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August 17, 2017 at 9:09 am
Investigation shows ambush on security vehicles to be premeditated, Arab terrorist gets indicted.
On Thursday, an indictment will be filed against an Israeli-Arab terrorist who carried out a terror attack two weeks ago.
The Arab suspect, together with two other suspects, was arrested in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan on Sunday night after attacking a private security vehicle with a petrol bomb two weeks ago.
Investigations show the suspect in fact carried out the acts he was suspected of, and planned them ahead of time. The terrorist and his partners noticed a security vehicle driving near a central traffic circle, and slowed down. At that point, one of the terrorists poured flammable material on the vehicle's hood and windshield, and then threw a firebomb at ...
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August 17, 2017 at 8:55 am
More than 1,500 Orthodox rabbis from across US join Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce call to support Israel's effort to combat BDS.
Well over 1,500 Orthodox rabbanim from across the United States, hailing from a cross section of communities, have joined the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce’s call to support the Israeli government’s effort to combat the BDS movement, which promotes a boycott of Israel and related individuals and businesses around the world. The Chamber letter was signed by Founder and CEO Duvi Honig; Dr. Joseph Frager, Executive VP of the Chamber’s Public Policy Committee; and Chairman J. Morton Davis.
This powerful call follows the Israeli government’s decision to deny entry to several American BDS activists who sought to promote ...
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August 16, 2017 at 11:38 pm
By now, you probably have learned more than you thought possible about the upcoming total solar eclipse. You have probably learned where, when and how to see it, and you have probably heard many of the Torah sources that touch on the eclipse. However, there is not as much written about the spiritual meaning of a solar eclipse and the lesson we can draw from it.
For that reason alone, it is worth sharing a brilliant and inspiring explanation by Rav Moshe Shapira, zt”l, who passed away on this past Asara B’Teves. His insights changed the way so many of us look at the world, and this one is no exception. In the spirit of mitzvah l’farsem, and in his memory, his perspective on the eclipse is presented here (expressed as best I can – any mistake is my own).
Before exam...
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August 16, 2017 at 11:36 pm
According to a report appearing in Yediot Achronot on Wednesday, 24 Menachem Av, there is a reduction in new recruits applying for combat units, which some may attribute to the trial of former IDF Sgt. Elor Azariya. According to the report, there is a decline as compared to the summer induction last year.
It should be noted that this is the lowest point in a decade since the Second Lebanon War. Immediately after the war, there was a decrease in the motivation for combat recruitment, except in 2010, when demand jumped to an 80% peak, but since then there has been only a drop. IDF officials claim that there is no connection between the Elazar Azaria affair and the decrease in motivation for combat. On the contrary, the demand for the Kfir Brigade where Azaria served, broke new records, as d...
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August 16, 2017 at 9:35 pm
Israel is pressing ahead with construction of an underground barrier along the border with Gaza trip in an ambitious project meant to halt the threat of attack tunnels built by the Hamas terror group.
Cranes and work crews are digging holes and installing sensors and other equipment for a structure that is expected to stretch along the entire 60-kilometer (40-mile) border when it is complete.
Gadi Yarkoni, head of the local Eshkol regional council, said the project is a key reason that the area has enjoyed a surge in growth and attracted young families since a war with Hamas three years ago.
“I believe building the barrier is the right thing to do, to build in order to stop and to give an answer to the issue of the tunnels, and to the issue of the communities in the area,” h...
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August 16, 2017 at 9:34 pm
Law enforcement command and communication systems broke down following last January’s deadly shooting at a Florida airport, leading to confusion and eventually panic as a false report of a second gunman spread among officers, passengers and employees, a report released Tuesday says.
The Broward County report, prepared by an outside consulting firm, shows the extent of the chaos that reigned at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in the minutes and hours after the Jan. 6 shooting that left five people dead and six wounded. About 2,600 law enforcement officers from throughout South Florida rushed to the airport, but the Broward Sheriff’s Office didn’t take adequate control of the response, the 82-page report says. Without a plan or system to deploy them, most d...
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August 16, 2017 at 9:30 pm
“I did not believe they would recover the money” exclaimed a Jerusalem shopkeeper who was pleased to learn his money was recovered. The victim, a Jerusalem storekeeper, was robbed of his day’s income, in cash, which was left in his vehicle momentarily as he returned to the store.
He reported the theft to police but was less than hopeful that they would find the stolen cash. The chosson explained the money in the bag that was stolen was intended for his chasenah.
As soon as police received the complaint, they began looking at area surveillance videos and using other unspecified means. With a great deal of Siyata Dishmaya, the young chosson learned the money was recovered on Tuesday evening 23 Menachem Av.
Police involved in the recovery of the money explained it was the...
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August 16, 2017 at 9:29 pm
After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the era of nuclear nightmares — of the atomic arms race, of backyard bomb shelters, of schoolchildren diving under desks to practice their survival skills in the event of an attack — seemed to finally, thankfully, fade into history.
Until now.
For some baby boomers, North Korea’s nuclear advances and President Donald Trump’s bellicose response have prompted flashbacks to a time when they were young, and when they prayed each night that they might awaken the next morning. For their children, the North Korean crisis was a taste of what the Cold War was like.
“I’m not concerned to where I can’t sleep at night. But it certainly raises alarms for Guam or even Hawaii, where it might be a real threat,” sa...
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August 16, 2017 at 9:27 pm
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery over the weekend after falling while on vacation on Long Island.
Giuliani told the New York Post’s Page Six from his hospital bed following quadriceps tendon surgery that his “knee gave way” when he was walking on Sunday, the first day of his vacation.
He says he’s suffered from “catcher’s knee” for years as a result of being a catcher from a very young age and that his doctors told him it would deteriorate. He says he’s now already up and limping around.
Giuliani was under consideration for secretary of state before withdrawing his name. He’s been advising the Trump administration on cybersecurity.
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August 16, 2017 at 8:02 pm
After years of decline, teen deaths from drug overdoses have inched up, a new U.S. government report shows.
The drop in teen deaths had been a rare bright spot in the opioid epidemic that has seen adult overdose deaths surge year after year — fueled by abuse of prescription painkillers, heroin and newer drugs like fentanyl.
“This is a warning sign that we need to keep paying attention to what’s happening with young people,” said Katherine Keyes, a Columbia University expert on drug abuse issues who wasn’t part of the study.
It’s not clear why teen overdose deaths increased in 2015 or whether the trend will continue, said lead researcher Sally Curtin of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC released the report Wednesday focusing ...
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August 16, 2017 at 8:02 pm
Major-General Amikam Norkin replaces Major-General Amir Eshel as commander of the Israel Air Force. Eshel has retired following forty years of service to the IDF.
The change-of-command event was held at the Tel Nof base in the presence of IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-General Gadi Eizenkott and other officials.
Eshel was selected to receive the Legion of Merit of Award given to those who excel in their task, as it was decided he excelled during his tenure as air force chief.
In the video, Chief of Staff of the US Air Force, General Goldfein attends change of command event.
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August 16, 2017 at 8:02 pm
James Gonzalo Medina pleaded guilty today to a federal hate crime for attempting to attack an Aventura, Florida synagogue, and to a charge of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.
During the plea proceedings, Medina admitted that in March and April 2016, he planned to conduct a firearms or explosives attack on the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center. Medina took steps to prepare for this attack including conducting surveillance of the Jewish Center. On April 29, 2016, Medina took possession of what he believed to be an explosive device, obtained from a Southern Florida Joint Terrorism Task Force agent, and approached the Jewish Center on foot with the device in hand, intending to commit the attack.
“Acts of bigotry and hatred are evil and have no place in our society,”...
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August 16, 2017 at 7:59 pm
The June cyberattack that paralyzed the computer systems in companies around the world is estimated to have cost the world’s biggest container shipping line between $200 million and $300 million, A.P. Moller-Maersk said Wednesday.
The Copenhagen-based group, which was particularly severely affected by the attack, says the impact will first be reflected in its third quarter results as revenue was mainly lost in July.
The company says the June 27 malware attack was distributed through Ukrainian accounting software with backdoors into the networks of users. It was contained the following day.
“In the last week of the quarter we were hit by a cyber-attack, which mainly impacted Maersk Line, APM Terminals and Damco. Business volumes were negatively affected for a couple of weeks ...
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August 16, 2017 at 7:59 pm
The Queens Museum has reversed its decision to renege on its earlier agreement for Israel’s Mission to the United Nations to hold an event celebrating seventy years to the UN resolution which had called for the establishment of the Jewish state. This decision followed strong protests by Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon and the pro-Israel community in New York. Many elected officials had voiced their outrage and released statements.
The structure, which today houses the Museum, served as UN headquarters from 1946 to 1950.
Israel’s Ambassador Danny Danon released the following short statement to YWN following the decision:
“We welcome this step by the Museum to rectify their earlier unfortunate decision. Any attempt to discriminate against Israel is c...
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August 16, 2017 at 7:51 pm
A SpaceX shipment arrived at the International Space Station on Wednesday, delivering a bonanza of science experiments.
The SpaceX Dragon capsule pulled up following a two-day flight from Cape Canaveral. NASA astronaut Jack Fischer used the space station’s hefty robot arm to grab the Dragon 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the Pacific, near New Zealand.
The Dragon holds 3 tons of cargo, mostly research. The extra-large science load includes a cosmic ray monitor, a mini satellite with cheap, off-the-shelf scopes for potential military viewing, and 20 mice for an eye and brain study.
Lucky for the station’s six-person crew, a big variety of ice cream is also stashed away in freezers, including birthday cake flavor. It just so happens astronaut Randolph Bresnik turns 50 next mo...
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August 16, 2017 at 4:15 pm
To the Jewish Community of Charlottesville, VA:
As we usher in this Shabbat just one week after the violent and deadly racist and anti-Semitic events in your city, the members of the Rabbinical Council of America reach out to you in solidarity, support, and friendship. Elie Wiesel once said, "Jews alone are vulnerable...but Jews must not be alone." Know that you are not alone.
While you were on the frontline of ugly manifestations of hatred and bigotry that led to death, intimidation, and fear; while there were calls to burn down your synagogue; and while you were eyewitnesses to the worst expressions of intolerance in our society, we were all under attack. When you are threatened, we are all threatened. When you are hurt, we all hurt. Know that you are not ...
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August 16, 2017 at 3:43 pm
President of Beth Israel congregation, Charlottesville, tells in special column what community experienced during neo-Nazi demonstrations.
The head of the Beth Israel congregation in Charlottesville, Alan Zimmerman, wrote in his column on his community's experience with the neo-Nazi demonstrations in his city.
"On Saturday morning, I stood outside our synagogue with the armed security guard we hired after the police department refused to provide us with an officer during morning services. (Even the police department’s limited promise of an observer near our building was not kept — and note, we did not ask for protection of our property, only our people as they worshipped).
"Forty congregants were inside. Here’s what I witnessed during that tim...
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August 16, 2017 at 3:37 pm
Premiums for a popular type of individual health plan would rise sharply, and more people would be left with no insurance options if President Donald Trump makes good on his threat to stop “Obamacare” payments to insurers, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday.
The nonpartisan number crunchers also estimated that cutting off payments that now reduce copays and deductibles for people of modest incomes would add $194 billion to federal deficits over a decade. That head-scratching outcome is because a different Affordable Care Act subsidy would automatically increase as premiums jump, more than wiping out any savings.
“Ending the payments to insurers would introduce more chaos into an unsettled market, and perversely end up costing the federal government more in the...
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August 16, 2017 at 3:35 pm
Leaders of a New York Episcopal diocese say they’ll remove two plaques honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a church property in Brooklyn.
Bishop Lawrence Provenzano, leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, told Newsday the plaques outside St. John’s Episcopal Church are being removed Wednesday.
The United Daughters of the Confederacy markers commemorate the spot where Lee is said to have planted a tree while serving in the U.S. Army at Fort Hamilton in New York in the 1840s. Two decades later, he became commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
The removal comes in the wake of last weekend’s deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white supremacists protested plans to remove a Lee statue from a public park.
