|
September 18, 2017 at 5:14 am
More than 1 million Americans await a hearing to see whether they qualify for disability benefits from Social Security, with the average wait nearly two years — longer than some of them will live.
All have been denied benefits at least once, as most applications are initially rejected. But in a system where the outcome of a case often depends on who decides it, most people who complete the appeals process will eventually win benefits. The numbers come from data compiled by the Social Security Administration.
About 10.5 million people get disability benefits from Social Security. An additional 8 million get disability benefits from Supplemental Security Income, the disability program for poor people who don’t qualify for Social Security. The disability programs are much ...
|
September 18, 2017 at 5:13 am
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, who spent a number of days in Uman being mispallel at the tziyun of Rav Nachman ZY”A, also visited Babi Yar, a site where over 100,000 Jews were massacred by the Nazis YM”S.
Deri laid a wreath as is customary for dignitaries and he received Kaddish. In his comments he stated, “The anger here is terrible. The Nazis treated the Jews worse than animals, but on the other hand there is something comforting.
“I am a minister in the Israeli Government, and I come here and recite Kaddish. The Jewish community here and in Israel are blossoming. They couldn’t beat us! Am Yisrael Chai!”
|
September 18, 2017 at 5:10 am
The Trump administration is considering closing down the recently reopened U.S. Embassy in Havana following a string of unexplained incidents harming the health of American diplomats in Cuba, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday.
Tillerson’s comments were the strongest indication to date that the United States might mount a major diplomatic response, potentially jeopardizing the historic restart of relations between the U.S. and Cuba. The two former foes reopened embassies in Washington and Havana in 2015 after a half-century of estrangement.
“We have it under evaluation,” Tillerson said of a possible embassy closure. “It’s a very serious issue with respect to the harm that certain individuals have suffered. We’ve brought some of those pe...
|
September 18, 2017 at 5:08 am
Top advisers to President Donald Trump on Sunday warned North Korea to give up its missile and nuclear weapons programs and to quit making threats against the U.S. and its allies or face destruction.
The warnings came a day after leader Kim Jong Un vowed to continue the weapons programs, saying North Korea is nearing its goal of “equilibrium” in military force with the United States. They also came as world leaders begin arriving in New York for the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly this week, where North Korea will be high on the agenda.
Trump is making his first appearance at the U.N. General Assembly, his biggest moment on the world stage since January’s inauguration. He is scheduled to address the world body, which he has criticized as weak and incom...
|
September 17, 2017 at 10:53 pm
Jerusalem, Israel - Sept. 17, 2017 - First Lady Nechama Rivlin hosted at Beit Hanasi, the President’s Residence, a reception in honor of the Rosh Hashana for 30 Lone Soldiers from the Givati unit on Sunday morning. Also welcoming the soldiers was Chana Eizenkot, wife of the IDF Chief of Staff.
The two women have had previous receptions, before Pesach and Rosh Hashana, to meet and speak with young IDF soldiers, who have no family in Israel.
Today's group each told their names and where they were from, London, Paris, Switzerland, and Oakland, CA. Beitar Ilit was mentioned by one, a religious community, not fond of army service. Chaim Price of Baltimore, was one of the honored lone soldiers.
The diverse group included one young woman. Several in answering question...
|
September 17, 2017 at 4:51 pm
US President Donald Trump should heed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent warnings about the danger posed by Iran’s effort to establish a permanent military presence in Syria, the Washington Post said on Thursday.
The editorial called on the US to take “its own steps to block the Iranian ‘entrenchment’ in Syria that Mr. Netanyahu spoke of.”
“Diplomacy might achieve some of that, but military steps should not be ruled out,” it went on to say.
The paper also praised the Sept. 7 airstrike — reportedly carried out by the Israeli Air Force — that targeted an Assad regime chemical weapons facility in Syria’s Hama region.
“If it slows the production of those deadly weapons, Isr...
|
September 17, 2017 at 4:45 pm
A teacher at a Catholic school in Ontario, Canada has once again defended two notorious terrorists, this time in an Arabic-language newspaper known for peddling Holocaust denial and describing Judaism as a violent faith.
Nadia Shoufani of the St. Catherine of Siena Separate School wrote in an article published in Meshwar on Sunday that she will “not stop quoting the words of Ghassan Kanafani,” and “will not stop demanding freedom for Georges Ibrahim Abdallah,” according to the advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada.
Kanafani served as the spokesman of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a terrorist group — blacklisted by the Canadian government — which organized the 1972 Lod Airport massacre that ...
|
September 17, 2017 at 4:36 pm
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran will not be bullied by the United States and will react strongly to any “wrong move” by Washington on Tehran’s nuclear deal, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Iran was violating “the spirit” of the 2015 deal under which it got sanctions relief in return for curbing its nuclear program.
State television quoted Khamenei as saying Iran was standing firm “and any wrong move by the domineering regime regarding the (nuclear accord) will face the reaction of the Islamic Republic.”
Washington extended some sanctions relief for Iran on Thursday under the nuclear deal with world powers, but said it had yet to decide whether to maintain the agreement.
Trump must m...
|
September 17, 2017 at 4:34 pm
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations has expressed alarm over reports that United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, is writing to firms regarding the “blacklist” of companies doing business in or with Israeli companies in eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank.
“It is damaging enough that the High Commissioner felt he was required to ‘produce’ this database of enterprises doing business in the settlements,” said Stephen M. Greenberg, Chairman and Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the Conference, in a statement released on Friday.
“There is no acceptable justification for the High Commissioner to go beyond what is called for in this biased measure,&rdq...
|
September 17, 2017 at 4:33 pm
The provisions of legislation on Palestinian Authority funding of terrorism currently before the US Senate have not been watered down by a new amendment based on humanitarian concerns, supporters of the bill said on Sunday.
Following the passage of the Taylor Force Act by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in August, its sponsors accepted an amendment on September 8 which would enable continued funding for Palestinian humanitarian projects that are not connected to the PA. The amendment was demanded by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), who voted against the Act in the Foreign Relations Committee, but now supports the legislation. Booker had met with sustained criticism over his original stance.
A prominent supporter of the legislation told The Algemeiner on Sunday tha...
|
September 17, 2017 at 4:31 pm
As the impending referendum on independence for the Kurdish region of Iraq draws closer, pro-government media outlets in Turkey – which remains bitterly opposed to Kurdish self-determination – are energetically promoting conspiracy theories centered on the alleged relations between Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani and the Israeli authorities.
The latest antisemitic salvo in the Turkish press claims that Barzani and the Israelis have agreed on the resettlement of 200,000 Jews in territory controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq following the referendum – currently scheduled for September 25. While Kurdish leaders are reported to be considering “alternatives” to the referendum given the international unease with the prospect of Kurdish i...
|
September 17, 2017 at 4:30 pm
Minister of Education and Chairman of the Bayit Yehudi Party, Naftali Bennet and his partner Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked presented Thursday the “constitutional plan” which is supposed to complete the constitution in Israel and to balance the three authorities, especially the Supreme Court.
The main points of the plan were formulated following the recent rulings of the Supreme Court justices who, according to the Bayit Yehudi ministers, violated the status quo between the Knesset and the courts.
As an example, they note that about a month ago, the court ruled that it had the power to disqualify legislation approved by the Knesset only because of the quality of the discussion. Later, another ruling that questioned the Knesset’s work was stopped. In both examples,...
|
September 17, 2017 at 4:28 pm
Mitchell Flint, an American aviator who helped form the Israeli Air Force in 1948 and served in Israel’s first fighter squadron has died. He was 94.
Flint, a former US Navy fighter pilot, died Saturday in Los Angeles of natural causes, said his son, Michael Flint.
Flint was one of the founding members of “Machal,” a group of non-Israelis who fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. He was one of the original members of the Israeli Air Force’s first fighter squadron and helped train Israel’s first military pilots, his son said.
Flint and other members of the Machal had flown in German planes that were captured during World War II and covered the Nazi insignia with Stars of David. He flew in rebuilt Messerschmitts, Germany’s main fighter plane during ...
|
September 17, 2017 at 4:14 pm
Hamas announced on Sunday 26 Elul, night that they were prepared to begin reconciliation talks with the Fatah movement and intended to go with it until a general election was held in the Palestinian Authority.
At the meetings of the senior members of the Gaza terror organization, they made it clear that if they were accepted, they would dismantle the executive committee in Gaza to form a unity government that would also include the Fatah led by Mahmoud Abbas.
It is pointed out that since Hamas unseated the Fatah government in Gaza, several efforts towards unity between the rival actions were attempted but they all failed.
|
September 17, 2017 at 4:13 pm
At nearly 6-foot-6, Tom Bossert is hard to miss. Yet he came and went through the gilded lobby at Trump Tower multiple times during the presidential transition largely unnoticed among the parade of White House job candidates headed for the elevators.
A Nov. 17 video from the lobby shows Trump adviser Dave Bossie twirling colleague Kellyanne Conway as Bossert looks on, generally ignored by reporters staking out the scene.
Bossert quickly caught the eye of the transition team, though, and then of Donald Trump. The president-elect offered Bossert the job of White House homeland security adviser nearly as soon as they met, on Dec. 22 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Bossert, with his smooth but unassuming manner, isn’t in the background anymore. He’s squarely...
|
September 17, 2017 at 4:11 pm
There are cracks in the curtains President Donald Trump tried to draw around the government early in his presidency, but the slivers of light aren’t making it easier to hold federal officials accountable for their actions.
Trump still refuses to divest from his real estate and hotel empire or release virtually any of his tax returns. His administration is vigorously pursuing whistleblowers. Among scores of vacant senior jobs in the government is an inspector general for the Department of Energy — led by Secretary Rick Perry, former governor of Texas — as it helps drive the region’s recovery from Hurricane Harvey.
Rebuilding from the deadly storm seems certain to be a $100 billion-plus endeavor involving multiple federal departments and an army of government ...
|
September 17, 2017 at 4:09 pm
Iran’s president says he is “inviting” the U.S. to dinner as he heads to New York for the U.N General Assembly.
President Hassan Rouhani used an analogy of a dinner party on Sunday to describe how countries are benefiting from the 2015 nuclear deal.
Rouhani described the Americans as “sitting in another room” at the party.
Rouhani said: “They can adopt a new path and come to the room where the dinner table is. That’s alright in our opinion. If they change their bad temper they can enjoy the dinner table.”
The nuclear deal under former President Barack Obama saw Iran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. President Donald Trump has said he wants to renegotiate it.
|
September 17, 2017 at 4:07 pm
President Donald Trump says he and South Korean President Moon Jae-in have discussed North Korea in their latest call.
And Trump tweets that he’s asked Moon about “Rocket Man” — an apparent reference to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
North Korea has launched a trio of missiles in recent weeks and tested a bomb that was its most powerful to date.
Trump also says long gas lines are forming in North Korea, calling it “too bad.” New U.N. sanctions cut oil exports to North Korea.
The White House says Trump and Moon are committed to continuing to take steps to strengthen deterrence and defense capabilities, and maximize economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea. They plan to meet this week at the U.N. General Assembly.
