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February 25, 2017 at 7:50 pm
$36,000 prizes celebrate progression in Jewish education.
Three alumni of Yeshiva University’s Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration—Rabbi Yoni Fein ’14A, Shira Greenspan ’14A and Rabbi Tzvi Sinensky ’15A—have been awarded 2017 Kohelet Prizes celebrating progression in Jewish education.
The annual prize from the Kohelet Foundation bestows $36,000 to each of six educators or teams of educators who demonstrate extraordinary accomplishment in six categories such as interdisciplinary integration, differentiated instruction, developing critical thinking skills and taking risks.
Each category received many submissions and required entrants to demonstrate a model that had already been implemented in their classroom, as well as the ...
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February 25, 2017 at 7:49 pm
Baltimore, MD - Feb. 16, 2016 - The Bais Yaakov School Rabbi Benjamin Steinberg Middle School Dolphin Club BY KIDZ 4 KIDZ Chinese Auction is back once again for its 4th extravaganza. The phenomenal success of the past three auctions has inspired this years group of 8 Dolphin Club members to recreate the upcoming event. These clubs were named for the dolphin, a animal that always seems to smile and is scientifically known for its ability to help others. These groups sponsored by the Maryland Counseling Network are a "fantastic way for the girls to learn to handle social interactions, conflict resolution and develop team building skills says Rabbi Hochberg Director. "The girls finish the program with an incredible sense of accomplishment and the skills to work well with others", says Leeba ...
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February 25, 2017 at 7:40 pm
Spanish municipality reverses own BDS vote following legal action.
The Spanish municipality of Petrer, which is known internationally for hosting mock battles celebrating crusaders, rescinded its support for boycotts against Israel following legal action against the city.The City Council of Petrer, a city of 95,000 located 200 miles southeast of Madrid, voted Thursday to withdraw its support from a 2016 resolution for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel, or BDS, according to a statement Friday by the pro-Israel ACOM group.ACOM had sued the city to reverse its action and has launched dozens of successful lawsuits in recent months against institutions that adhered to BDS principles, arguing their actions are discriminatory and infringing on the principle of equal...
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February 25, 2017 at 7:33 pm
Cuban bus overturns, killing 70-year-old Israeli and injuring 9 others.
70-year-old Nochum Henkin was killed in a bus accident during an organized trip to Cuba.
Together with several other Israelis, Henkin and his wife Chana were on a bus fro the central Cuban city of Morón to Ciego de Ávila when the bus overturned.
Henkin was killed, and his wife was saved "by a miracle."
Eight other passengers were injured lightly to moderately.
According to Israel's Foreign Ministry, the road was wet and the driver of the bust lost control, causing the bus to overturn. Two of the Henkin children have flown to Cuba to help take care of their father's body and to help their mother.
The Foreign Ministry is doing all it can to aid the bereaved family.
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February 25, 2017 at 7:32 pm
Jewish physicist Mildred Dresselhaus, 'Queen of Carbon,' dies at 86.
Physicist Mildred Dresselhaus, the daughter of impoverished Polish Jewish immigrants whose pioneering research into the thermal and electrical properties of carbon earned her the nickname “Queen of Carbon,” has died.Dresselhaus, who also was an advocate for women in science fields, died Monday at 86.Her research was foundational to the field called nanoscience, in which matter is manipulated at an atomic and molecular level. Her pioneering work earned her the $1 million Kavli Prize in Nanoscience in 2012, the National Medal of Science, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and IEEE Medal of Honor, the highest award of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.Dresselhaus had gained wider...
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February 25, 2017 at 7:32 pm
Men of 'Middle Eastern appearance' forced brothers off road in suburb outside Paris
Two French Jewish brothers were briefly abducted and abused by a group of men in a Paris suburb in an incident that ended with the brothers being beaten and attacked with a wood saw, the victims' father told i24NEWS on Thursday
Armand Azoulay, who is a leader of the Jewish community in Bondy, located some 11 km northeastern of the center of Paris, said his sons aged 29 and 17, were forced off the road by a group of men described as having a Middle Eastern appearance.
The attackers forced the brothers to stop their car, and one of the attackers then "grabbed my son by the throat" and took out a "wood saw" Azoulay said.
He attempted to saw off the finger of one of his sons, but ...
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February 25, 2017 at 7:31 pm
Mayor Bill de Blasio personally intervened on behalf of one of his leading fundraisers to have a partial vacate order lifted on a building the City deemed as unlicensed, illegal and improperly worked on, knowledgable sources told Kings County Politics.
The incident stems from December 2014, when it is alleged that de Blasio personally intervened on behalf of Satmar Rabbi Moish Indig to have a vacate order lifted on two adjacent Satmar school buildings at 88 and 96 Sanford Street in Bed-Stuy.
One of the buildings was entered without a permit, and the other was found to have illegal classes in the basement. A city Department of Buildings (DOB) inspector cited it for having dangerous electrical work among other violations. The newer building was literally built in weeks, and recei...
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February 25, 2017 at 7:27 pm
ATLANTA — Former labor secretary Thomas Perez was elected the first Latino chair of the Democratic National Committee on Saturday, narrowly defeating Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) at the end of a contentious battle over the fate of the beleaguered party in the age of President Trump.
Perez’s victory concluded the first contested race for the DNC leadership since 1985, a contest the party had extended by a month to allow more debate. It put in place the Democratic leadership that will navigate thousands of state and local elections — where the party hopes to reverse the losses of the past six years — and a 2020 presidential race that could divide the party again.
Ellison’s defeat was a blow to the party’s liberal wing, personified by activists, labo...
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February 25, 2017 at 7:27 pm
Armed driver rams into pedestrians, injuring three; authorities investigating.
Three people were injured, one of them severely, by a ramming on Saturday evening in Heidelberg, Germany.
A driver armed with a knife ran his car into a group of pedestrians.
German police shot at the driver, seriously injuring him. He was taken to the hospital in unspecified condition.
German authorities are currently investigating the incident. However, they have explicitly stated the incident was "not a terror attack."
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February 25, 2017 at 7:26 pm
Analysts at the Homeland Security Department’s intelligence arm found insufficient evidence that citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries included in President Donald Trump’s travel ban pose a terror threat to the United States.
A draft document obtained by The Associated Press concludes that citizenship is an “unlikely indicator” of terrorism threats to the United States and that few people from the countries Trump listed in his travel ban have carried out attacks or been involved in terrorism-related activities in the U.S. since Syria’s civil war started in 2011.
Trump cited terrorism concerns as the primary reason he signed the sweeping temporary travel ban in late January, which also halted the U.S. refugee program. A federal judge in Washington state...
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February 25, 2017 at 7:25 pm
Israeli gets booted from Colombia plane after 'threatening' to detonate a bomb.
An Israeli passenger was removed from a domestic flight in Colombia after he reportedly joked about detonating a bomb due to a long delay, according to local media.Yossef Bronfen, 49, was aboard a Latam Airlines flight at the El Dorado International Airport in Bogota earlier this week for seven hours awaiting departure when he apparently lost patience and spoke about bombing the Barranquilla-bound plane, according to some passengers sitting near him in the rear of the aircraft. They said he was joking.But the Chilean-Brazilian airline was not amused.“While boarding, a disruptive passenger threatened to detonate an explosive artifact after which all security protocols established by the compan...
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February 25, 2017 at 7:24 pm
The president tweeted his announcement on Saturday.
Donald Trump will be skipping the White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 29.
"I will not be attending the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!" Trump tweeted on Saturday afternoon.
Trump's decision comes after CNN, The New York Times, Politico and several other major media outlets were blocked from attending a Friday White House press briefing. The president also continued to express his dislike for "fake news" media and targeted reporters' use of anonymous sources while speaking to the Conservative Political Action Committee on Friday.
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February 24, 2017 at 4:55 pm
During the Donald Trump era, America “will stand with Israel,” Vice President Mike Pence vowed on Thursday during his address to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland.
“Israel’s fight is our fight, her cause is our cause and her values are our values,” Pence said, prompting a standing ovation. “I’m proud to stand with the president, who stands with our most important ally, the Jewish state of Israel.”
Pence’s CPAC appearance came a day after he stopped at a recently vandalized Jewish cemetery in Missouri and lent a helping hand in the cleanup effort.
An Israeli government representative slammed the BDS movement on Friday for falsely implying that a prominent US literary so...
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February 24, 2017 at 4:52 pm
An Israeli government representative slammed the BDS movement on Friday for falsely implying that a prominent US literary society had decided to boycott the Jewish state.
Shimon Mercer-Wood — spokesman and consul for media affairs at the Consulate General of Israel in New York — was referring to an Adalah-NY press release that heralded the lack of Israeli government funding for PEN America’s 2017 World Voices Festival — an annual New York event that Israel had been a sponsor of in recent years.
Adalah-NY claimed that this was the result of “a campaign and a call supported by leading literary figures asking the organization to reject Israeli government sponsorship.”
PEN America has faced pressure from pro-Palestinian activists to forgo I...
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February 24, 2017 at 4:52 pm
Rather than becoming more moderate — as promised by the Obama administration during its marketing of the July 2015 Iran nuclear deal — the Iranian regime is now “far more dangerous” than it was when it agreed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with six world powers, a former top Israeli diplomatic official said on Thursday.
Recent hostile rhetoric by top Tehran regime officials — including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s call for the destruction of Israel — shows Iran is seeking “continuing conflict and escalation,” ex-Foreign Ministry Director General Dore Gold — currently the president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs — said.
On Thursday, as reported by The Algemeiner, Iranian Defense Minist...
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February 24, 2017 at 4:49 pm
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is “deeply implicated in BDS and other forms of political warfare” against the Jewish state, a watchdog group said on Friday, following the news that the Israeli government had rejected a HRW request for a work permit for its regional director.
“For two decades, Human Rights Watch has been one of the most blatant and aggressive anti-Israel NGOs in the world,” Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president of Israel-based NGO Monitor, said in a statement. “Their defenders need to ask why they systematically hire pro-BDS activists for key Israel-related ‘research’ positions, while lobbying to isolate Israel through false allegations.”
In a letter explaining its decision to not grant a work permit to Omar Shakir &mda...
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February 24, 2017 at 4:38 pm
President Barack Obama shook hands with lawmakers as he strode down the middle aisle of the House of Representatives before his final State of the Union, breaking into a wide smile when he saw a very familiar face.
“Eliot, you’re here,” Obama said.
“Would I be anyplace else?” Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., replied.
For nearly three decades, Engel has been on the aisle for every presidential address to Congress. For a fleeting moment, it’s just him and the president – two Republicans and two Democrats since he began the tradition in 1989 – shaking hands in a show of support for the leader of the free world.
Engel could be someplace else Tuesday night, when President Donald Trump strides down the House’s center aisle to deliver his first a...
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February 24, 2017 at 4:36 pm
In a White House laden with competing power centers, a trio of military men has emerged as a force to be reckoned with.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and Joint Chiefs Chairman Joseph Dunford have quickly formed a stabilizing alliance in an administration whose earliest days have been marked by turmoil. At working dinners and meetings with President Donald Trump, the men – all retired or current generals -have sought to guide the new leader and foreign policy novice.
And they have increasingly represented Trump around the world, seeking to allay concerns about the new president and his nascent foreign policy.
Their fingerprints can increasingly be seen on the president’s early national security moves, from the reworking of his controvers...
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February 24, 2017 at 4:33 pm
President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order taking aim at government regulations.
The president says the order will direct each federal agency to establish a regulatory reform task force.
The task forces will then recommend which regulations they can simplify or eliminate.
The president has long argued that excessive regulations are “killing jobs, driving companies out of our country like never before.”
He says the regulator burden is “an impossible situation” for big and small businesses, but says, “we’re going to solve it very quickly.”
Trump signed the order in the Oval Office surrounded by top executives from major corporations.
He signed a previous order that instructed agencies to identify two regulations to eliminate for ev...
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February 24, 2017 at 4:30 pm
New Hampshire this week passed a law allowing residents to carry a concealed handgun without a permit, joining a growing number of states that are allowing residents to carry weapons out of sight without a license.
At least 11 states have passed laws allowing the concealed carry of guns without a permit, and 16 states have introduced legislation this year to do the same, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures and the National Rifle Association. Gun rights advocates see the laws as the next frontier in Second Amendment rights. But the legislation has been controversial in many places where it has been introduced, with some in law enforcement, politicians and gun proponents arguing that the bills go too far.
“That’s kind of the next step in expanding law-abi...
