A correspondent for the Telegraph newspaper describes the considerable lengths Israel went to avoid hurting civilians in this past week’s flare-up with Hamas in Gaza. Raf Sanchez had spent the previous few days covering the skirmishes between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. “We’ve just come out of Gaza for a quick trip to see how things are after this week’s fighting. A couple of observations,” Sanchez began a long threat on Twitter. “We got a sense of how careful Israel was to avoid civilian casualties during the airstrikes in Gaza. The Israeli army called one guy we met and spent 45 mins on the phone with him, getting him to evacuate his neighbors before they blew up a Hamas media building next to his,” reported Sanchez. Read more at Arutz Shev...
Liberal philanthropist George Soros has called on Facebook to initiate an independent, internal investigation of its lobbying and public relations work. The call comes after the New York Times published a report claiming the company had hired an opposition research firm to discredit critics by linking them to Soros, a frequent target of conservatives and anti-Semitic vitriol from the far right. “These efforts appear to have been part of a deliberate strategy to distract from the very real accountability problems your company continues to grapple with,” wrote Patrick Gaspard, the president of the Open Society Foundations, a philanthropic organization founded by Soros. Gaspard published the letter Wednesday after publication of the Times report and addressed it to Facebook chie...
A few inches of snow brought chaos and massive traffic to New York City roads on Thursday — prompting a storm of criticism for the city’s response to the wintry weather. “Hearing reports from all over the city about slow response to today’s storm and I’ve seen downed trees outside of each event I’ve attended tonight,” New York City council speaker Corey Johnson, a Democrat from Manhattan, wrote on Twitter. “I’m working to get in touch with DSNY to get some answers because this is unacceptable. Stay safe out there everyone.” Traffic backed up for hours across New York as numerous streets went unplowed, but was especially bad in Upper Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island. A city councilwoman from the Bronx was stuck for hours i...
Join Rabbi Yaacov Haber for 3 minutes in ushering in Shabbos with his insight to Parshas Va'Yeitzei. Rabbi Yaacov Haber has been a leading force in Jewish Education for over 40 years. He is presently the Rav and Spiritual leader of Kehillat Shivtei Yeshurun, a young and vibrant community in the center of Ramat Bet Shemesh, Israel. Before arriving in Israel, Rabbi Haber succeeded Rabbi Berel Wein as the spiritual leader of Congregation Bais Torah in Monsey, NY and as the National Director of Jewish Education for the Orthodox Union, where he created the internationally acclaimed and highly successful “Pardes Project.” At the same time he created “TorahLab", a popular online educational resource center. He was a founding trustee of AJOP, the Association of Jewish O...
PARADISE, Calif. (AP) — There’s a sweet legend about this town: On a blazing summer day in the 1850s, a lumber mill crew with wagon and ox took a break under a grove of tall evergreens. The air was cool, the pine needles fragrant. “Boys,” said the team boss, “this is paradise.” Thus, more than 170 years ago, Paradise was born. From the start, it was enriched with gold mined from nearby hills and lumber harvested from the forests. Over generations, thousands lived and loved here; they built homes and businesses, schools and houses of worship, parks and museums that proudly honored Paradise’s place in American history. In a matter of hours last week, it all disappeared. Nearly 9,000 homes. Hundreds of shops and other buildings. The Safeway superm...
Washington - Lawmakers trying to oust Nancy Pelosi started rallying behind a possible contender Thursday, but the House Democratic leader gained key endorsements and said she has “overwhelming support” to become the next speaker. Pelosi picked up backing from Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., the civil rights leader, while a who’s-who of Democrats — including former Vice President Al Gore and former Secretary of State John Kerry — advocated on her behalf. “Look, I’m supporting Pelosi,” said Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, the third-ranking Democrat and an influential leader of the Congressional Black Caucus. “But I would never tell anybody not to run.” One member of the Black Caucus, Rep. Marcia Fudge of Ohio, indicated a willingness...
Jerusalem - Israel’s outgoing defense minister says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to accept an informal truce with Gaza’s Hamas rulers amounts to “utter capitulation to terrorism.” Avigdor Lieberman, who quit over the cease-fire, told the Yediot Ahronot daily in remarks published on Friday that he would’ve opted instead for punishing airstrikes, “without the need for a ground incursion” into Gaza. The Egypt-brokered truce was reached after two days of cross-border fighting between Israel and Hamas that had been triggered by a botched Israeli undercover raid in Gaza. Lieberman’s resignation left Netanyahu’s ruling coalition with a one-seat parliamentary majority, increasing the likelihood of early elections. Late...
CHICO, Calif. (AP) — At least 63 people are now dead from a Northern California wildfire, and officials say they have a missing persons list with 631 names on it in an ever-evolving accounting of the victims of the nation’s deadliest wildfire in a century. The high number of missing people probably includes some who fled the blaze and don’t realize they’ve been reported missing, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said. He said he’s making the list public so people can see if they are on it and let authorities know they survived. “The chaos that we were dealing with was extraordinary,” Honea said of the early crisis hours last week. “Now we’re trying to go back out and make sure that we’re accounting for everyone.” Some 52,00...
Sydney - Australia’s treasurer on Friday said Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had a history of anti-Jewish statements, in an escalating war of words over the possibility Australia might move its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison proposed the embassy move during a local election campaign last month, sparking concern from Indonesia and Malaysia. “The Malaysian Prime Minister has form,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said in a radio interview. “He has called Jews hook-nosed people. He has questioned the number of people that have been killed in the Holocaust.” The comments came after Mahathir brought up the issue of moving the embassy with Morrison during a meeting at the ASEAN summit on Thursday in Singapore. “...
Jerusalem - Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Naftali Bennett’s meeting concluded with the decision to hold early elections. A date for the elections will be decided on on Sunday by the heads of parties in the coalition. Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon’s insistence on going to the polls led Netanyahu to dissolve the Knesset. According to the law, the earliest the elections can be held is after 90 days of the day that the Government is dissolved, likely placing the elections some time between March and May.
Seoul - North Korea said Friday that it will deport an American citizen it detained one month ago for illegally entering the country. The announcement suggests that North Korea still wants to maintain the mood for dialogue with the United States despite stalled nuclear diplomacy. In the past, North Korean often held American citizens it arrested for similar charges for an extended period before high-profile U.S. figures travelled to Pyongyang to secure their freedom. On Friday, the Korean Central News Agency said the U.S. citizen was detained on Oct. 16 for illegally entering the country from China. It said the U.S. citizen told investigators that he was under the direction of the Central Intelligence Agency. It said North Korea decided to deport him but did not say why and when. North ...
Washington - The Justice Department inadvertently named Julian Assange in a court filing in an unrelated case that suggests prosecutors have prepared charges against the WikiLeaks founder under seal. Assange’s name appears twice in an August court filing from a federal prosecutor in Virginia, who was attempting to keep sealed a separate case involving a man accused of coercing a minor. In one sentence, the prosecutor wrote that the charges and arrest warrant “would need to remain sealed until Assange is arrested in connection with the charges in the criminal complaint and can therefore no longer evade or avoid arrest and extradition in this matter.” In another sentence, the prosecutor said that “due to the sophistication of the defendant and the publicity surround...
THE FOLLOWING IS VIA YWN Authorities in Miami Beach are investigating a swastika found painted on ‘Congregation Beth Medrash Levi Yitzchok Lubavitch’, located at 1140 Alton Road, across from the Flamingo Park. Miami Beach police say that a security guard found the disturbing message early Wednesday morning. Police are reportedly in possession of security camera footage, and detectives are analyzing the data.Read more at
[Ed. Note] Out of the respect and recognition of the impact made by longtime BJL friend and contributor, Reb Shaya Gross, z’l, we will maintain a living memoriam to Shaya through the sweet words and thoughtful insights of  his Divrei Torah. BJL readers will remember his weekly column on the Parsha and on various Torah ideas and concepts. These meaningful words will help us remember this special young man who will be sorely missed and for those who did not merit to know him, this will be the most appropriate way for them to become familiar with who he was. Rashi quotes from the Gemara that the twelve stones that composed Yaakov’s bed complained, as each one wanted to be the pillow for Yaakov’s head. Hashem morphed all of the stones into one big stone and that e...
In this week’s Parsha the pasuk says, “And Yaakov left from Be’er Sheva and went to Charan.” The first question to be asked on the pasuk is, why is there a double lashon of “left,” and, “went?” Rashi explains that the pasuk employed the lashon of “went” to indicate that when a Tzaddik leaves a city, the added level of kedusha from the Shechina goes with him. The Beis HaLevi offers a different approach. There are two reasons that Yaakov left Be’er Sheva: One, because his mother instructed him to run away from Eisav, thus “left Be’er Sheva,” and secondly, because his father told him to go to Lavan’s house to find a wife, thus “and went to Charan.” In his Birkas Peretz, the Steipler Gaon st...
President Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin began his visit to the Vatican and Rome this morning, Tuesday 15 November / 6 Kislev with an audience with Pope Francis. This is the second meeting between the two.Their first meeting was also at the invitation of the Pope, in 2015. The president and his wife Nechama received an official welcome to the Vatican by reviewing the Pontifical Swiss Guard in their traditional uniform.The president is currently meeting with the Pope in the Apostolic Palace. A full press release will be distributed after the meeting.
Korean pop group BTS’s management organization has issued a formal apology for a scandal surrounding group members who wore Nazi paraphernalia. The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) announced in a press release that it welcomed the apology from Big Hit Entertainment after BTS artists were shown wearing a hat with a Nazi SS emblem, performing in Nazi-style uniforms, and wearing a t-shirt with pictures of atomic bombs. The SWC called the paraphernalia “offensive to both Jewish victims of the Holocaust and Japanese victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” In its statement, Big Hit Entertainment said, “We sincerely apologize to anyone who took offense in regards” to the incidents. “Big Hit Entertainment is deeply conscious of our responsibility, as it is no excus...
Madison, WI - Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says high school students who appear to be giving a Nazi salute in a photo are “a bunch of idiots.” Walker was asked Thursday about the photo of Baraboo high school students that circulated earlier this week. The photo of about 60 boys was taken outside the Sauk County Courthouse in Baraboo last spring. About two-thirds of the boys have their right arms raised in what appears to be a Nazi salute. The parent who took the photo says he was simply asking the teens to wave goodbye to their parents before they headed to prom. But Walker says, “I think they’re just stupid. I think they’re idiots. It’s as simple as that. I don’t know that it’s any more complicated than that, they’re just a bunch of ...
MAGALIA, Calif. (AP) — Ten years ago, as two wildfires advanced on Paradise, residents jumped into their vehicles to flee and got stuck in gridlock. That led authorities to devise a staggered evacuation plan — one that they used when fire came again last week. But Paradise’s carefully laid plans quickly devolved into a panicked exodus on Nov. 8. Some survivors said that by the time they got warnings, the flames were already extremely close, and they barely escaped with their lives. Others said they received no warnings at all. Now, with at least 63 people dead and more than 630 unaccounted for in the nation’s deadliest wildfire in a century, authorities are facing questions of whether they took the right approach. It’s also a lesson for other communities ac...
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