Due to fear of a security incident, Israelis in Shenir, Dan, Dafna, Ma'ayan Baruch, Gosher, Kfar Giladi, Meshgav Am, Menara, Yiftah, Malkiah, Sasa, Bar'am, Yaraon and Zabon are asked to lock themselves in their homes and enter the protected areas.
Video above
Hezbollah targeting Israeli civilians with anti-tank missle in Dovev, Israel
Idf is responding
The third year of Joe Biden’s presidency has been a brutal one. And it’s about to get much worse — in a very personal way.
At a time of deep polarization, Americans of all political persuasions are united in rejecting Biden’s economic policies. Polls show 70% of voters believe the country is headed in the wrong direction and a majority rate the economy as poor.
His open-border policy is raising security alarms at the FBI and causing serious financial problems in cities run by fellow Democrats.
Beyond his policy failures, the president’s mental and physical declines are so pronounced that most voters don’t want him to seek a second term, including a majority of his own party.
Then there are the two regional wars that could erupt into global conflicts. Even as he leads the West’s long, costly support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion, Biden has been compelled to help Israel destroy Hamas, a stance dividing his party and leading to a shocking surge of antisemitism at home.
The crush of crises is more than trouble enough for any 80-year-old president facing a grueling re-election campaign, one where a New York Times poll showed him trailing Donald Trump in five of six battleground states.
And now comes the threat that hits closest to home: The president likely will be impeached by Republicans over his involvement in his family’s corrupt influence-peddling schemes.
All of Biden’s chickens are coming home to roost — at the same time.
Two teachers have been removed from a Los Angeles area charter school located at a synagogue after teaching a lesson to first graders about “genocide in Palestine,” according to school officials.
The teachers were ousted from the classroom — but not fired — from the Citizens of the World Charter School, which has classrooms at Adat Ari El Synagogue in the San Fernando Valley, KTLA reported.
Senior Rabbi Brian Schuldenfrei told reporters at a press conference on Friday that tensions at the school first emerged after “certain teachers” reached out to the school’s principal about Israeli flags hoisted around campus following Hamas’ Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel.
“I know that this is a time to hold your community close, and perhaps the flags are intended for that – but do you know how long they will be up?” the principal, Hye-Won Gehring, emailed Schuldenrei after the teachers asked when they would be removed.
Schuldenfrei said he found the email offensive and likened it to asking Americans to take down American flags after the September 11th terrorist attacks. Gehring later apologized, he said.
He later learned that the same teachers who complained about the flags had taught a “human rights” lesson to first graders at the school — and posted about it online.
“After the lesson, one of the teachers proudly shared on Instagram, and I quote, ‘LOL but I did a lesson on the genocide in Palestine today w my first graders…,’” Schuldenfrie said. “The teacher went on to boast: ‘My fav was a kid who was like ‘What if they just gave the land back to Palestine and find somewhere else to live.”
The teacher added a heart emoji to the end of the post, he added.
The world needs to know that anyone who calls for the eradication of Israel is expressing a pernicious form of antisemitism, a denial of the right of Jews to live in our ancestral homeland,” Schuldenfrie continued. “The heart emoji … is perverse punctuation, dressing up hate in the guise of love.”
CWC executive director Melissa Kaplan apologized and vowed that the school would fully investigate the incident.
“CWC unequivocally condemns the social media posts by our staff members, including the use of the word “genocide” to describe Israel’s [response to the attack],” Kaplan said in a statement. “CWC unequivocally condemns the disturbing suggestion that Jews should leave the region, and we unequivocally condemn any lesson that creates bias or fear among our students.”
Gehring again apologized on Friday and announced she would be taking a two-week absence to complete sensitivity training.
The incident has been traumatizing for the local Jewish community, Schuldenfrie said, but added it is “heartening to see Citizens of the World take these first steps” and that hoped this could be a “learning moment.”
After the publication on Arutz Sheva - Israel National News showing a drastic decrease in nationalist crime this year compared to previous years, and in the shadow of the war, on Saturday evening, MK Tzvi Succot (Religious Zionism), chairman of the subcommittee on Jewish affairs, sent a letter to the Foreign Minister and the IDF Spokesman, in which he called on them to refute the allegations of settler violence.
Succot opened the letter by saying that
"In recent weeks, a false campaign has been carried out in the shadow of the war regarding 'settler violence.' Similar publications were in the New York Times, CNN, and many media outlets around the world."
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was interviewed on Channel 12 News on Saturday night and commented on the surprise October 7 attack by Hamas, sparing no criticism from the Prime Minister.
"Netanyahu excluded me [from Cabinet discussions] and the truth must also be told, he excluded me on the basis that I demanded targeted eliminations [of terrorists]. His people said that I constantly wanted to set the region on fire. There was a mistake in the concept, both by Netanyahu and by others. I hope everyone understands that the concept was wrong," Ben Gvir said, before clarifying, "I have responsibility, I am a member of the government. But they didn't listen to me - they excluded me."
"There was a 'concept camp' here that talked about containment [of Hamas] and that Hamas was deterred, including Gantz, Bennett and Eizenkot. Stop beautifying history," added Ben Gvir. "When I joined this government, I thought differently - that targeted eliminations were needed. Maybe I should have pounded on the table. You can't come and tell me today that I didn't do all this – because of that, I was excluded from the Cabinet meetings."
Ben Gvir was asked if Netanyahu should resign and go to new elections, but dodged the question. "I'm sure that after the war everyone will be held accountable. Netanyahu will give clear answers. Right now I'm calling to conquer the Gaza Strip."
The minister also said, "I'm not shying away, the Prime Minister was also into a lot of concepts that today have been proven to clearly have been a mistake. I'm still fighting the ‘concept’. What are these pauses [in the fighting]? How can you allow pauses? I say to Netanyahu, go on a public diplomacy campaign in the US. The Americans wouldn't even let a bottle of water in. Let's spread the word in the US from coast to coast."
Biden Administration officials have contacted senior Israeli officials demanding clarifications on the speech given by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last night in which he stated that "We will continue to control security in the Gaza Strip for as long as it takes to prevent terrorism."
According to the report, the administration is attempting to understand what Netanyahu means when he says Israeli security control, what form that control will take, and how it will affect the situation in Gaza the day after the war, Kan Reshet Bet reported.
The Biden Administration has publicly opposed an Israeli "reoccupation" of Gaza following the war against Hamas. Last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said: "It's also clear that Israel cannot occupy Gaza."
The Administration's favored candidate to rule Gaza after Hamas is deposed is the Palestinian Authority.
Israel completely withdrew from Gaza, expelling nearly 10,000 Jewish citizens, in 2005. Hamas won the parliamentary elections in Gaza in 2006 and then seized power in a violent revolt against the Palestinian Authority and has ruled Gaza ever since.
The Palestinian Authority continues to rule in Arab area of Judea and Samaria thanks to Israeli and foreign support. PA chairman Mahmoud Mahmoud Abbas is very unpopular due to widespread corruption in the PA and has not held elections in well over a decade. Polls show that a majority of Palestinian Arabs want him to resign.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night gave a press conference with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, emphasizing that Israel will not agree to give up security control of Gaza.
"In every place where there is no Israeli security control, terror returns and forms a base for itself," he said.
No one can watch what I have seen and not be changed by it.
Late Thursday afternoon, I was one of about 20 journalists at a private screening of the raw footage of the 10/7 Hamas attack on Israel.
Security was tight at the Israeli Consulate in Manhattan; the unmarked building was surrounded by police. Our phones and laptops were stored in lockers. We were escorted in small groups through two locked doors to a conference room.
None of us wanted to be there. But all of us needed to be there — for this film, put together by the Israeli Army, will never be made public.
The point of these viewings, the consulate staff told us, was to make sure that 'conspiracies and distortions don't make it into mass media.'
As we know, they already have.
Is there any clearer proof than those grossly misguided and malicious 'activists' making a sport of tearing down posters of hostages held by Hamas? Of assaulting Jews on streets and college campuses?
The youngest hostage, by the way, is 10 months old.
Holocaust denial, now as before, remains very much with us. As does anti-Semitism. This footage is unassailable evidence.
Here is some of what I saw:
The IDF and ISA killed the terrorist who held hostage approximately 1,000 Gazan residents at the Rantisi Hospital in the Gaza Strip, the IDF and ISA said in a joint announcement.
Based on precise IDF and ISA intelligence, and with the direction of IDF ground troops, IDF aircraft struck Ahmed Siam, a company commander of the Naser Radwan Company of the Hamas terrorist organization.
Two days ago, the IDF spokesperson exposed that Siam held hostage approximately 1,000 Gazan residents at the Rantisi Hospital and prevented them from evacuating southwards for their safety.
Ahmed Siam was killed while hiding in the "al Buraq" school, where additional terrorists under this command were also hiding and were killed.
"Ahmed Siam demonstrates once again that Hamas uses the civilians of the Gaza Strip as human shields for terror purposes," the IDF stressed.
New York City has witnessed a stunning 214% rise in antisemitic hate crimes in October as compared to last year, according to NYPD data, coinciding directly with the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. While hate crimes rose overall by 124%, the soaring levels of antisemitism is particularly alarming, with 69 cases recorded last month compared to 22 in October of the previous year.
Bob Moskovitz, Executive Director of Flatbush Shomrim Safety Patrol told the New York Daily News that “We’re feeling it 100%.” Shomrim’s hotline experienced a staggering 300% increase in calls amid frazzled nerves among Jewish residents. Moskovitz noted that the volume of calls reached nearly 1,600 in October, a more than three-fold increase from the usual 500 calls per month.
“The community is obviously anxious and stressed by everything that is going on overseas and here,” Moskovitz said.
The nature of the incidents, according to Moskovitz, primarily involves younger individuals and includes verbal assaults from cars, theft, and destruction of Israeli flags outside homes.
The incidents also reflect a broader national trend of increased anti-Semitic activity, as documented by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which also noted a rise in anti-Muslim and anti-Arab incidents.
The situation has extended beyond the streets, affecting higher education institutes. Jewish students at Columbia University and other institutions have reported feeling vulnerable, with antisemitic threats becoming more frequent on campuses.
The recent escalation of hate crimes has captured the attention of lawmakers. Representative Ritchie Torres expressed his concerns, saying, “Antisemitism is like a cancer that can go into remission but it resurfaces every so often.” He also pointed to the role of social media in rapidly disseminating antisemitic rhetoric.
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, alongside legislators, has announced proposed changes to the legal definitions of hate crimes to address and close existing loopholes.
In response to the growing need for security, Senator Chuck Schumer is advocating for increased federal funding to safeguard places of worship and religious schools targeted by hate crimes, recognizing the urgency of the situation as America faces a rising tide of intolerance and violence.
FBI agents seized electronic devices belonging to New York City Mayor Eric Adams earlier this week as part of a federal investigation examining potential illegal collaboration between Adams’s 2021 campaign, the Turkish government, and other entities in channeling funds into the campaign’s coffers, the New York Times reports.
The agents, executing a court-authorized warrant, approached Mayor Adams on the street, asking his security detail to step aside before accompanying him into his SUV to seize at least two cellphones and an iPad. These devices were returned to Mayor Adams within days, with law enforcement having the capability to copy data from seized devices.
