Air Force Commander orders that Apaches remain on ground until investigation completed, following tragic accident two weeks ago. The Commander of the Air Force accepted the recommendations of the inspection team appointed after the incident in which Maj. Gen. (res.) Dudi Zohar of Haifa was killed in an Apache helicopter crash at the Ramon base.In addition, the Commander instructed the continued grounding of Apache helicopters until the completion of the investigation and the implementation of all actions required for their renewed use. The main points of the interim report were presented today, Wednesday, to families.The committee confirmed the initial findings, which indicate that the helicopter crew identified a fault in the helicopter's steering ability. After iden...
Hillary Clinton says Donald Trump’s pacing, hovering demeanor onstage during an October 2016 presidential debate made her so uncomfortable “my skin crawled.” She says in her upcoming book that Trump shadowed her so closely she had to resist shouting out, “Back up you creep, get away from me.” The Democratic presidential nominee recounts her struggle to keep composed during that pivotal Oct. 9 faceoff in St. Louis less than a month before the election. Two days earlier, their bitter campaign was rocked by the release of footage in which Trump bragged aggressively about groping women. During the town-hall style debate, the 6-foot-3 Trump repeatedly hovered over Clinton, who’s closer to 5-foot-5, as she responded to questions. “This is not OK, I th...
US Ambassador says Trump's response was not correct, but defends President against unfair press coverage. US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman criticized the way in which US President Donald Trump reacted to the incident in Charlottesville, where a woman was murdered when an alleged white supremacist ploughed through counterprotesters at a white supremacist rally. “I think his response was not correct,” Friedman told Channel 10. Nevertheless, he defended the President against his opponents, claiming that, in general, the press treats the President unfairly. “I think he’s doing excellent work. He gets unfair coverage from the press that doesn’t give him a fair chance to express himself.” On Tuesday, Trump spoke in Ariz...
A monument erected in Vidin, Bulgaria has been defaced, with the words “Allah”, “Palestine”, “Hamas” and the Islamic star and crescent moon symbol spray painted on it. The Shalom Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria reported the vandalism in a Facebook post on Monday, August 21. The monument was erected in 2003 by Jews in Bulgaria to thank the town of Vidin for preventing their deportation to Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust. Shalom quoted the mayor of Vidin, Ognyan Tsenkov, as describing the vandalism as “outrageous and unacceptable”. Tsenkov took immediate action to have the monument cleaned. Shalom Organization President Alexander Oscar in a letter to the mayor thanked him for his firm statement and quick action, and stres...
There was a mini riot at the Kotel Wednesday morning 2 Rosh Chodesh Elul after members of Women of the Wall (WoW) smuggled in a Sefer Torah by wrapping it around a member. It was, R”L, against a woman’s body, under her clothing. A guard did detect it and did not permit it inside. Many who witnessed what was taking place expressed outrage and disgust over compromising the kedusha of the Sefer Torah as they did, all in the effort to smuggle it in to the women’s area.
The final stage of jury selection for next month’s corruption trial of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey gets underway in Newark. Attorneys will question potential jurors Tuesday. A panel of 12 jurors and four alternates could be seated by the end of the week. The Democrat was charged in 2015 with accepting gifts and campaign donations from a Florida eye doctor in exchange for using his position in Congress to lobby for the man’s business interests. The doctor, Salomon Melgen, is a co-defendant in the case. Menendez and Melgen have argued in court papers that the gifts and donations were innocent and that there was no bribery agreement. Menendez also claims his actions were legitimate legislative duties.
Charlottesville, Virginia, is planning to cover the statues of Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson in black fabric. The Daily Progress reports the city council voted unanimously early Tuesday to shroud the statues in fabric to represent the city’s mourning of Heather Heyer. The 32-year-old woman was killed Saturday when a car rammed into a group of people protesting a white nationalist rally in the city. The rally was sparked by the city’s decision to remove a statue of Lee. Tuesday’s vote came after anger boiled over at the first city council meeting since the rally. Some residents screamed and cursed at councilors and called for their resignations. A police spokeswoman said three people were arrested and released on summons for...
The eviction of the Sephardi Sanhedrin Talmid Torah in Jerusalem to give the building to the Beis Yaakov HaYoshon remains in the news. Suggestions for compromise were made by HaGaon HaRav Baruch Soloveitchik, a member of the Moetzas Gedolei Hatorah of Degel Hatorah. Rav Soloveitchik met at length with the head of the Shas Moetzas Chachmei Hatorah, HaGaon HaRav Shalom Cohen, presenting him with a comprehensive picture of details as well as a suggested compromise. Persons close to Rav Cohen explain the offer was put on the table and Rav Cohen will announce his decision in the coming days. In recent days, Shas chairman Aryeh Deri has repeatedly emphasized in his talks that the issue is not related to Shas but to Chinuch Atzmai and the Jerusalem Municipality, but he has made it clear th...
Islamic State militants, driven from their main stronghold in northern Iraq, are trapped in a military vise that will squeeze them on both sides of the Syria-Iraq border, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said. Mattis arrived in the Iraqi capital Tuesday, hours after President Donald Trump outlined a fresh approach to the stalemated war in Afghanistan. Trump also has pledged to take a more aggressive, effective approach against IS in Iraq and Syria, but he has yet to announce a strategy for that conflict that differs greatly from his predecessor’s. In Baghdad, Mattis was meeting with Iraqi government leaders and U.S. commanders. He planned to meet in Irbil with Massoud Barzani, leader of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region that has helped fight IS. Mattis told reporters before he l...
The Jerusalem Municipality’s legal advisor, Attorney Eli Malka, issued a new directive, according to which the separation between boys and girls should be stopped in the municipal libraries located throughout chareidi neighborhoods. Malka was quick to respond to an effort launched by the Reform Movement and women’s rights organization. They turned to Deputy State Attorney General Zilber, asking her to bring an end to the separate library hours, which they feel have no place in a democratic society. In their letter to the mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, the city’s director-general and the city’s legal advisor, the Reformers wrote that “the said separation imposes rigid gender segregation on all library users, setting separate hours for boys and girls and wome...
A Confederate memorial has been removed from outside a Maryland courthouse. Photos posted on Howard County Executive Allan H. Kittleman’s Facebook page show the memorial outside the Circuit Court in Ellicott City being removed Monday night and placed onto a truck. The monument includes the names of dozens of Confederate soldiers from the area. Kittleman said the “more appropriate place for the memorial is in a museum.” Criticism of Confederate monuments has been intensifying since a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, turned violent after white nationalists opposed to the city’s plan to remove a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee clashed with counter protesters. The removal of the memorial in Ellicott City comes about a week after Baltimore pulled down its Confederate...
More than 60 former attorneys general from U.S states and territories released a letter Monday seeking to provide clarity on how to respond to acts of hate. The bipartisan group signed the open letter praising former Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley for how he took on racism decades ago. It was written after the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which ended with a car plowing into a group of counter-protesters, killing a 32-year-old woman and seriously wounding others. In 1976, Baxley, a Democrat who would later become the state’s lieutenant governor, was pursuing the case against perpetrators of a 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four black girls. A Ku Klux Klan grand dragon wrote Baxley a letter demanding a response. The attorney general replied ...
The Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan, recently declared Zaka Search and Rescue as a “national rescue organization”. This new designation, which takes effect immediately, ensuring that, in the event of a mass casualty incident, Zaka volunteers will be considered an integral part of the emergency and rescue forces, under the direction of the relevant body in charge of the incident. This, in addition to a 2005 declaration by the-then Minister of Defense which recognized Zaka as an “aid organization in times of emergency”. Zaka Chairman Yehuda Meshi-Zahav: “The designation by the Minister of Public Security of Zaka as a “national rescue organization” – and this in addition to the designation by the Minister of Defense of Zaka as an &ldquo...
The commander of U.S. naval operations has ordered a comprehensive review to get to root causes after the collision this week between a Navy destroyer and an oil tanker near Singapore. Monday’s early-morning crash is the latest “in a series of incidents in the Pacific theater,” Adm. John Richardson said in a video statement. “This trend demands more forceful action.” Navy ships have been in at least four accidents in the Pacific this year: ——— JAN. 31: USS ANTIETAM The commander of the USS Antietam was relieved of duty after the guided-missile cruiser ran aground while it was anchoring near Yokosuka base, the home port of the U.S. Navy’s Japan-based 7th Fleet. The ship’s propellers were damaged, and it returned to Yokosuka w...
The home owned by Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu Shlita in the Jewish Quarter of Yerushalayim was broken into on Monday night. The family was summoned to the home on Tuesday morning 1 Rosh Chodesh Elul, and they were surprised to learn that the burglar installed a new lock in the door, which police feel might have been intended for a future effort to take over the home. It appears the Arab who broke in is known to the family and police. The home was purchased from the Old City Development Company by the rav about four years ago.
Iran’s atomic chief warned Tuesday the Islamic Republic needs only five days to ramp up its uranium enrichment to 20 percent, a level at which the material could be used for a nuclear weapon. The comments by Ali Akbar Salehi to Iranian state television come as U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly has threatened to renegotiate or walk away from the 2015 nuclear deal. Salehi’s warning, along with recent comments by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, show Iran is willing to push back against Trump while still acknowledging they want to keep the deal, which lifted crippling economic sanctions on the country. “If there is a plan for a reaction and a challenge, we will definitely surprise them,” said Salehi, who also serves as one of Rouhani’s vice presidents. &...
On Tuesday morning 1 Rosh Chodesh Elul, Tzohar Rabbonim organization reacted harshly to the statements made by the Shas Chairman and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri on Tzohar Rabbis. In an interview with Reshet Bet Radio, Tzohar founder and Chairman Rabbi Stav said that he “should not respond to any nonsense that an askan convicted criminal-convicted says,” referring to the fact that in the past Deri was convicted of bribery and even sat in prison. However, he later said that “a criminal-convicted askan dares to cast blame on entire populations and in the organization containing hundreds of rabbonim.” He claims that despite the words of the Shas chairman, who he labels “an ignorant person who does not understand neither the Torah nor Halacha nor the Reform&rdq...
Police in New York City have opened an investigation after human remains were unearthed at a construction site near a psychiatric hospital. Police say workers were doing sewer repair work at the Brooklyn construction site when they found remains 13 feet (4 meters) below the surface Monday afternoon. Investigators say workers found a skull, arm and leg bones. The city medical examiner later confirmed the remains found at the East Flatbush site belonged to a human. Authorities do not know how long the bones had been there. The construction site is near the Kingsboro Psychiatric Center. Police continue to investigate.
It was reported by Chadrei Chareidim on Sunday morning 28 Menachem Av that a Netiv Express Company driver on the 989 line attacked a chareidi passenger on motzei Shabbos. The report says that R.A., a Yeshiva Bochur, was attacked by an Arab bus driver. The victims says he got on the bus at a stop in Tzefas and sat in a seat behind the driver. “I called a friend who was supposed to get on the bus further along the route to update him regarding the number of available seats on the bus. I barely began speaking and the driver instructed me to move further towards the back of the bus and I told him that I may sit in the front according to law. The driver told me he would throw me off the bus, so I told my friend who was still on the phone with me that the driver has chutzpah”. &l...
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