Saturday, April 15, 2023
Beit Shemesh Resident Killed In ATV Crash, Sister In Critical Condition
Beit Shemesh resident Yisrael Levinstein, z’l, 22, was killed on Tuesday evening, Chol Hamoed Pesach, in an ATV accident in Beit Shemesh.
The Levinstein family was enjoying a Chol Hamoed outing at the Yarmut Park in Beit Shemesh and Yisrael, z’l, was giving rides to his siblings on his ATV. He was on a ride with his sister, Rus Altman, a 29-year-old mother of 3 children, and drove into the adjoining area of Ramat Beit Shemesh Hei, where he apparently crashed into a fence, causing the vehicle to overturn.
Since the area is still sparsely populated, the victims weren’t found until about an hour later, when the family members began searching for them. Rescue workers called to the scene administered emergency medical aid and evacuated them to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem. There, unfortunately, the doctors were forced to declare the death of Yisrael, z’l. Rus was hospitalized in very serious and unstable condition.
Yisrael, z’l, and Rus are the children of Reb Dovid Levinstein, a well-known figure in the city, who made aliyah from Russia and established a family of 13 children.
Sudden Petirah of Legendary Singer Michoel Schnitzler 61
R’ Michoel Schnitzler Z”L, a well-known singer, who was mesameach Yidden with his many musical albums and singing at thousands of chasunos. He was 61.
R’ Michoel suffered a massive heart attack in the Monsey area on Friday afternoon at around 6 PM. Hatzolah paramedics did everything they could to save his life but were unfortunately unsuccessful.
For more than 35 years, R’ Michoel entertained and inspired untold numbers of people through his astounding musical abilities and his equally impressive heart of gold. He sang at more than 4,200 weddings, and released 15 albums with over 150 songs.
Kiryas Yoel Fights other Chareidim in Secular Court Who Want to build a Town Next to them and will call it "Be'eir Shevah"
According to most Chareidie leaders, Bais Din was made for the regular "joe shmo" but not for them, witness the fact that when the Holy Rebbelich (Satmar, Bobov, Sadegere) fight amongst themselves they go to secular court, and they ignore the 3rd Rashi in Mishpatim that states unequivocally, that going to secular court is being "Mechallel Shem Shmayim." Chareidim will G-d forbid not eat "gebrokts" or "machine matzos" on Pesach which are only "chumrois" but will totally ignore an "issur de'orisah."
Kiryas Yoel, the "Uganda" Town of Satmar, joined their Goyishe Neighbors and went to secular court "be'achdus" to block other Chassidim who want to establish another "Uganda" and name it after the Zionist city of "Be'er Sheva" calling it "Seven Springs."
The Judge told Satmar where to go and outright rejected their challenges and gave the ok for the renegades to build.
What is interesting is that Chareidim historically mocked Herzl because Herzl's initial plan was for Jews to move to Uganda, and Chareidim claimed that Herzl being a secular Jew didn't understand that Jews yearn to be in Eretz Yisrael and that Jews have no "sheichis" no connection to another country in Chutz Le'aaretz, and so they laughed at him for his ridiculous idea (which Herzl subsequently rejected and fought against this idea).
But then the Skverer Rebbe z"l did just that, establishing a town in Spring Valley, New York and called it New Square. He built an "Uganda" le'shem ul'tiferes. It wasn't too long after that that the chief mocker of Herzl's Uganda idea, R' Yoel Teitelbaum z"l, adopted this very "Herzl Uganda idea" and established his own Uganda town of Kiryas Yoel.
Ironically, Herzl's idea for a Jewish State came to fruition, a beautiful State established in 1948 and whether he wanted it or not, has now the most Torah there than in its entire history. There are more Jews learning Torah in the Zionist State than anywhere in the world. In a about a year Herzl's State will have the majority of the world's Jews living there. Meanwhile in Chutz Le'aaretz, Chareidim are fighting amongst themselves to set up "Ugandas" in Monroe, Bloomingfield, Toms River, Lakewood etc. How ironic?
Orange County is one step closer to becoming home to second a Hasidic village, now that an appeals court has rejected a pair of challenges to a plan to create a new village within the Town of Monroe.
The Journal News (https://bit.ly/3KCzER9) reported that both the Town of Monroe and the Village of Kiryas Joel had moved to block the proposed formation of the Village of Seven Springs, located west of Kiryas Joel.
A Supreme Court judge rejected earlier legal challenges waged by both the village and the town to prevent the incorporation of Seven Springs, with the appeals court panel shooting down their objections on April 12th.
Petitions were submitted to create Seven Springs in 2019 within Monroe’s borders, giving residents of the 1.9 square mile area, which was not part of Kiryas Joel’s previous annexation efforts, the ability to control the zoning in a swath of land that includes the majority of the unincorporated properties in northern Monroe.
Encompassing land on both sizes of Route 17 and half of Woodbury Common Premium Outlet shopping center, Seven Springs would be larger than Kiryas Joel, if approved.
“We’re looking forward to the town expeditiously processing the incorporation petition at this time,” said Seven Springs attorney Steven Barshov.
Monroe Supervisor Tony Cardone said that he and town board members would discuss whether they would attempt to appeal their case to the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals.
If no further legal attempts are made to block the formation of Seven Springs, the Town of Monroe would be required to determine if the proposed village’s petition meets all legal requirements before deciding to grant their approval, triggering a public hearing and a vote by those living within the area.
Friday, April 14, 2023
CNN Selective Reporting on Israel Reads like Der Shturmer
Israeli cars 'receive' bullets from mysterious sources, occupants are killed 'in that crash.' Should we venture a guess?
According toCNN International, while Israelis shoot and kill Palestinians, Israeli cars “receive” bullets and the occupants die in a “crash.” That is how, at least, two separate incidents were described during a single segment on Isa Soares Tonight on April 10.
On Friday, April 7, a mother, Lucy Dee, and her two daughters, Maia and Rina Dee, were murdered in a terrorist attack in the Jordan Valley. Terrorists fired on them as they were driving to Tiberias as part of a family trip, causing the car to veer off and crash. The terrorists then fired again at the Dee family to make sure they were dead. Lucy lived for several days before succumbing to her wounds while the two young women died instantly.
How did CNN correspondent Frederik Pleitgen describe this incident?
“But earlier in the West Bank, there was a shooting incident where a car received a bullet shot, or gunshots, with the family in it. It was a mother and her two daughters, and the two daughters were killed in that crash.”
The car “received…gunshots.” The mother and her daughters were “killed in that crash.” It was a “shooting incident” instead of a terror attack (not even “terror attack” in scare quotes, or qualified by the word “suspected.”) Who the suspected shooters were is left entirely unaddressed.
The description stands in stark contrast to how another “shooting incident” was covered by the same correspondent.
On Monday, April 10, a Palestinian Arab, Mohammad Fayez Balhan, was killed during an Israeli military raid in Aqabat Jabr, near Jericho. The Israel Defense Forces were operating in Aqabat Jabr to detain a suspected terrorist when “Palestinians confronted the soldiers,” according to Palestinian Authority’s Wafa News Agency, during which “suspects hurled explosive devices and Molotov cocktails and opened fire” at the Israeli soldiers, according to the IDF. The exact circumstances of Balhan’s death are not clear, however.
Did the CNN correspondent use the same evasive, circuitous style of speaking as he did to describe the murder of the three Israelis? No.
Instead, Pleitgen states:
“[T]he Israeli military shot and killed a 15-year-old boy, Mohammad Fayez Balhan, in another part of the West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Health says.”
Earlier in the segment, Isa Soares’s own language was similar:
“Elsewhere in the West Bank, mourners buried a 15-year-old Palestinian boy killed by Israeli soldiers in a refugee camp near Jericho.”
In both cases, the language is clear: Israeli military action killed Balhan.
Lest one suggest that the correspondent’s language on the shooting death of Balhan was more direct because he cited the Palestinian Ministry of Health, notice that no Israeli official sources were used in describing the murder of the three Israelis.
For example, nowhere did the segment use the word “terrorism” in reference to the attack on the three Israelis, despite the fact that Israeli and other governments have clearly labeled it as such.
Furthermore, while Balhan’s age is referenced twice during the segment, not once was it mentioned that Rina Dee, one of the Israeli shooting victims, was also 15 years old.
The bizarre, inconsistent treatment of these two incidents is yet another example of an unmistakable decline in the quality of CNN’s coverage of Israel. Absolutely bizarre wording from @CNNI. Compare how it described two shooting incidents
Another Set Of Israeli Siblings Killed This Time By Flood
A flash flood in southern Israel led to the death of two siblings from Tiveria on Monday evening, Chol Hamoed Pesach.
Southern Israel was hit by heavy rain and flooding on Monday, leading to the closure of a number of roads and national parks, causing traffic jams and trapping hundreds of Israelis, who were enjoying Chol Hamoed trips in the area.
The Assor family were traveling from their hometown of Tiveria to Eilat in two cars, with a son, Ma’ayan, z’l, 25, driving his sister, Sahar, z’l, 17, and an unnamed friend, 21, along Highway 40. The car got caught in a flash flood and was swept off the road and began to fill with water.
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| The 21-year-old woman is rescued and hospitalized in light condition for hypothermia. |
The friend was carried away by the stream but managed to keep her head above the water and survive the night on rocks by the side of the stream until being rescued on Tuesday morning by an Air Force helicopter.
Sadly, the bodies of Maayan, z’l and Sahar, z’l were found later on Tuesday.
Maayan and Sahar’s parents and two brothers had driven via a different route, the Arava Highway.
Multiple Israelis driving in southern Israel on Monday night were rescued from flooded areas by Israeli rescue services, including Air Force helicopters and IDF forces from the Rescue Unit 699, Israel Police, Fire and Rescue Services, and MDA paramedics.
The heavy rain, thunderstorms, and unseasonably cold weather continued throughout Pesach and Thursday, Isru Chag. A significant increase in temperatures is expected on Friday but the temperatures will still be slightly unseasonably cold.
Har Chermon was covered with snow on Thursday morning, a scene that is perhaps unprecedented or hasn’t been seen in decades. Snow continued to fall on Thursday morning accompanied by strong winds and lightning and thunder. The site was closed to visitors due to the perilous weather conditions.
Pesach Program in Stamford Connecticut has more than Dozen Vehicles Burn , 1,000 Guests Evacuated From Hotel
More than a dozen vehicles were damaged or destroyed in a big fire at the parking lot of the Armon Hotel in Stamford Connecticut where the “Chop A Nosh” Pesach program was held.
Fire alarms began ringing at around 5:00AM, forcing more than 1,000 guests out of the hotel and into the street.
Fire officials said the structure had been compromised and firefighters were ordered to get out of the garage, according to the fire department. They fought the fire from outside.
A guest at the hotel said: “Attendees were evacuated to the front lobby outdoors, including elderly and newborns. Everyone was well behaved, and Davening started outdoors at 8:00AM when the building was deemed safe. By 10:30AM, guests were allowed back to their rooms.
Bichasdei Hashem, no injuries were reported, although some were scared or cold this morning. The kitchen was shut down due to carbon monoxide levels, but Chop A Nosh still managed to create a lavish buffet for all.
Most of all, it was a tremendous Kiddush Hashem, with over 1,000 men, women and children all helping each other, and everyone evacuating in an orderly manner.
The Stamford fire marshal is investigating.
Thursday, April 13, 2023
Lapid Trying to Destroy American/Israeli Relations... AM ECHAD Warns in a Letter
The Am Echad organization has expressed “grave concern” over actions by Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, who apparently is continuing his campaign of hate against the government while visiting the United States.
Am Echad co-chairs Shlomo Werdiger and Dr. Irving Lebovics sent a letter on April 11 to Lapid over comments he delivered at a recent Jewish Federations meeting in New York.
In the letter, the heads of the Agudath Israel affiliate said, “We see these comments as sowing discord and delegitimizing not just the current Israeli government, but Israel itself in the eyes of the world, both Jewish and not.”
The two Jewish leaders warned that “rhetoric characterizing the government as “extremist” and “undemocratic” jeopardizes the relationship between Israel and world Jews.”
Am Echad told Lapid that “at the very least, large swaths of the Israeli population support the government’s actions and view them as the fruition of election promises. Therefore, it is disingenuous of you to accuse the government of undermining Israeli democracy and calling on American Jews to get up in arms to protect Israel from its own leadership.”
The letter concluded by emphasizing, “Israel is precious to every single one of us. We are proud of its vibrant democracy and amazing growth.
“We ask you that going forward you refrain from damaging, inflammatory rhetoric against Israel and its government during meetings in the Diaspora.”
The full text of the letter in its entirety follows this report.
"Get Woke.. Go Broke" Anheuser-Busch's Stock Price Drops $5 Billion in Value after Promoting Transgender
Get woke, go broke.
That’s the danger facing beer giant Anheuser-Busch after the company’s Bud Light brand — the top-selling US beer — chose trans TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney for a promotional stunt, sending her cans with her image to celebrate the one-year anniversary of her transition.
The cost?
A staggering drop of around $5 billion in value as Anheuser-Busch’s stock price took a dive on news of (ex-)Bud drinkers’ fury.
Proof positive that if consumers tired of everything being woke-ified raise their voices, the market listens.
Celebs joined in. Country superstar Travis Tritt struck all Anheuser-Busch products from his tour hospitality rider.
Kid Rock blasted cases of the brew in a widely circulated target-practice video.
The little guy made his choice known too.
A Missouri bar owner reported a massive 50% crash in sales of draught sales and a 30% drop in sales of bottled Anheuser-Busch brews.
A Massachusetts barkeep reported an 80% collapse.
A Hell’s Kitchen pub, i.e., a bar in the heart of the Big Apple’s LGBTQ community, saw 58% and 70% drops for draught and bottled respectively.
And the movement’s just getting started, as search interest in the phrase “Boycott Bud Light” is up massively.
This response isn’t anti-trans, by the way. It’s anti-indoctrination: Don’t make my beer into your political statement.
The Anheuser-value bloodbath shows that despite the best efforts of gender loons, up to and including the Biden White House — which has embraced the most radical positions on these issues and been buddy-buddy with Mulvaney herself — most people don’t want to be shoehorned into a culture war.
Just as they prefer their movies to avoid clumsy preachments on “equity.”
Or their kids’ elementary schools to teach reading and math instead of lefty propaganda.
Now, the predictable, mirror-mirror reaction from the left is already underway.
I.e. that it’s conservatives turning Bud Light into a culture war battlefield, not them.
No: Bud Light chose to embrace a massively divisive figure in what the brand’s own marketing veep described as an effort to penetrate the Gen Z demo.
Are 20-somethings these days so robotically politicized as to switch to a trans-inclusive beer? More likely, the marketing “geniuses” behind this debacle are just clueless products of the left’s long march through our universities.
More important, the brew’s existing consumers recognize rank agitprop when they see it, and answer with equal contempt.
Cue Bud Light’s sudden social-media silence.
This is a hugely important lesson for average Americans: You’re not powerless.
And your beer doesn’t have to be a political medium.
Exodus continues as more than 10,000 New Yorkers have moved to Florida in 2023
It wasn’t just a pandemic thing.
Another disillusioned batch of more than 10,000 New Yorkers relinquished their driver’s licenses for the Florida version in the first quarter of 2023, extending an ongoing exodus into the Sunshine State.
According to new figures from the Florida Department of Highway Safety, 10,824 Empire Staters swapped out their licenses in the first three months of this year.
The metric is considered a reliable indicator of migration patterns as it suggests a long-term decision to relocate.
While the pace remains brisk, the stampede out of New York slowed markedly compared to the same record-setting stretch last year.
In the first quarter of 2022, a staggering 14,834 New Yorkers cut bait on the Big Apple and moved their licenses to Florida.
A Naples broker told The Post this week that this slowdown was inevitable, highlighting soaring mortgage rates, low housing inventory and spiking Florida home prices.
“That was just unsustainable,” she said.
“I have clients who were set to move and just couldn’t make the numbers work anymore. This isn’t the same Florida as five years ago.”
She also noted that some remote workers who planned to migrate have either been called back into their New York offices or didn’t feel confident that they would be able to remain off-site indefinitely.
However in January Office occupancy in New York City was still only around 54%.
Fed up with rising crime, taxes and what many emigres decry as a declining quality of life, more Gothamites and upstaters moved to Florida in 2022 than any prior year in history.
Despite the end of COVID-19 restrictions and a return to quasi-normalcy, a total of 64,577 New Yorkers switched their licenses to Florida last year, according to agency figures.
The migration figures are backed up by US census bureau data released this week which showed Kings, Queens and Bronx counties in New York among the five losing the most people in the country between July 2021 and 2022; with a total of 213,000 moving out.
In that same period, three Florida counties: Polk, Lee and Pasco had some of the largest net gains, with a combined 85,000 people moving in.
Figures from Cornell University estimated during the first year of the pandemic from 2020 to 2021, 336,000 people moved out of New York City.
The census bureau had previously claimed in 2019 an average of 50,000 people a year move to the city.
Those who are leaving New York for sunnier climbs in Florida appear to be the well-heeled, as tony Palm Beach County saw the highest number of New York license exchanges in the first quarter of the year with 2,012, according to the data, they are followed by Miami-Dade and Broward County with 2,667 license switches.
"Law and Order" actress makes Aliyah
Hollywood actress Diane Neal has begun a new chapter in what is already an eventful life by making Aliyah to Israel.
Neal, who is best known for her role as Casey Novak in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, made Aliyah to Israel with Nefesh B’Nefesh, in cooperation with Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael and JNF-USA. She arrived in Israel last November and began the organization's guided Aliyah process within Israel in March.
For now, Neal is residing in Tel Aviv, and she already feels at home - even when handling the often-challenging Israeli bureaucracy.
“Even when I was at Misrad Hapnim (Ministry of Interior office), I felt all the people that I’ve loved and came before me and died just so I could have the privilege to be here. I needed a place to feel safe.”
While the actress has put her career on hold for now, she hopes to use her time in Israel to learn more about the country.
“I'm new here and don't presume to know everything, but I'd like to learn more about Israel and be an ambassador for what Israel is. I want to do everything I can to help make Aliyah happen for others,” she said, adding that she’s interested in exploring the philanthropic and government advocacy worlds in Israel as she has experience in both realms.
Wednesday, April 12, 2023
Kyiv to name street for Ukrainian Nazi
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| Volodymyr Kubijovyč and Hans Frank with the Ukrainian harvest festival delegation. Wawel, German Occupied Poland, 1943. |
The Kyiv City Council may be set to name a street after a Nazi collaborator and SS official, the director of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee, Eduard Dolinsky has reported.
According to Dolinsky, a street in the Ukrainian capital will be renamed following a motion passed by the city council, and will bear the name of Volodymyr Kubiyovych, who during the Holocaust was heavily involved in the formation of the Waffen-SS Galizien, a Nazi military force made up of Ukrainian volunteers.
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Dolinsky explained that a historical expert commission within the Kyiv City Council had put forward several options for the renaming of what is currently Przhevalsky Street in Kyiv.
The names suggested by the historical commission were then put forward by the city council for a public vote on the Kyiv Digital app, where voting will remain open until April 16.
The option to rename the street after Volodymyr Kubiyovych has so far received a majority, with 31% of the vote, with the second and third highest options receiving just 18% and 10% respectively.
Once the public vote is closed, the Kyiv City Council will then vote to approve renaming the street after Kubiyovych.
Who was Volodymyr Kubiyovych?
Prior to the start of the Holocaust, Kubiyovych was a strong supporter of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-M) and in April 1941, he requested the creation of an autonomous state within Ukraine in which Poles and Jews would not be allowed to live.
Later in the war, in 1943, Kubiyovych took on a key role in the formation of the Waffen-SS Galizien and publicly announced his willingness to take up arms and fight for the Nazi cause.
After the Red Army approached Poland in 1944, Kubiyovych fled to Germany, and then France after the Nazi surrender. In France, he served as the editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of Ukrainian Studies, the largest academic project taken on by Ukrainian expats during the Cold War.
The Encyclopedia of Ukrainian Studies was reflective of Kubiyovych's nationalistic views and was intended to preserve Ukraine's heritage under Soviet rule.
Kubiyovych's airbrushed legacy
Today, the encyclopedia exists online, both in its native language and in English and is still frequently updated with articles focusing on Ukrainian heritage and culture.
The Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine avoids mentioning Kubiyovych's Nazi past, instead focusing on his work pre and post-World War Two, saying only that: "During the Second World War he headed the Ukrainian Central Committee (UCC) in Cracow and in 1943 took part in organizing the Division Galizien."
Kubiyovych died in Paris in 1985, and to this day is recognized by many as a prominent and important Ukrainian scholar, and his works continue to be widely circulated, despite his Nazi past.
Should a road in Kyiv indeed be named after him, it will not be the first time that Ukraine has chosen to honor Kubiyovych. In 2000, a pre-stamped envelope was issued by the Ukrainian postal service in honor of the 100th anniversary of his birth, and in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, a plaque honoring the Nazi official still stands to this day.
Leah (Lucy) Dee Laid To Rest In Kfar Etzion, Five People Receive Organ Donations
Before anyone comments with their "holier than thou" quotes that the organ donations are against halacha, think for a second, if this was your child, if this was your sister or brother, or parent in need of an organ, would you let them suffer and die? Or would you take the offer? I beg you guys not to judge!
Hundreds of mourners gathered at Kfar Etzion, south of Jerusalem, Tuesday, at the Levaya of Leah (Lucy) Dee, one of three victims murdered in the Jordan Valley terrorist shooting attack last Friday. Dee survived the initial attack and was in very serious condition, succumbing to her wounds Monday.
During the funeral, one of Dee’s surviving daughters, Keren, eulogized her mother saying that: “Losing a mother is like losing a life. We worked on our relationship until we became best friends. There is no one to tell us what to do anymore. A hole has been created that cannot be filled. Mom, you were everything.”
Tal Dee, Lucy Dee’s other surviving daughter, said:
“I need you. You are taking care of Maia and Rina now, but who will take care of us?”
Dee’s brother said that his sister had “decided to give back to the community in the way she knew best, by teaching English classes and by cooking for new mothers and volunteers.”
Two days ago, Lee’s 20-year-old daughter, Maia, and her 16-year-old daughter, Rina, were laid to rest at the Kfar Etzion Cemetery.
Dee’s two daughters were killed in Friday’s attack, while Lee was critically wounded, succumbing to her wounds on Monday.
Dee, 48, was an English teacher at the Orot Yehuda Bnei Akiva school in Efrat.
After her death, Dee’s husband, Rabbi Leo Dee, and her three surviving children agreed to donate her organs. Five people have already benefited from the organs, with her heart going to a 51-yr-old woman, her liver to a 25-yr-old woman, a kidney to a 58 year-old man another kidney to a 39-year-old man (Beilinson hospital) and her lungs to a 58 year-old woman (Sheba hospital). Mrs. Dee’s corneas have also been donated and will be transplanted into other people.
Tuesday, April 11, 2023
Lapid Meets Fat Nadler to Discuss Opposition to Israel's Judicial Reform Despite the Fatso's proposal FOR Judicial Reform in the USA
Breitbart News criticized opposition leader Yair Lapid after he flew to the US on Monday to meet with Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), who has proposed the most radical reforms in US history, despite Lapid’s own criticism of the judicial reforms proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large Joel B. Pollak pointed out in an article published on Monday that, almost exactly two years ago, Nadler, who was then the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, unveiled a legislative proposal to “pack” the US Supreme Court — and give it a left-wing majority — by adding four new justices, whose seats would be filled by President Joe Biden.
Nadler did that despite the fact that President Biden had appointed a commission to study the idea first and which later warned that court-packing had “uncertain” benefits, Pollak noted.
“Not only did Nadler propose expanding the Court from nine seats — which it has had for over 150 years — to 13 seats, but he also demanded the Senate abolish the filibuster, a key minority protection, to do it,” wrote Pollak, adding a quote from Nadler who said at the time, “The American people have had enough. To restore power to the people, we must expand the Supreme Court.”
“Earlier this year, without a hint of irony,” Pollak noted, “Nadler led Jewish Democrats in Congress in opposing judicial reform in Israel, warning that it ‘could undermine Israeli democracy and … civil rights and religious freedoms.’”
Nadler was one of more than a dozen Jewish House Democrats who recently called on the Israeli government to suspend its plans to pass the judicial reform, in an extraordinary expression of concern by US government officials over a foreign, domestic political matter.
Pollak also noted that “Lapid has used similar terminology, claiming that judicial reforms — which largely parallel existing US law — would destroy Israel’s democracy, even though they would make the courts more accountable to the legislature.”
Breitbart News speculated that Lapid’s trip could be an effort to use pressure from outside Israel to affect negotiations between the government and the opposition over the judicial reform, which Netanyahu has paused to allow for talks.
Record number of Jews visit Har Habayis during Pesach despite threats
Since the beginning of Passover, 2,642 Jews have already gone up to the Temple Mount, the Beyadenu organization reported Tuesday morning.
This brings the total number of Jews who have ascended to the Mount since the beginning of the year to 27,675.
However, Jewish access to the holy site was not without challenges. Jewish groups were limited sometimes to 20-50 people at a time, and police did not allow Jews to stop for prayer or explanations during their ascent.
In addition, the ascensions often faced shouts of "Allah Akbar" by Muslim visitors, and attempts to disrupt and disturb the order, though no major incidents were reported.
Tom Nisani, CEO of Beyadenu, stressed the importance of normalizing Jewish ascent to the Temple Mount, saying: "The only way to achieve peace and security is through maintaining Israeli sovereignty in the State of Israel. Continued surrender and attempts to negotiate with terrorists will lead to more riots and more attacks. We thank the security forces for keeping the ascenders safe and demand that the Israeli government change the broken record and stop surrendering to terrorists."
During Jewish visits to the Temple Mount, the holy site was quiet and empty mostly except for the mosque area in the south where only a few dozen Arabs tried to curse and threaten the Jewish ascenders walking by. Large numbers of police officers were deployed to the area to prevent escalations.
The ascensions are currently taking place with time for prayer and explanations in the guided tours.
Israeli police, in addition to the additional precautions to prevent Jews from bringing religious symbols, conducted searches on the Jewish ascenders to prevent them from bringing food on the Temple Mount with them "due to the fast of Ramadan" in complete contradiction to the police’s own letter on the subject that the Beyadenu organization received in Ramadan of 2021.
Monday, April 10, 2023
Hart vs Haart a Tale of Two Families.... One Can't wait to Embrace Yiddishkeit while the other Hates It
Meet LaDerryl & Danielle Hart
Now meet the very angry Julia Haart
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