She was a teacher in Derech Emunah in Beit Shemesh
“I don’t speak because I have the power to speak; I speak because I don’t have the power to remain silent.” Rav Kook z"l
Meet Chaim Tzvi Meisels, the grandson of the Satmar Rebbe who is now serving in Gaza! (Right)
Dear @ICRC
— Yisrael Medad (@ymedad) November 29, 2023
why are your employees smiling and laughing it up with released Arab terrorists? pic.twitter.com/4YvzvHA53D
The three victims of the the Jerusalem terror attack on Thursday morning were identified as HaDayan HaRav Elimelech Wasserman, H’yd, Mrs. Chana Ifirgan, H’yd, and Libi Dickman, H’yd – all residents of Jerusalem.
Mrs. Chana Ifirgan, H’yd, 67, was the principal of a school in Beit Shemesh, the wife of HaGaon HaRav Shimon Ifirgan, a leading Talmid Chacham in Jerusalem.
She served as the principal of the Bnos Hadassah school, a Sephardi elementary school in Ramat Beit Shemesh Aleph. She was known as a talented educator and a Ba’ales Chessed. Until last week, she hosted evacuees from the southern cities of Ofakim and Netivot in her home on Rechov Rashi in the Mekor Baruch neighborhood of Jerusalem.
Libi Dikman, H’yd, 24, a resident of Har Nof, is the daughter of HaRav Yehudah and Michal Steinhaus of Har Nof. She was expecting her first child.
She worked as a teacher in the Derech Emunah school and was on the way to work when she was killed Al Kiddush Hashem.
Her levaya will take place at 2:30, leaving from her parent’s home on Rechov Zerach Barnet 14 in Har Nof and continue to Har HaMenuchos.
Additionally, a Dayan was injured in the attack. The public is asked to daven for the refuah sheleimah of HaRav Avidan Moshe ben Mina Rivka b’toch sh’ar cholei Yisrael.
Also, one of the soldiers who shot the terrorists and neutralized them, was shot and is lightly to moderately injured. The public is asked to daven for a refuah sheleimah for Ro’ee ben Michal b’toch sha’ar cholei Yisrael.
He was among the most important figures in the Belz hasidic community, and a member of the Ashdod Rabbinical Court. Members of his family say that he was on his way to the court when he was murdered by terrorists at a bus stop in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Wasserman studied in the Vizhnitz Yeshiva in Haifa, and after his marriage, pursued ordination as a rabbinical judge in the Harry Fischel Institute in Jerusalem, where he was ordained by Rabbi Yosef Cohen as well as the Chief Rabbinate of Israel 28 years ago. He is the son-in-law of Rabbi Asher Freund.
He served as a judge in the Monetary Court in Jerusalem, and was one of the most learned of the judges, with great experience in both instruction and ruling on cases, and had considerable knowledge of the Talmud and authorities in the Jewish law.
Rabbi Wasserman is survived by sons, daughters, and many descendants who follow in his path.
The President of the Great Rabbinical Court and the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, eulogized Rabbi Wasserman, saying: "I mourn the murder of the judge and sage Rabbi Elimelech Wasserman, who was murdered by villains this morning in Jerusalem. Rabbi Wasserman was a rare scholar, and even after he retired he insisted on continuing his work for those seeking ordination as rabbinical judges. The rabbinical courts will miss his grandeur and outpouring of good and kindness."
Religious Affairs Minister Michael Malkieli (Shas) eulogized him as well: "It was with tremendous shock and grief that I received word of the villainous murder of the sage and judge Rabbi Elimelech Wasserman while he was on his way to the court in Ashdod. Rabbi Wasserman, one of the most experienced and important judges in the rabbinical court system, served the people of Israel for many years with great dedication, and greeted everyone happily."
Americans have looked on in horror as pro-Hamas sympathy and genocidal Jew-hatred have erupted across college campuses, on city streets and up to Capitol Hill in the aftermath of the jihadist group’s monstrous Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
But perhaps even more horrific is how prevalent the “buttoned-up” version of this worldview is at the highest echelons of the US national-security and foreign-policy apparatus — and how the Biden administration’s Middle East agenda reflects it.
For the latest example, look to the social-media accounts of the CIA’s associate deputy director for analysis.
Amy McFadden, a decorated intelligence officer once responsible for overseeing the production of the all-important President’s Daily Brief, shared Palestinian propaganda on her Facebook page just two weeks after the Black Sabbath massacre, the Financial Times reports.
The woman who serves as one of three officials “responsible for approving all analysis disseminated inside the agency” changed her cover photo to an image of a man waving a Palestinian flag in a keffiyeh-patterned shirt — a design euphemistically referred to as a symbol of Palestinian “solidarity” popularized by the late Palestine Liberation Organization terrorist-in-chief Yasser Arafat.
McFadden previously posted “a selfie with a sticker saying ‘Free Palestine’ superimposed on the photograph,” FT says.
It is bad enough for an American official to share a domestic political message on social media.
It’s infinitely worse when not just any official but a senior intelligence hand publicly promotes a foreign political cause — in this instance, Palestinian nationalism, right after Hamas’ Nazis executed a catastrophic and savage attack overwhelmingly supported by Palestinian Arabs against one of America’s foremost allies.
The Free Beacon adds that McFadden had in recent days liked a LinkedIn post from the International Crisis Group promoting an article critical of Israel for “making the utter defeat of Hamas its top priority.”
Another senior Biden national-security official once led that very conflict-resolution-focused nonprofit.
His name is Rob Malley.
Waving Palestinian flags and signs calling for the “end to genocide,” the ralliers gathered along Sixth Avenue alongside hordes of tourists waiting in line to see the iconic ceremony.
Unable to get to the NYC Christmas tree, the enormous crowd instead swarmed around the tree outside the News Corp building, which houses The Post and Fox News, and has already been targeted by pro-Palestinian protesters on at least two occasions.
“Free free Palestine!” the protesters chanted.
One rallier was seen climbing on top of the pillar bearing the building’s address, and another was seen carrying a massive sign bearing a swastika, comparing the Israel Defense Forces to German Nazis.
NYPD officers continuously pushed back the crowds, who shoved back, calling the cops “f–king Nazis.”
In a startling revelation by Channel 13 News, Almog Boker reported that one of the recently liberated hostages had been detained for 50 days in the attic of a UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) teacher’s home, providing more evidence that the U.N. was complicit in Hamas’s terror operations.
“One of the abductees, held for nearly 50 days in an attic, reveals he was held by a UNRWA teacher – a father of ten children. This teacher locked the victim away, barely provided food, and neglected medical needs,” Boker wrote on X.
This incident is part of a far broader and troubling pattern, as Boker further reported on another hostage situation involving a Gazan doctor. “Another abductee was held captive by a Gazan doctor who, simultaneously, cared for children,” Boker wrote, highlighting the dual lives led by many “innocent civilians” in the Gaza Strip.
These are not isolated cases, but part of a larger picture where civilians are actively involved in the captivity of hundreds, including women and children.
UNRWA, the United Nations agency dedicated to assisting the descendants of Arab refugees from Israel’s War of Independence, has faced criticism over alleged links to Hamas and the reported extreme antisemitism among some of its employees. These latest reports of a UNRWA teacher’s involvement in a hostage situation lay bare the agency’s willingness to actively support terrorists.
Adding to the grim picture, Devora Cohen, aunt of 12-year-old Eitan Yahalomi who was also recently released, disclosed that Eitan experienced physical abuse at the hands of Gazan civilians. She revealed that children, including Eitan, were threatened with rifles if they cried.
Three people were murdered and six people were seriously and moderately injured in a shooting attack at the entrance to Jerusalem on Thursday morning. One of the fatalities was a 24-year-old woman, a second was a man in his 70s, and the details of the third fatality are not yet known.
Two terrorists opened fire, one with an automatic weapon and one with a pistol, toward passersby on Rechov Weizmann. The police said later that the terrorists arrived in the area by car and opened fire at people waiting at a bus stop. Cartridges with hundreds of bullets were found in the terrorists’ vehicle
Both terrorists, who were later reported to have been residents of East Jerusalem, were neutralized by a soldier who was nearby. Channel 12 News reported that the soldier was on a 12-hour leave from his post in the Gaza Strip.
Eight victims were evacuated to Shaare Tzedek and Hadassah Ein Kerem hospitals, five in serious condition, one in moderate condition, and two in light condition.
Watch the reserve soldier run to his car to get his gun to shoot the terrorists in the video below – at 14 seconds:
Dissension among foreign-policy professionals with the Biden administration’s support for the Jewish state’s war to destroy Hamas has now manifested in America’s espionage agency.
Amy McFadden, an associate deputy director for analysis at the CIA, posted a Palestinian flag as her Facebook background two weeks after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks against Israel.
Her LinkedIn page also showed support for the International Crisis Group, an anti-Israel organization linked to an Iranian propaganda network and previously led by Robert Malley, the suspended special envoy for Iran. The page also features the banner “I am for equity because equity starts with everyone.”
The Financial Times, which broke the story and did not name McFadden, also reported the CIA director had posted a selfie with the phrase “Free Palestine” imposed on it.
Following FT’s inquiry into the photo, McFadden removed the image.
McFadden is a Middle East specialist whose duties previously included preparing the President’s Daily Brief.
A Thai hostage who was released by Hamas told Israel’s Channel 12 that the Jewish hostages with him were beaten with electric cables and that all the hostages were denied adequate food.
Channel 12 also quoted the Thai hostage as saying that Jewish hostages were kept in worse conditions than others.
As reported by the Times of Israel:
“He says there was little to eat for the hostages — a pita a day, sometimes a tin of tuna to share between four, and sometimes a piece of cheese. Held for more than seven weeks, he says they were allowed to shower once.
“We were with Israelis, and they were guarded all the time,” he is quoted saying. “The Jews who were held with me were treated very harshly, sometimes they were beaten with electric cables.”
In addition, it has been reported that Hamas tortured children by forcing them at gunpoint to watch films of atrocities against Israeli civilians during the attack. It also kept some children alone for weeks and denied hostages sufficient food, water, and sunlight.
Many hostages lost weight, and not unexpectedly, many of the children have shown signs of psychological trauma.
The Red Cross has not made any attempts to visit the hostages, nor has it transferred medicines and other needed items to them. In fact, there is no evidence that the Red Cross, which has immense leverage, has made any serious effort to pressure Hamas to allow them in.
Sen. Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat, runs out of a Senate room where there was a screening of the Oct. 7 Hamas atrocities, in the U.S. Capitol, Nov. 28, 2023 |
If there’s a trait that unites the 100 members of the U.S. Senate, it is volubility: These folks, who invented the filibuster, know how to talk.
It was remarkable to see them then exiting a screening room on Tuesday in the bowels of the Capitol building, barely able to shape their mouths into a single word.
The unusual silence came after two senators, Jacky Rosen, a Jewish Nevada Democrat, and Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, screened for their fellow senators 43 minutes of harrowing footage of the carnage Hamas terrorists committed on Oct. 7.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat, said as she walked away, her eyes filled with tears.
Nine of the first 78 terrorists that Israel released in the exchange deal with Hamas for Israeli hostages have served more than 5 years in Israeli prison. Palestinian Authority (PA) law grants every terrorist prisoner a monthly salary from the day of arrest until the day of release, with the salary rising the longer they’re in prison.
For terrorists who are imprisoned for more than five years, the PA continues to pay their final monthly prison salary for life.
The PA will be paying four of the released terrorists 2,000 shekels each month for life, while the five who are Jerusalem residents will receive a bonus of 300 shekels a month, and thus a total of 2,300 shekels a month. These nine released terrorists will be receiving a total of 19,500 shekels each month for life from the PA.
The Palestinian Authority has been paying over 300 million dollars a year in monthly salaries to terrorist prisoners, and in monthly allowances to families of dead terrorists.
MK Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu) on Wednesday morning responded to the extended ceasefire with Hamas.
"The Israeli government must not agree to an extended ceasefire with the Hamas terrorists, without reaching the goals of the war," Liberman wrote.
Liberman also reiterated the goals of the war: "1. Release of all the hostages. 2. Eliminating Hamas and the leaders of Hamas, in Israel and abroad. Not one of them should die a natural death. 3. Complete destruction of all terror infrastructure within the Strip. 4. Throwing Hezbollah back behind the Litani [River], in accordance with Resolution 1701 of the UN Security Council."
"An extended ceasefire without meeting the goals of the war will mean a victory of Hamas and the continuation of Yahya Sinwar's regime - something which will critically harm Israel's deterrence.
"No resident of the south or north will return to his home. We must not agree to this. We must defeat [Hamas], we must win," he concluded.
Hate crimes targeting Jewish New Yorkers in the subway system have soared in the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack and Israel’s subsequent invasion of the Gaza Strip, new statistics show.
There were nine such crimes reported from October, through Nov. 5 — equal to the tally recorded for the entire preceding nine months, according to the data from the NYPD and MTA.
Those incidents believed to be targeting straphangers of the Jewish faith accounted for almost two-thirds of the 15 overall hate crimes reported for the month, officials said.
Over the same period, there were two reported hate crimes targeting Muslims, bringing the total of religiously motivated offenses since the Israel-Hamas war began to 11.
“Criminals are using the war between Hamas and Israel as an excuse to lash out against innocent Jews,” said David Greenfield, the chief executive of the Met Council on Jewish Poverty, one of the largest Jewish charities in the city.
“We’ve never seen as many hate crimes against Jews as we have in the last few weeks,” he added. “There are many more crimes going unreported because Jewish New Yorkers fear for their safety.”
Recently, police arrested a man wanted for attacking a 29-year-old woman inside the 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue station on Oct. 14 and telling her he slugged her because “you are Jewish.”
Even with the recent surge, the number of overall hate crimes remains below last year’s levels, the stats show.
In the first 10 months of 2023, there have been 60 hate crimes reported in the subway system, compared to 74 for the same timeframe last year.
“Attacks or harassment targeted at New Yorkers because of who they are or what they believe are intolerable,” said Rich Davey, the top boss of the MTA’s subways and city buses. “We are grateful for the consistent efforts of the NYPD, with whom we are cooperating, to quickly bring perpetrators to face justice.”
One of those attacks landed on the front page after a man, Sabir Jones, with a lengthy rap sheet in New Jersey and a history of mental illness shoved a woman into a moving subway train, leaving her badly injured.
Crime in the subways remains above pre-pandemic levels, when the system would often only see one or two murders for the entire year.
The violence became a key issue in the closing weeks of the governor’s race and helped propel Republican Lee Zeldin within striking distance of Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Hochul responded by pledging to help City Hall fund overtime shifts to boost patrols on the subway system.
Since then, the number of arrests has jumped almost 50% and the number of summons issued is up nearly 36% when comparing year to year.
No American should need to be reminded that our government has designated Hamas a terrorist organization. But apparently, one very important American does need to be reminded.
That would be Joe Biden.
The news that the president apologized for casting doubt on Hamas’ casualty reports in Gaza is stunning. All the more so because Biden made his apology in secret.
He backed down in a meeting with five Muslim Americans, a fact that suggests Hamas has garnered sympathy if not outright support among some Americans and immigrants from Muslim lands.
That’s troubling in its own right, but Biden’s apology signals he’s willing to pander to them privately while publicly supporting Israel.
Thomas Hand, the father of Emily Hand, the nine-year-old girl who was released on Saturday night after being kidnapped during the Hamas massacre of October 7, spoke to CNN about his daughter's traumatic experiences during her 50 days as a hostage.
Hand said that while he wants to know what his child endured, she can only open up about those dark days when she is ready.
He stated that when she was kidnapped, Emily was "pulled, dragged, pushed" by her captors through Kibbutz Be'eri on the day of the massacre, and taken to a place in Gaza which she is calling "the box."
Hand described his reunion with his daughter on Saturday night, saying that “all of a sudden the door opened up and she just ran. It was beautiful, just like I had imagined it, running together."
However, when he got a good look at his daughter, he saw that "her face was chiseled, like mine, whereas before it was chubby, girly, a young kid face.”
Emily had lost a significant amount of weight during her 50 days in captivity and was paler than he had ever seen her.
He further stated that he was shocked by how Emily would only whisper because her Hamas captors had conditioned her over the previous month and a half to not make any noise. “You could just see glassy-eyed terror,” he said.
When Hand asked how long Emily thought she had been held in Gaza, she replied "a year," when she had actually been held for less than two months.
“Apart from the whispering, that was a punch in the guts. A year,” he said.
Hand said that he learned from Emily that the group of hostages she was with only ate breakfast regularly, and sometimes had something for lunch and dinner, and that she became so hungry that she came to love bread with nothing but olive oil. He further stated that the captives never hit her, as the threat of their voices was enough to keep the hostages in line.
He said that when Emily was returned to him, her head was covered in lice, and she "cried until her face was red and blotchy" last night.
As part of their efforts to return to a normal life, the family held a belated birthday party for Emily, who turned nine while in captivity.
Emily was released together with her friend, Hila Rotem-Shoshani, whose house she was sleeping over at. The girls were kidnapped together with Hila's mother, Raaya, who took care of them for most of the time they were in captivity.
Two days before the girls were released, Hamas separated Raaya from the girls, breaking its commitment under the hostage deal to keep mothers and their children together. Hand called this “another step of cruelty" by Hamas.
He stated that Raaya must be freed for the sake of the girls, demanding of the world: “Don’t go silent on us now. Bring them home, bring them home.”