion and went into receivership. Just imagine it’s your $80 billion you are trusting to Moody’s ability to predict the market.

Meanwhile, those Israeli hi-techs who tried to unsettle their country’s economy by dumping their money in SVB, have now brought back––by the skin of their teeth––an estimated $4 billion they salvaged from the disaster area overseas.

“So may all Your enemies perish, O God, and may Your lovers be as the mighty sun rising.” (Judges 5:31)

by David Israel 

David writes news at JewishPress.com.

Eynat Guez Who Wanted to Destroy Israel's Economy By Withdrawing Billions from Israeli Banks Lost Most of her Money With the Fall of SVB

 

But the stupid Israelis are helping her get back on her paws, lets see if the yenta will have any "hakoras hatoiv"

Eynat Guez, CEO and Co-Founder of a billion-dollar Israeli software company called Papaya Global, in late January announced that Papaya Global was withdrawing all its funds from Israeli banks in response to the reform, explaining: “This is a painful but necessary business step.”

Guez tweeted on Thursday: “Following Prime Minister Netanyahu’s statements that he is determined to pass reforms that will harm democracy and the economy, we made a business decision at Papaya Global to withdraw all of the company’s funds from Israel.”

In early February, Guez reportedly said: “If all of us, the heads of high-tech companies, take out in one day just 20% of the money we keep in the [Israeli] banks – they will collapse… that is my right and even my duty.”

Guez and many other Israeli hi-techs all took this painful but necessary business step, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy loop whereby they issued warnings about how the judicial reform would ruin the economy and they, then, went about trying the ruin the economy.

FBI Arrests Yossi Engel For Allegedly Defrauding Chareidi Investors Of $47M In Ponzi Scheme

 

An Israeli man charged by US authorities with defrauding investors, mainly chareidi Jews, of at least $47 million before fleeing the country in 2021 was arrested this week in Los Angeles, federal prosecutors announced Friday.

35-year-old Yossi Engel was indicted in January in absentia for allegedly using his company iWitness Tech to target potential investors from Orthodox Jewish communities in Los Angeles and New Jersey. The alleged offenses occurred between 2018 and 2021, when he fled to Israel.

In a statement, the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said Engel temporarily returned to the Los Angeles area last month and was arrested Wednesday at Los Angeles International Airport while trying to leave the US.

The attorney’s office said he faces one count of wire fraud and if convicted would face up to 20 years in prison.

China becomes the broker while Joe Biden is the joker

 

Friday’s biggest headline-grabbing news was the bust of Silicon Valley Bank following a run on its deposits.

The collapse was the second-largest bank failure in the nation’s history and fears of a domino effect rattled stock markets. 

Seen from the long run, however, that was probably not the most important event of the day.

The honor goes to the announcement that Saudi Arabia and Iran restored diplomatic relations. 

Given their long proxy war in Yemen and fierce sectarian hatred, the sudden agreement (right) was stunning.

Even more so because China brokered it. 

As The Wall Street Journal said in a headline that captures the implications: “Accord marks diplomatic victory for Beijing in a region where US has long dominated geopolitics.” 

Even The New York Times, usually a mouthpiece for the Biden administration, echoed the grim assessment, saying China’s role displayed President Xi Jinping’s “ambition of offering an alternative to a US-led world order.” 

Let that sink in — a new world order, one where China is the leader.

Biden Admin Training Palestinians Security Forces to Fight IDF to Take back Judia & Samaria

 

On Feb. 27, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) wrote a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanding the suspension of a U.S. State Department grant that was awarded to Fares Al Arab for Development and Charity Works in Gaza due to the group’s ties to Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organizations.

The State Department gave Fares Al Arab a $41,213 grant for “Developing Palestinian Journalists’ English Skills.” But as The Washington Free Beacon reported, Fares Al Arab issued a grant “to a radio network run by the Islamic Jihad … , honored a self-described journalist who belonged to the PFLP, hosted a press freedom event that featured a spokesman for the Islamic Jihad, and co-led a human rights training course with a convicted terrorist.”

Issa demanded that by March 10, the State Department explain if it “knew the history of the group’s ties to terrorism,” “why the grant was provided if the history was known” and provide a complete accounting for the State Department’s decision to award Fares Al Arab the grant.

The State Department’s funding of Fares Al Arab is a big deal in and of itself. But this week it became clear that it isn’t a fluke. The full expanse of the Biden administration’s policy towards Palestinian terrorists and Israel became clear this week during U.S. Special Representative for Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr’s visit to Israel and Jordan.

The OU 's R' Moshe Hauer Outrageous and Sick Statement!

 

An American rabbi, even one with family living in Israel, who lives a safe and comfortable life in an Orthodox Jewish enclave in an American suburban neighborhood, cannot understand the reality on the ground here in Israel, and *has no standing* to opine about whether or not we should respond with strength to incessant, murderous attacks on us.

Note that we set fire to salvage cars in a lot; we didn't kill humans. There is no moral equivalency to the Muslims murdering Jews and the Jews setting fire to empty, parked cars in a salvage lot in a very mild show of anger.

Justice would require the government to use its military to bomb the village out of existence, after transferring its population out of Israel to Syria, Egypt, or Jordan. And until that happens, for the government to build a bypass road around the terrorists' village so that Jews could have safe passage.

Our government's response is slow, tepid, and ineffectual—in large part because our leaders bow to inappropriate pressure from the hypocritical, antisemitic American government.

It is an OUTRAGE for an American rabbi who leads a major American Orthodox Jewish institution to criticize the Jews for responding to the murders of their sons, friends, and neighbors. The days of the ghetto Jew are over. We will defend ourselves against the murderous neighbors in our own national homeland until our enemies are gone and we are safe. We will avenge the murder of Jews.

American Jews vote 70% for the wicked  Democrats who arm the enemies of Israel, fund Iran, allow Jew-haters in Congress, and continue to participate in the transparently antisemitic UN.

It is a shame that we Jews have to be soldiers, military or civilian, in the existential battle for our civil rights to live freely as Jews in our own sovereign Jewish state of Israel; that we have to take up the weapons of war and resistance  against an enemy dedicated to our destruction.

Rabbi Moshe Hauer, Executive Vice President of the Orthodox Union (OU), issued a statement after some Jewish men went into the Arab town of Hawara and destroyed property. This was in response to the brutal murder of two brothers, from Har Bracha, who were shot – execution style – while driving through this town.

Rabbi Hauer opened his words with a question: “How can such a thing happen? How could it come to this, that Jewish young men should ransack and burn homes and cars?” 

Ok, Rabbi Hauer… you want to know how such a thing can happen? I’ll tell you.

The town of Hawara is the center of Jihadists in the Shomron. Yes, there are some nice and innocent people living there, but most of the 8,000 residents are vicious, violent anti-Semites who advocate, support and celebrate the spilling of Jewish blood. Every day, the Jews who live nearby drive through the center of this Amalekite village. There is no “bypass road” or way around this hate-filled place.

1,600 Jewish families live in Har Bracha, Yitzhar, Itamar and Elon Moreh and their only way home, from the main Tapuach junction, is via this town. Every day, yes! – every single day – at least 20 Jewish cars get stoned while driving through Hawara. I highly doubt that this has ever happened to Rabbi Hauer…

It’s important to note that “stoning cars” is not what you think. None of the violent Jew haters are throwing pebbles. They are throwing bricks and dropping cinder blocks from rooftops.

Imagine a young mother with 3 children in her car, driving home from the supermarket. As she is driving, a brick comes crashing through her windshield. The shock of what happened is enough to give her a heart attack! The children start screaming, there is broken glass everywhere, but she cannot stop for help… because she’s in the middle of Hawara with a mob just waiting to finish the job.

This is not an exaggeration. 

This happens every day and the murder of Hillel and Yagel Yaniv was something that Hawara residents live for. After the brutal murder, candies and sweets were handed out, cake was distributed, and people were singing. 

When did all this stop? When did the Jew haters of Hawara finally run, hide and shake in fear? 

When the Jewish young men, the ones Rabbi Hauer wrote about, entered the town and taught them the Jewish lesson of vengeance. Since that day, not one rock has been thrown at Jewish cars.

Dearest Rabbi Hauer; 

you are a good man and the organization you represent – the OU – is one of the finest around. Yet, on this concept you are totally wrong… but you’re not to blame. Most Jewish leaders responded exactly the way you did. As a matter of fact, former Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg said that he has more sympathy for the residents of Hawara than for the Jewish community of Har Bracha! “It is not wise to sympathize with the people on Har Bracha – it is wise to sympathize with the victims in Hawara,” Burg told 103FM Israel Radio. He added that “Har Bracha should be evacuated. It cannot be allowed to remain.”

What should Jewish leaders have said? Nothing fancy and definitely not politically correct. 

Allow me to state – loud and clear, with no fear – what my response would have been: 

The town of Hawara got what they deserved and the next time a brick is thrown, the response will be even more severe. 

Ideally, the IDF needs to respond this way, but if their hands are tied by political sissies then the residents need to teach the lesson themselves. Our goal is to live in peace but “peace” does not mean “weakness”. We will not tolerate living in Israel in a state of fear and if the Jihadists in Hawara want war… they will get it.

Am Yisrael Chai!

by Shmuel Sackett founder and director of the Am Yisrael Chai Foundation.

Simcha (Langeh Reckel) Eichenstein slammed by activists over his Lies Over yeshiva corporal punishment comments

 

A Brooklyn assemblyman is being called out by activists and childhood friends after claiming he’s “not familiar” with the use of corporal punishment at Hasidic Jewish religious schools in New York.

Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein (D-Brooklyn) sparked a social media firestorm last week with a tweet insisting he’s unaware of any such issues at the schools, known as yeshivas, in the Empire State.

“As a yeshiva parent/former student, I’m not familiar with the use of corporal punishment at yeshivas, nor would I tolerate it,” Eichenstein wrote.

His comments, in response to a new bill from his fellow Democrats that would explicitly bar the use of physical or violent methods to discipline students at private schools, drew rebukes from dozens of advocates and several people claiming to be former classmates.

Chaim Topol of Fiddler On The Roof,’ Learned the Talmud for 40 Years

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Topol, who was born and raised on a kibbutz, once confided in an interview about his love for learning Gemara. “I’ve been learning Gemara for 40 years,” he said in an interview on the Orot channel. “I try never to skip it because I really like it and enjoy it.”

“It’s sitting down and sharpening your mind and saying: ‘Why did Rebbe Akiva say this and why did Reb Shimon Bar Yochai say that and why did Abaye say that and why does it say that?’ The interesting thing is that there’s no consensus, that is that ultimately they say that the halacha is like this – but on the way, they clarify and agree with things.”

Topol said he sometimes needed to look outside of acting to find meaning in his life. He devoted much of his later years to charity as chairman of the board of Jordan River Village, a camp serving Middle Eastern children with life-threatening diseases. Years earlier, he founded a nonprofit that services children with special needs.

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Karma! Israeli Hi-Tech Companies that withdrew Money from Israel to Protest Judicial Reform Lost their Money in SVB

 

SVB Financial Group, a.k.a. Silicon Valley Bank, on Thursday, was desperately reassuring its venture capital clients that their money was safe after its stock dropped 60% and more than $80 billion in value in bank shares evaporated. The run on the bank followed a capital raise––also desperate––intended to pay for a lost $1.8 billion, the result of the sale of a $21 billion portfolio of US Treasuries.

SVB presents itself as “the financial partner of the innovation economy, helping individuals, investors and the world’s most innovative companies achieve their ambitious goals.” It’s believed that some of those innovative startups received financing from SVB at very comfortable interest rates, back in the days of zero interest, but also more recently. But the recent dwindling investments in hi-tech companies caused many of them to fall behind on their repayments. And it all came to a head on Wednesday.

SVB has an Israeli branch, managed by David Cohen and Gadi Moshe, and serves an estimated 500 Israeli companies, including giants such as eToro, Redis, Verbit, Fireblocks, and Capitolis. According to reports, companies that tried to take their money out of SVB were refused.

Now for the karma portion of our report: according to Bizportal, several Israeli hi-tech companies that wanted to protest the Israeli government’s judicial reform legislation took their money out of Israeli banks this past month and moved it to… SVB.

SVB CEO Greg Becker said on Thursday: “I ask everyone to relax and support us as we supported you in difficult times.”

And you thought bankers didn’t have a sense of humor.

Zera Shimshon Parshas Ki Sisa

 

Sudden Petirah of Chaim Elefant 32 Father of 4

 

Chaim was on an Alaska Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Ft, Lauderdale, Florida, with two of his business partners when he suffered a massive heart attack. Flight crew members immediately began resuscitation efforts as the plane diverted to New Orleans. Once the plane was on the ground, paramedics rushed Chaim to a hospital, where he was sadly niftar.

A Flatbush Hatzolah paramedic who happened to be in New Orleans at the time made his way to the hospital to assist and comfort Chaim’s stunned business partners and to ensure kavod hameis.

With tremendous siyata dishmaya, the local coroner swiftly released the niftar after intervention by Chesed Shel Emes and various askanim.

A philanthropist flew a private jet to pick up the niftar to fly him back to Los Angeles for the levaya and kevurah.

The niftar leaves behind his wife Miriam (Nee Citronenbaum) and four children, the oldest who isn’t yet 7 years old, and the youngest who is just a few months old.

He is the son of Yankie and Lisa Elefant of Flatbush.