|
May 25, 2017 at 12:37 pm
Historic initiative bearing over 500,000 signatures from 168 countries a global statement of support for a united Jerusalem
Jerusalem, Israel – May 25, 2017 - Just prior to US President Donald Trump’s whirlwind tour of Israel and the breathtaking and emotional 50th anniversary Jerusalem Day celebrations across the country, the staff of United with Israel, the world’s largest grassroots pro-Israel movement, met with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat to present him with the ‘Jerusalem Declaration,’ a historic book containing the names of over 500,000 individuals from around the world who recognize Jerusalem as both the eternal capital of the Jewish People and the undivided capital of the State of Israel.
Mayor Barkat, an outspoken proponent of mainta...
|
May 25, 2017 at 12:36 pm
U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron barely know each other but they seemed to have a hard time letting go when they first met on Thursday.
Each man gripped each other's right hand so firmly that their knuckles turned white and their jaws seemed to clench.
Images from the photo session at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Brussels showed Trump finally giving up, his fingers loosened while Macron is still holding on tightly.
Macron's determination may be a lesson for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who on a recent visit to the Oval Office tried and failed to get Trump to shake her hand.
Both Trump and Macron were in Brussels to attend a NATO summit.
After their meeting, they had veal filet and Belgian chocolate mousse for lunch.
|
May 25, 2017 at 12:36 pm
Russia’s main domestic security agency says it has arrested four members of the Islamic State group who have been preparing attacks in Moscow.
The Federal Security Service, or FSB, the main KGB successor agency, said the suspects arrested in Moscow Thursday were preparing to strike at the capital’s transport network. The agency said in a statement that the four were working under directions from IS in Syria to prepare attacks using self-made explosive devices.
The FSB said that the suspects were planning to join the IS in Syria after the attack. It didn’t give their names, saying only the group included citizens of Russia and ex-Soviet Central Asian nations.
The arrests follow last month’s suicide bombing in St. Petersburg’s subway that left 16 dead and wou...
|
May 25, 2017 at 12:29 pm
Baltimore, MD – May 25, 2017 – A motor vehicle accident on Park Heights Ave. between Clarks Lane and Bancroft has forced Baltimore Police to shut down that area for traffic
Please steer clear of the area.
|
May 25, 2017 at 12:01 pm
Researchers at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and Sheba Medical Center have developed a new method for treating atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The treatment prevents heart failure by reducing inflammation in the cardiovascular system and plaque in the arteries.
According to the 2015 Lancet Global Burden of Disease Report, 56 million deaths around the world each year result from atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Atherosclerosis is caused by high blood pressure, smoking or high cholesterol, and damages the thin layer of cells in the arteries called “endothelium” that keep blood flowing smoothly. This damage causes plaque to form in the arteries and can eventually lead to heart failure.
“Our E-selectin-targeting polymer re...
|
May 25, 2017 at 12:00 pm
The Czech Parliament approved a resolution Wednesday recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, while condemning recent anti-Israel resolutions passed by UNESCO.
The resolution, which was approved by 116 of 156 members of the parliament’s lower chamber, calls on the Czech government to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to stop paying membership fees to UNESCO until it stops its anti-Israel bias.
In early May, UNESCO passed a resolution denying Israel’s claims over Jerusalem. Last year, UNESCO passed two resolutions denying the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount.
At a dinner celebrating the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the Czech lawmakers for the resolution.
“The parliament ...
|
May 25, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Over the years, Palestinian leaders have “excelled in two things: rhetoric and missing opportunities,” a Saudi journalist wrote in a column published this week.
“Young Palestinians deserve to live, aspire, and act like the young people of other nations,” Mash’al Al-Sudairi said in a piece published by the London-headquartered Asharq al-Awsat daily newspaper and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). “We have had our fill of sorrow, oppression, idiocy, and the spouting of extremist slogans, that have eliminated wisdom and at the same time [forfeited] much land.”
Addressing Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh directly, Sudairi noted, “When you determined [in the new Hamas policy document that the borde...
|
May 25, 2017 at 11:53 am
New York’s Democratic governor says a new federal budget proposal from Republican President Donald Trump would be “devastating” for his state.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters Wednesday the proposed spending plan amounts to “the Niagara Falls of trickle-down economics,” referring to the economic philosophy that tax cuts for the rich will result in more jobs and prosperity for everyone else.
Cuomo says the budget plan would jeopardize vital housing assistance, health care and other programs that protect the most vulnerable in society.
Cuomo has also criticized Republican health care plans, saying they will put services for millions of New Yorkers at risk.
The second-term executive is widely believed to be a possible White House contender in 2020. Cuomo has ...
|
May 25, 2017 at 11:52 am
Brussels (AFP) - US President Donald Trump on Thursday ran into the first problems of a landmark European trip, embarrassingly called out in public over Russia and on leaks into the Manchester terror attack.
His carefully choreographed visits to the EU and NATO in Brussels were designed to heal divisions caused by the billionaire's harsh campaign criticisms of both institutions.
Trump was to take a "tough" stance with NATO -- the US-led military alliance he once dubbed "obsolete" -- to push it to take more action on Islamist terrorism and to pay its way.
But differences immediately emerged after his talks with the European Union's top officials Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker on climate change, trade, and above all Russia.
"I'm not 100 percent sure that we can say to...
|
May 25, 2017 at 11:45 am
How much would you pay for a Zionist icon’s passport? The question will be answered next month when J. Greenstein & Company, an auction house specializing in antique Judaica items, takes bids for the passport of Ze’ev Jabotinsky.
Born in Russia, Jabotinsky (1880-1940) founded a movement known as Revisionist Zionism and the Irgun, the Jewish underground militia in British Mandatory Palestine. His passport will be auctioned off June 13 in Cedarhurst, N.Y.
Historian Dr. Rafael Medoff has written for JNS.org that while Jabotinsky “was arguably the most controversial Zionist leader of his era” and was branded a racist, the Zionist pioneer actually had an anti-racist vision of a Jewish state in which the Arab minority “would have full civi...
|
May 25, 2017 at 11:43 am
Britain has suspended intelligence sharing on the Manchester bombing with the US after American officials leaked information to the media, an issue that British Prime Minister Theresa May will raise with US President Donald Trump later Thursday.
US officials released the suspected bomber’s name and other details of the investigation into the deadly attack at the Manchester Arena Monday night, irking British investigators scrambling to keep details of the probe confidential.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said that only intelligence relating to this particular probe had been suspended, adding that “we quite frankly can’t afford to risk it any more.”
|
May 25, 2017 at 11:43 am
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said President Donald Trump put “a lot of pressure” on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to revive peace talks during the American leader's recent visit to the region.
"There were very substantive discussions in Israel with both Netanyahu as well as Abbas,” Tillerson told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Trump was “very forceful” in his discussions with the two leaders, and "everyone has to compromise,” Tillerson said. The secretary of state also suggested Israeli-Palestinian relations could have a domino effect on peace in the region.
“[Trump] has made the point several times: we solve the Israeli-Palestinian peace dilemma, we start solving ...
|
May 25, 2017 at 11:41 am
An Iranian semi-official news agency says the country’s powerful Revolutionary Guard has built a third underground facility designated to produce ballistic missiles.
The semi-official Fars news agency on Thursday quoted the chief of paramilitary’s airspace division, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, as saying the force will “continue to develop our missile capacity” and that U.S. concerns over the country’s ballistic program are of no significance to Iran.
According to the report, the site is the third underground production facility for ballistic missiles in Iran. The report did not provide more details, say where it’s located and if and how many missiles have already been produced there.
Iran has long boasted of having missiles that can travel 2,000 kilomete...
|
May 25, 2017 at 11:40 am
Visiting a city he once called all sorts of names to meet with the leaders of one alliance he threatened to abandon and another whose weakening he cheered, President Donald Trump will address a continent Thursday still reeling from his election and anxious about his support.
Trump traveled Thursday morning to the European Union headquarters in Brussels for meetings with Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, and other EU officials.
Trump appeared to be greeted warmly by the leaders, despite his past comments publicly cheering the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the EU last summer and slamming the alliance during his transition as “a vehicle for Germany.” Trump has taken a less combative tone sinc...
|
May 25, 2017 at 9:58 am
Without the shocking video, it’s unlikely that the world would have learned or cared about the violent manhandling of a 69-year-old man on a plane last month.
The outrage on social media, the mea culpa by an airline CEO, the promise to treat customers better — none of it would have happened.
The passengers who shot those videos on a United Express plane in Chicago violated United’s policy on photography. By the letter of the airline’s law, they too could have been ordered off the plane.
Under United’s policy, customers can take pictures or videos with small cameras or cellphones “provided that the purpose is capturing personal events.” Filming or photographing other customers or airline employees without their consent is prohibited. American, De...
|
May 25, 2017 at 9:56 am
P. was born to Iranian parents who fled Iran to Germany following the Islamic Revolution. Following her parents’ divorce and subsequent discovery that her mother is, indeed, Jewish, P. was drawn to begin investigating her Jewish roots and identity. Revealing that she, too, is Jewish, she determined to join a one-year study program in Israel.
On Yom Yerushalayim, P. marched through Jerusalem’s streets and joined the Flag Dance throughout the city accompanied by her friends from the World Bnei Akiva youth movement.
P.’s story is comprised of myriad details and contradictions that, somehow weave the riveting tapestry of her life. Following the Islamic Revolution in 1979, her mother’s family, unaffiliated Jews, fled Iran to Germany, intending to continue on to the Uni...
|
May 25, 2017 at 9:55 am
Britain’s home secretary criticized U.S. officials on Wednesday for leaking sensitive information about the inquiry into the extremist attack that killed 22 people at a Manchester concert arena.
Amber Rudd told Sky News that U.S. officials provided information to the news media that Britain preferred to keep confidential for reasons of operational security. Britain has raised its official terror threat to “critical” — meaning it is likely an attack is imminent — and is trying to uncover a suspected extremist network before it strikes again.
Rudd said the “element of surprise” in the police and security service measures could be compromised by information being released too quickly. Rudd said she had complained to U.S. officials to make sure the f...
|
May 25, 2017 at 9:50 am
It is a question that is on everyone’s mind (actually, mostly on those who keep the second zman): Can we get a haircut this Friday, Rosh Chodesh Sivan?
Answer: It is complicated.
Generally speaking, for those who keep the second period of mourning, when Rosh Chodesh Sivan falls on Friday, the Shloshes yemei hagballah – the three days of preparation for Matan Torah begin on Sunday.
Previously, we discussed that when Lag BaOmer falls on Sunday, it is kind of a slap in the face to the Shabbos to get a haircut for Lag BaOmer but not for Shabbos! Therefore, on the 31st of the Omer that falls on a Friday, it would be permitted to get a haircut.
So can we not apply the same logic here and allow a haircut for Shabbos on Rosh Chodesh Sivan when it falls on a Friday?
So the answer t...
|
May 25, 2017 at 9:49 am
The Trump administration is asking for more money to protect President Donald Trump’s signature New York skyscraper, add hundreds of new Secret Service agents and strengthen security at the White House, according to new budget documents presented to Congress.
The request is for $25.7 million in security-related expenses at Trump Tower, including “personnel travel costs assigned to the protective details for the children and grandchildren of President Trump, as well as other functions supporting these details.” Those services, the request said, will be maintained “throughout the incumbent’s presidency.”
The budget numbers offer the first look into the administration’s request for a full year’s worth of extra protective resources under Trump,...
