Monday, August 18, 2025
The Hornet's Nest
Some argue Jews would be safer dispersed or that Israel’s location is a strategic mistake. History proves otherwise. Israel may sit on a 'hornet’s nest,' but for the first time in 2,000 years, Jews can defend themselves together.
Sometimes you meet a tourist, who asks you: Tell me, why? Why do you insist on living right at the foot of the volcano?
After all, there are other places in the world, quiet corners, without smoke or noise, and solid ground that won't tremble beneath your feet.
Why don't you move away from here, and look for a safer place, where you can finally live in peace, once and for all?
Well-meaning friends of the Jewish people often offer two pieces of advice: First, that Jews would be safer without a state of their own, and should have remained dispersed among democratic nations. Second, that if Jews must have a homeland, Israel's location, surrounded by hostile neighbors, was a catastrophic choice.
Both arguments are dangerously wrong.
The Historical Case Against Dispersal
Jews constitute merely 2% of the world's population. History teaches us that dispersal offers no protection. While American Jews fare relatively well today, European Jews face rising antisemitism. We need not recount the horrors that befell German Jewry, a community that had once welcomed and integrated us. The pattern repeats across centuries and continents: Jews fleeing Spain, England, France, Russia, and countless other nations that initially offered sanctuary. Dispersal doesn't guarantee safety; it almost always ensures vulnerability.
Critics suggest Israel should have been established elsewhere: Wyoming, Uganda, Madagascar, the Soviet Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Cyprus, or Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. This geographic second-guessing, while understandable, misses a fundamental truth about collective security.
Consider a simple thought experiment: Ten people must traverse dangerous territory. Should they travel separately or together? The answer is obvious. Ancient wisdom teaches that there is safety in numbers. Try breaking ten sticks bound together versus snapping them one by one; the principle is elementary yet profound.
So should Jews scatter across the globe, a few hundred here, a few thousand there, some tens of thousands elsewhere? History demonstrates what happens to such isolated communities: they become easy pickings.
Recent Events Illustrate the Pattern
We're not suggesting American Jews should immediately make Aliyah, but recent events remind us that Jews have been killed in twos and threes across America before. The pattern of isolated attacks on dispersed Jewish communities demonstrates precisely why geographic concentration matters for collective defense.
The recent murder of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim RIP outside Washington's Jewish Museum illustrates this principle. These two young Israeli Embassy staffers were gunned down in cold blood. But the truly chilling aspect wasn't the murder itself. Sadly, such attacks on Jews occur with disturbing frequency.
What should terrify us even more is the response. Former Jordanian Interior Minister Mazen Turki El-Qadi suggested Israel orchestrated the murders to "lessen Western-American pressure" under the guise of fighting so-called antisemitism. Rebecca Rothstein, a Maryland middle school math teacher, dismissed the victims as "2 racist white folks." (One shudders to imagine what narratives she weaves into her lesson plans, shaping young American minds with such casual hatred.) Iranian state media's Kayhan praised the alleged killer Elias Rodriguez as "Our Dear Brother" who sent "Two Wild Zionist Beasts" to hell. They proclaimed him the "American Sinwar" and heralded "a new axis of resistance."
This reaction pattern, where isolated attacks on Jews are either ignored, celebrated, or blamed on the victims themselves - demonstrates why dispersal fails as a security strategy. When Jews are scattered in small, vulnerable communities, each attack appears isolated and manageable to outside observers. The broader pattern of antisemitic violence gets lost.
The Hornet's Nest Reality
Yes, Israel sits on a hornet's nest, surrounded by a billion hostile neighbors. In 2002, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah even gloated about this, declaring that Jews gathering in Israel saves their enemies "from having to go to the ends of the world, for they have gathered in one place, and there the final and decisive battle will take place."
But here's what Nasrallah and others fail to understand: Would Jews be safer scattered in small communities worldwide, easy targets for the Rebecca Rothsteins and Elias Rodriguezes of the world? History and logic say a loud "no."
When Jews are dispersed, each attack seems isolated, local, manageable. When Jews are concentrated in a sovereign state with a military, intelligence services, and diplomatic leverage, they can defend themselves collectively. The hornet's nest may be dangerous, but at least Israel can sting back.
Huckabee hits back at BBC’s Lying Gaza report: Retraction? As likely as ice cream in hell
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Sunday mocked the BBC after the British network once again published misleading information on the war in Gaza.
Earlier on Sunday, the IDF published a rebuttal of claims by the BBC that a Palestinian Arab woman who had been allowed to leave Gaza for medical treatment had died of malnutrition.
The woman, Marah Abu Zohry, arrived in Pisa on an Italian government humanitarian flight on Wednesday night.
On Friday, after undergoing tests and starting treatment, she died of a sudden respiratory crisis and cardiac arrest. Italian news agencies said that she was suffering from severe malnutrition.
In response, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) tweeted: "The facts, which the report did not mention: 20-year-old Marah Zohry suffered from leukemia."
Journalist Melanie Phillips criticized the BBC and wrote on X, “Israel helps evacuate cancer sufferer from Gaza to Italy. She dies there of leukemia. BBC suggests Israel starved her to death. To the BBC, even cancer is Israel’s fault.”
Huckabee shared Phillips’ response and wrote, “Will the BBC retract the story and apologize? Of course. The same day a Baskin Robbins opens a franchise in hell.”
The BBC later added to its article Israel’s explanation that the woman suffered from leukemia.
The BBC has continuously come under fire over its anti-Israel bias, which has reared its head even more since October 7, 2023.
In November of 2023, the corporation published an apology after falsely claiming that IDF troops were targeting medical teams in battles in and around the Shifa Hospital in Gaza.
Before that, the BBC falsely accused Israel of being responsible for an explosion at a hospital in Gaza, which the IDF proved was caused by an Islamic Jihad rocket. The network later acknowledged that “it was false to speculate” on the explosion.
Earlier this year, the BBC faced mounting scrutiny for using the son of a senior Hamas official as a narrator in its documentary “Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone.”
Following the criticism, the British broadcaster acknowledged that there were “serious flaws” in the program. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer later said he is "concerned" by the documentary.
In another incident several months ago, BBC News presenter Nicky Shiller referred to three hostages who were released by Hamas as “prisoners”, similar to the term used for the terrorists imprisoned in Israel.
His remarks sparked an uproar, leading the network to apologize.
A day with the FBI: My perp walk, handcuffs, strip search and leg irons for a politically motivated misdemeanor
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| Navarro served in President Trump’s first term — and is also an adviser in his second. |
It is an interesting thing to suddenly lose one’s freedom. It would be very interesting on this day, June 3, 2022.
The first thing FBI agents do when they grab you is pull your arms behind you and put you in handcuffs.
No matter how gently they might try to do it, it’s still going to take a pretty good pull on your shoulder sockets. And in this case, they weren’t particularly gentle.
I no doubt appeared to these five armed FBI agents to be a very dangerous hombre. After all, I was 74 years old, I weigh 145 pounds soaking wet and top out at a gargantuan 5’7″.
Once I was handcuffed, they walked me out the back door of the gangway at Reagan National Airport and down some portable steps onto the tarmac, where they had a tiny car waiting to transport me first back to the FBI headquarters — it’s across the street from my apartment — and then eventually to the courthouse.
Sunday, August 17, 2025
140 Chareidim enlisted in the Army on Thursday
כ-140 בני הציבור החרדי התגייסו ביום חמישי לשירות בתפקידים ובמסלולים תומכי הלחימה החרדיים בצבא
One Of The Most Miraculous Events In Human History: The Rebirth Of Hebrew As A Living Language
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| Eliezer Ben Yehuda |
What is fascinating is that millions of Jews speak Hebrew and no other language! Many Charedim speak only Hebrew! A Miracle indeed! Saul Jay Singer
Eliezer Ben Yehuda (1858-1922), the “Father of the Modern Hebrew Language,” is best known for one of the truly great socio-linguistic events in world history: his virtually single-handed revival of Hebrew as a spoken language, which for centuries had been used only for Jewish prayer.
He accomplished this at a time when there was not a single person who conversed in Hebrew as a mother tongue, when the resurrection of a dead language had never occurred in all human history, and when virtually no one else believed it possible. His philosophy may perhaps best be summarized by a famous quote in which he combines his fervent Zionism with his obsession with a return to Hebrew as a lingua franca: “Just as the Jews cannot really become a living nation other than through their returning to their ancestral land, so too, they are not able to become a living nation other than through their returning to their ancestral language.”
As one commentator pithily observed, “before Ben Yehuda, Jews could speak Hebrew; after him, they did.”
No! Your Sandwich is not Halal!
Call it rude, but this is exactly the attitude all Western restaurants should have towards anyone demanding halal food.
— 𝐍𝐢𝐨𝐡 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐠 ♛ ✡︎ (@NiohBerg) August 16, 2025
There is no reason why establishments should accept meat that comes from a deliberately torturous and painful slaughter method. It should be banned completely. pic.twitter.com/o8jpds3yTk
This is a real video
This is a real video https://t.co/C0T3cHLDZ7
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 16, 2025
U.S. Suspends All Visitor Visas for Gaza Residents
The U.S. State Department has frozen all visitor visas for Gaza residents, announcing a “full and thorough review” of recent humanitarian approvals.
The move came after investigative journalist Laura Loomer posted videos claiming Palestinians had entered the U.S. via San Francisco and Houston, sparking Republican outrage.
Rabbi Berel Wein, The Gadol With Common Sense, Dies at 91
Rabbi Berel Wein, legendary Jewish historian, author, yeshiva founder, rabbi, and Giant Talmud Chacham, passed away Saturday in Israel at 91. Known for his extraordinary oratory and scholarship, he captivated audiences worldwide with thousands of recorded lectures on Jewish history and Torah, shared over decades via tapes, CDs, and online platforms.
Born in Chicago, Rabbi Wein led Congregation Bais Torah and founded Yeshiva Shaarei Torah in Monsey, New York, before moving to Jerusalem in 1997 to serve as rabbi of Beit Knesset Hanassi. He also transformed kosher supervision in North America through his leadership of the OU’s Kashrut Division, leaving a global impact on Jewish life.
Renowned for bridging generations, Rabbi Wein was personally connected to pre-Holocaust rabbinic leaders. He famously recounted meeting Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, the Satmar Rebbe—despite being an anti-Zionist while Rabbi Wein was pro-Zionist—and described him as one of the greatest minds and tzadikim he had ever encountered.
His funeral will be held Sunday at Beit Knesset Hanassi in Jerusalem, with burial on the Mount of Olives.
Saturday, August 16, 2025
Growing Wave of Jewish Voters Rally Behind Antisemite Mamdani for NYC Mayor
With early voting kicking off in just over two months, Zohran Mamdani’s grip on Jewish voters remains firm despite his antisemitic positions that have drawn sharp criticism from pro-Israel groups.
New polling data by Zenith Research and Public Progress Solutions shows Mamdani maintaining his lead among Jewish voters citywide (43%) compared to 26% for former Governor Andrew Cuomo and 15% for incumbent Mayor Eric Adams.
Mamdani, a state assemblyman from Queens and a prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America, has often been at odds with pro-Israel institutions. He has endorsed the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and declined to affirm Israel’s status as a Jewish state. His positions that have drawn sharp criticism from both Republican and centrist Democratic circles who have accused him of crossing into antisemitic rhetoric, pointing to his past hesitation to condemn chants like “globalize the intifada.”
Mamdani has consistently denied those claims, arguing that his critique is aimed at Israeli government policy, not Jews or Judaism. Nevertheless, he appears to be gaining ground among Jewish voters, especially the younger generation.
Many seem drawn to his progressive platform, which includes a proposed Department of Community Safety to address violence without expanding police power, and increased funding to fight hate crimes citywide. Among Jewish voters aged 18 to 44, support for Mamdani jumps to 67%.
Meanwhile citywide Mamdani remains the clear front-runner in a fractured race. The poll has him at 50% overall, compared to 22% for Cuomo, 13% for Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, and just 7% for Adams, who is running as an independent.
Though once a vocal supporter of defunding the police, Mamdani has since softened his stance in recent months—particularly after a deadly shooting at a Midtown office building. He now says he supports maintaining NYPD staffing levels while investing heavily in non-police solutions to public safety.
Palestinians from Gaza Enter U.S. Under Trump Administration Despite Official Ban
In a development raising serious national security questions, video footage shows Palestinians—claiming to be refugees from Gaza—arriving in the United States this month through San Francisco and Houston, Texas. Their travel was reportedly facilitated by an organization called “Heal Palestine”, despite the Trump administration’s stated policy against accepting Palestinian refugees.
The videos—obtained by Loomer Unleashed—depict Palestinian families disembarking from flights, some waving Palestinian flags, chanting pro-Hamas slogans, and even performing the “Hamas terror whistle” inside Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Another clip shows arrivals at San Francisco International Airport on August 6, 2025, via a Qatar Airways flight.
This has ignited a firestorm of questions:
• How did individuals from a Hamas-controlled territory obtain U.S. visas?
• Did the State Department under Marco Rubio’s leadership approve this?
• Which officials signed off on visas for people from a recognized terror hot zone?
• Why are governors Gavin Newsom and Greg Abbott allowing Palestinian arrivals in California and Texas?
Critics point out that 95% of Gazans voted for Hamas in the last election, accusing U.S. officials of enabling a security breach by permitting entry from a region synonymous with terrorism.
In less than a week: Second unvaccinated toddler dies of measles
The Ministry of Health on Saturday announced that a second toddler has died of measles. The child, a boy aged 1.5 years, from Beit Shemesh contracted measles and was admitted to the emergency department at a Jerusalem hospital after several days of illness at home. He had not received the measles vaccine, as part of the routine immunization schedule.
At the hospital, staff worked to revive the infant, who was evacuated while undergoing CPR. However, they were unsuccessful and were forced to declare his death.
The Ministry noted that earlier this week another unvaccinated toddler died from measles complications after being connected to an ECMO machine for several weeks.
Since the outbreak began in Israel about in April, as of Thursday, August 14, 2025, a total of 526 measles cases have been diagnosed, with 209 currently active. However, the disproportionate percentage of hospitalized patients indicates a much wider outbreak than reported: as a rule, developed countries see nine hospitalizations and one death per 1,000 measles cases.
Most of the recent cases have been recorded in the Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh areas, with the practically all of hospitalized patients being unvaccinated children.
As of Thursday, 19 children remain hospitalized, all under the age of six. Two are in intensive care, one of whom is still on ECMO. On Wednesday, an unvaccinated two-year-old died of measles, despite extensive efforts to save his life.
Measles is a highly contagious viral illness characterized by fever, general malaise, runny nose, and rash, and can cause severe and life-threatening complications.
The routine vaccination schedule recommended by the Health Ministry includes two doses: one at age one and another in first grade. Due to the outbreak, the Ministry has instructed that the second dose be given earlier in high-infection areas. To further protect infants in outbreak areas (Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, and Bnei Brak), an additional, early, dose is recommended for babies aged 6-12 months.
The Health Ministry urged: "If you feel unwell, avoid attending crowded events. In case of need, coordinate your arrival at a clinic or emergency room and inform the medical staff. Vaccination saves lives."
Appointments for measles vaccines can be made through the Health Ministry's hotline, *5400 or through your health fund.
Chardedie Rabbis Join NK Massive Hafganos Outside Beit Lid Prison Comparing the "well fed" Draft Dodgers to the hostages!
Outside they displayed the photos of the Well Fed draft dodgers on yellow chairs, comparing this to the hostage situation.
What chutzpah!!
Why haven't any of those who participated in this fiasco, ever make a Hafgana in support of the hostages? To show unity and Achdus!
You can be sure if even one hostage was from Bnei-Brak they would have been there in a heartbeat!
Is it any wonder the Moshiach refuses to come?
Thousands of Bnei Torah converged Thursday night outside the Beit Lid military prison, protesting the continued imprisonment of yeshiva bochurim who refused to bow to the government’s renewed draft decrees.
DIN: It seems that all their Torah is not helping, they now have to shut their gemarras and go to Hafaganas!
The demonstration, called for and attended by HaRav Dov Landau shlit”a, came at the climax of a week of demonstrations against the army’s escalating campaign to drag bochurim away from the daled amos shel halacha and into the barracks. Rav Landau had personally visited two of the imprisoned bochurim last week, telling them, “The entire olam haTorah stands behind you. Be strong, and hold firm.”
DIN: This is a lie, no one is being dragged out, they are being arrested for nor registering for the draft!
"daled amos shel halacha?" Don't make me laugh! We are all learning, and even the well-fed draft dodgers are learning in prison! And don't they bark" We will die and won't enlist?" Then what's so bad of being in prison?
Groups from Peleg Yerushalmi, Slonim chassidim, and other kehillos broke through police barricades before being pushed back by riot units. Some burned and tore up draft orders, while others sang and danced while shouting cries of “Gevalt!” and “We won’t give up even one bochur!”
Banners and shouts from the crowd made clear the protest’s purpose: “No quotas, no sanctions!” and “Free the hostages!” — a reference not to captives in Gaza, but to the imprisoned bochurim.
DIN: "Free the hostages" those well-fed draft dodgers are "hostages?" how perverted is this?
So mainstream charediem are now joining Peleg which is really the Neturei Karta in suits!
Which I was saying for years on this blog, that they are really all one!
Some protesters even appealed to President Trump to “save us from the State of Israel” and its draft decrees.
DIN: So now the RBS"O and all the Torah that they learned can't save them, but the goy will!
The protest comes after the IDF issued 54,000 draft notices in July alone, following a High Court ruling striking down long-standing deferments for lomdei Torah. Around 80,000 bochurim between 18 and 24 are officially “draft-eligible,” but gedolim warn that any form of enlistment is a spiritual gezeirah that would uproot their way of life.
DIN: A "gezeirah?????" How sick is this, who believes this crap?
Everyone who wants to learn, can learn! Walk in any Beis Medrish and everyone is learning, I don't see the Government cracking down on learning! This is a blood libel on the government and no one is buying it!
"uproot their way of life.?" They can now join Hesder and there are two brand new Charedie battalians that have no women and meals are strictly kosher!
MK Moshe Gafni declared earlier in the day that the campaign “is reminiscent of the Romans who sought to prevent Am Yisroel from learning Torah. We will fight with all our strength.”
DIN: Moshe Gafni is a liar from when he was still in his mother's stomach! No One is preventing "Am Yisrael" from learning Torah, this is an unmitigated lie, and to compare this to the Romans, shows you that he is not a serious guy at all, he is a sick deranged meshiginar!
MK Meir Porush warned that the situation could deteriorate into a “civil war” if the government pushes forward without protecting the Torah world.
DIN: Meir Porush is an opportunist and comes from a family that made all their money from the Zionist Israeli Government, he is a clown with a beard!
So let me ask Mr Porush, how will you fight in a civil war? How about training Charediem in the IDF.
Local residents complained of nightly marches, shofar blasts, and shouting in the streets. By 10:30 p.m., as the first crowd dispersed, new groups — including more Slonim chassidim — arrived, reigniting confrontations with police into the late hours.
The government insists it needs 12,000 more soldiers immediately, citing the ongoing war in Gaza and security challenges.
‘New York Times’ Erases One of the Ancient Jewish Temples in Jerusalem
This is why it is vital to support those going up to Har Habyit, even if you are personally against it!
A controversial article in The New York Times, which discusses the artistic pursuits of a terrorist freed from Israeli prison, appears to deny one of the ancient Jewish temples in Jerusalem.
The article about convicted terrorist Zakaria Zubeidi notes “a provocative visit by an Israeli leader, accompanied by hundreds of police officers, to a major mosque complex in Jerusalem that is built on the site of an ancient Jewish temple.”
The Times doesn’t say why it was so provocative for Ariel Sharon to visit the most holy site for Jews in 2000. An article about that visit, to which the paper links in the new piece, states that “the complex, known to Muslims as Haram al Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, contains Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, sacred shrines of Islam. It is revered by Jews as the site of the First and Second Temples as well as the place where Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son, Isaac.”
JNS sought comment from the Times about whether the new article reflects the paper’s editorial view that only the first Jewish Temple or only the second Jewish Temple stood on the site in Jerusalem.
The Associated Press style guide, which many journalists see as the discipline’s “bible,” notes in its entry for the “Temple Mount” that the site is “the walled, elevated area in Jerusalem’s Old City that was the site of the ancient Jewish temples.”
A 2005 Times article stated that “Jews believe that the site, also known as the Temple Mount, housed the second temple, which was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70.” The Washington Post reported in a 2023 article that “in Jewish tradition, the Temple Mount is the site where the First and Second Temples once stood,” appearing to equate that Jewish view with Muslim’s belief that the site is “the place where the prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.”
“There is zero debate that two temples stood in that place in scholarly literature. Mohammed’s ascent ‘happens’ from there only because it is the Temple site,” Lawrence Schiffman, professor of Hebrew and Judaic studies at New York University, told JNS in 2023.
“The story about Muhammad going on a miraculous horse all the way from Arabia to Jerusalem and ascending to heaven is a religious belief. It’s like saying that Jacob prayed there,” Schiffman told JNS. “They are trying to be neutral, but that confuses the facts.”
At the time, Steven Fine, professor of Jewish history at Yeshiva University and director of its Center for Israel Studies, and a founding editor of the Jewish art and visual culture journal Images, told JNS that “it is an historical fact that the Jewish temples were built on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.”
“Archaeological evidence for the Temple rebuilt after the return from the Babylonian captivity and continuing until 66 C.E. is not contested,” he said. There is scarce archaeological evidence of the First Temple, since the site was rebuilt in subsequent centuries, “and also because Muslim authorities do not allow scientific excavation of the site,” Fine told JNS in 2023.
“Literary sources, however, are ample,” he said at the time. “No historian doubts the presence of an Israelite Temple on Mount Zion in biblical times.”
HonestReporting, a nonprofit watchdog, stated of the new Times article that “there is a double standard in how much of the media treats terrorism—one set of rules for most perpetrators, another for those who are Palestinian and whose victims are Israeli Jews.”
“Time and again, some of the most brutal attacks on civilians are presented with a kind of reverence, as though sadistic violence were simply part of a noble struggle,” the nonprofit stated. “When Israeli Jews are murdered in their homes or on their way to work, the narrative bends toward portraying the killer as a ‘resister of occupation.’”
The Times profile of “convicted murderer Zakaria Zubeidi is a textbook example,” HonestReporting stated. “Zubeidi, a veteran commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades with decades of terrorist activity to his name, was freed in a hostage-for-prisoners swap with Hamas, having been jailed for his role in two West Bank shooting attacks in 2018 and 2019.”
Reporter Calls Jasmine Crockett a ‘fake ghetto hoodrat’ at her Townhall Meeting
I confronted Jasmine Crockett at a townhall for being a fake hoodrat. pic.twitter.com/ilezQ6Kcl7
— Sara Gonzales (@SaraGonzalesTX) August 15, 2025
Friday, August 15, 2025
Israel alarmed: intel points to China aiding Iran’s missile rebuild; nuclear repairs on hold
Western intelligence indicates Iran is prioritizing a rapid restoration of its ground-to-ground missile force after the June war, with possible Chinese assistance—a prospect Israel calls “very troubling.”
Jerusalem says it has delivered “clear messages” to Beijing;
China has not confirmed any role.
The analysis suggests Tehran is first replenishing air defenses and ballistic capabilities to secure a direct, sovereign deterrent—especially after Hezbollah’s limited posture—while nuclear-site repairs are, for now, secondary.
Russian help is uncertain, and European services reportedly see deepening Iran–China coordination on missiles—potentially a strategic shift that could reset regional deterrence.
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