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March 22, 2019 at 9:43 am
Church - The Muslim call to prayer sounded out over Church and around New Zealand on Friday, as thousands gathered to remember the 50 people killed by a lone gunman at two mosques a week ago.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern joined about 20,000 people standing quietly at Hagley Park, in front of the Al Noor mosque where most of the victims were killed during Friday prayers last week.
“New Zealand mourns with you. We are one,” she said in a short speech, followed by two minutes of silence.
Ardern, who swiftly denounced the shooting as terrorism, has announced a ban on military-style semi-automatic and assault rifles.
The country is under heightened security alert since the attack, and police said on Friday they were investigating a threat made against Ardern on Twitter.
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March 22, 2019 at 9:40 am
United Nations - The United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday condemned Israel’s “apparent intentional use of unlawful lethal and other excessive force” against civilian protesters in Gaza, and called for perpetrators of violations in the strip to face justice.
Protests at the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip began in March last year, with Gazans demanding Israel ease a blockade of the enclave and recognize their right to return to lands their families fled or were forced from when Israel was founded in 1948.
The resolution was based on a report by a U.N. inquiry which said that Israeli security forces may have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in killing 189 Palestinians and wounding more than 6,100 at weekly protests last year.
“The ...
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March 22, 2019 at 7:26 am
From wine to macaroons to matzah and canned chicken soup, Manischewitz, the largest marketer of kosher foods in North America, unveiled a new look on Wednesday.
“We are so excited to unveil our new brand image to our consumers,” said its president and CEO, David Sugarman. “Our new logo’s tagline, ‘Comfort Food for the Soul,’ represents our brand’s familiar place in the hearts and kitchens of the families that we serve.”
The new vision will not only include updated packaging designs, but will also extend to a redesign of the firm’s website and advertising campaigns.
As part of its commitment towards modernizing the Manischewitz brand while still retaining its classic roots, the company, founded in 1888, will also be releasing several ...
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March 22, 2019 at 7:25 am
The Palestinian Authority’s ruling party, Fatah, has celebrated the terrorist who killed two Israelis and wounded a third in the West Bank on Sunday as a “perfect person” and a “heroic Martyr.”
Omar Abu Laila stabbed IDF soldier Gal Keidan to death at the Ariel junction, then stole his weapon and opened fire on passing cars. The driver of one vehicle, Rabbi Achiad Ettinger (pictured above), was mortally wounded and died the next day. Laila then drove to a nearby junction, where he shot soldier Alex Dvorsky, who remains hospitalized, though his condition has improved. Laila was killed in a firefight with Israeli soldiers after being located on Tuesday night.
According to a translation by Palestinian Media Watch, Fatah’s official Facebook page displayed ...
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March 22, 2019 at 7:25 am
New Zealand banned all military-style semi-automatic guns and assault rifles less than a week after the deadly mosque terror attacks—and Bernie Sanders says the United States must follow that lead. The presidential hopeful said the U.S. should ban assault rifles by taking on the National Rifle Association.
“This is what real action to stop gun violence looks like,” said Sanders, quoting a report on New Zealand’s ban. “We must follow New Zealand’s lead, take on the NRA and ban the sale and distribution of assault weapons in the United States.”
The gun lobby quickly rejected the call. NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch said there was no need to change the law here, responding: “First, define ‘assault weapon.’ Words are important and cert...
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March 22, 2019 at 7:23 am
Facebook has vowed to improve its “reporting logic” after no users flagged the New Zealand shooter’s video while it was live, hinting that it may introduce new reporting categories to deal with live terror attacks.
In a blog posted early Purim day, the company wrote: “During the entire live broadcast, we did not get a single user report. This matters because reports we get while a video is broadcasting live are prioritized for accelerated review.”
The blog explained that videos reported for suicide are given special priority for acceleration to moderators. However, when the Christchurch video was finally reported 12 minutes after the live broadcast ended, it was reported for reasons other than suicide and was therefore “handled according to different p...
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March 22, 2019 at 7:21 am
A New York Times op-ed by Ivan Krastev asks “Why Do Central European Nationalists Love Israel So Much?”
It reports, “For Central European governments, a special relationship with Israel is a way to benefit from Israel’s dynamic economy and cozy up to President Trump and his pro-Israel administration. It is widely believed in the region that in order for a leader of a small Central European country to get an invitation to visit the White House, he should either buy a lot of American military equipment or Mr. Netanyahu should lobby for the visit.”
It’s one thing for something to be “widely believed,” it’s another thing for it to be accurate or true. A 2018 CNN poll found that traditional antisemitic beliefs about excessive Jewish power ...
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March 22, 2019 at 7:19 am
Falls River, MA - Police now say 59 gravestones at a Jewish cemetery in Massachusetts were defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti, about twice as many as initially thought.
Fall River police said Thursday in a Facebook post that they came up with the higher number after a row-by-row inspection of Hebrew Cemetery. Of those 59, two had been knocked over.
The stones were defaced with swastikas and phrases including “Expel the Jew” and “Hitler was right” in what appeared to be black marker.
Police were alerted on Sunday by a cemetery maintenance worker.
Police are treating it as a hate crime.
No arrests have been made. The Herald News reports that rewards totaling $12,500 are being offered for information that leads to an arrest, including $10,000 given anonymously to ...
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March 22, 2019 at 7:18 am
There was a major shakeup Thursday in the ongoing scandal of the University of Maryland Medical System Board and its contracting practices.
The board also plans to hire an accounting firm to conduct a review of the board's contract and there's now emergency legislation before lawmakers to make sure this never happens again.
Chrencik is out on temporary leave. This follows reports that nine of the 30 UMMS board members benefited from business deals with the hospital system. This includes a children's book contract with Mayor Catherine Pugh, who has resigned from the board and returned her latest payment.
Board Chairman Stephen Burch issued a statement saying in part: "There is nothing more important than the trust of those that depend upon the Board's leader...
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March 22, 2019 at 7:14 am
KABUL, Afghanistan – Two American service members were killed during an operation in Afghanistan on Friday, the U.S. and NATO forces said, providing no other details on the combat deaths.
The fatalities, which bring to four the number of U.S. soldiers killed so far this year in Afghanistan, underscore the difficulties in bringing peace to the war-wrecked country even as Washington has stepped up efforts to find a way to end the 17-year war, America's longest.
The U.S. and NATO Resolute Support mission said the names of the service members killed in action were being withheld until after notification of the next of kin, in accordance with U.S. Department of Defense policy. The statement also did not specify the location of the combat or say who the soldiers were fighting.
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March 21, 2019 at 11:00 pm
The University of Maryland Medical System's board of directors asked the hospital system's president and CEO to take a temporary leave of absence starting next week, its chairman announced.
Chairman Stephen A. Burch said that while Robert A. Chrencik is on the indefinite leave, John Ashworth, the system's senior vice president of network development and an associate dean at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, will take over as interim president and CEO.
“There is nothing more important than the trust of those that depend upon the Board’s leadership," Burch said in a statement. "And, over the past week, I’ve had the proper time to listen to concerns and reflect. The Board and I are firmly committed to evolving our governance principles and opera...
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March 21, 2019 at 10:59 pm
A man and his daughter charged with Jacquelyn Smith's killing on Dec. 1, 2018 have arrived back in Maryland from Texas. Investigators said the two concocted a story about a panhandler killing Jacquelyn Smith in east Baltimore.
Baltimore police released photos and video of Keith Smith, 52, of Aberdeen, and his daughter, Valeria Smith, 28, of Baltimore, arriving back in Baltimore. At bail review hearings on Thursday, each was ordered held without bail.
The two were arrested earlier this month in Harlingen, Texas, near the Mexico border.
According to charging documents, Keith Smith approached his brother and asked if he would help kill Jacquelyn Smith.
Read charging documents here
The charging documents state that Keith Smith called 911 to report the stabbing ...
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March 21, 2019 at 10:59 pm
1) Olah Atones for Hirhurei Aveirah
We’re going to focus on some ideas of the Vilna Gaon regarding the concept of korbanos. We mentioned last week that the korban haolah means “haolah al ruchacha (forgiveness for) thoughts”, as Ramban says. It’s mechapeir on hirhurei haleiv, things that come up in your mind. The Torah is teaching us how important it is to have a pure mind.
Birchas HaTorah
One of the famous opinions of Vilna Gaon is specifically about using your mind for Torah. If we open up a Shulchan Aruch, we find a very interesting thing in Orach Chaim 47. It talks about if you think in divrei Torah in the morning before making birchas HaTorah. Is this permitted? Or, must you stop and make birchas HaTorah before thinking in Torah? Beis Yosef says in th...
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March 21, 2019 at 10:56 pm
Washington - Multiple Democratic presidential candidates said Thursday that they won’t attend the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual conference in Washington next week.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke and Sen. Kamala Harris of California are among the 2020 contenders who have decided not to attend. Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who is considering an independent bid for president, will also avoid the AIPAC conference.
It comes as the liberal advocacy group MoveOn has called on Democratic presidential candidates to skip this year’s policy conference, saying AIPAC had tried to thwart the Iran nuclear deal and had employed “anti-Muslim and anti-Arab rhetoric.” By n...
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March 21, 2019 at 4:19 pm
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, today (Thursday, 21 March 2019), visited the Western Wall plaza and placed a note in the Wall.
They then toured the Western Wall tunnels and Wilson's Arch excavations, and visited the Shaarei Teshuva synagogue in the tunnels.
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March 21, 2019 at 4:17 pm
Baltimore, MD, March 21, 2019 — Responding to the President's tweet declaring that the United States should "fully recognize Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights," Rabbi Pesach Lerner, President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, made the following statement:
On this happy day of Purim, commemorating a time when the Jews were saved from annihilation, we are most appreciative of the President's newest bold move on behalf of Israel, its citizens and its defense. The President's clear recognition of the Golan Heights as an integral part of Israel from an historical, practical and strategic perspective is most welcome and truly heartwarming.
Henceforth the Jewish community will always recall the President's friendship and kindness on this mo...
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March 21, 2019 at 4:16 pm
"Highway Through History" is the name of the new exhibit which opened with a media tour on the evening of March 19, 2019, at the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem, BLMJ.
With the expansion and development of Route #38 to and around Beit Shemesh, an impressive settlement dating back to the final decades of the Kingdom of Judah, the 7th century BCE, has been uncovered.
Scholars had thought the ancient city of Beit Shemesh was destroyed by King Sennacherib of Assyria in 701 BCE following Hezekiah's rebellion. These new finds show that after its destruction, the city was rebuilt on the eastern slope and its industrial area was of economic importance.
The BLMJ exhibit showcases handles of royal jugs from oil olive and shekel weights in one case. The olive oil industry was important, in...
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March 21, 2019 at 4:14 pm
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this evening (Thursday, 21 March 2019), spoke with US President Donald Trump and thanked him for the decision to recognize the Golan Heights.
Prime Minister Netanyahu told US President Trump: "You made history."
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March 21, 2019 at 3:32 pm
Following is an excerpt from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks this evening (Thursday, 21 March 2019), at the joint statements with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, following Us President Donald Trump's declaration:
"Secretary Pompeo, Mike, Susan, Ambassador David Friedman, I’m so excited. We’re so excited, Sara and I, to have you here, but especially on this evening. This is the eve of Purim, and we have a miracle of Purim; we call it nes Purim.
President Trump has just made history. I called him. I thanked him on behalf of the people of Israel. He did it again. First, he recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moved the US embassy here. Then, he pulled out of the disastrous Iran treaty and re-imposed sanctions. But now he did something of eq...
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March 21, 2019 at 3:29 pm
The White House may be preparing to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, say senior Israeli officials, suggesting that an announcement regarding recognition could come as early as next week.
According to a report Thursday morning by Israel’s Channel 13, senior Israeli officials believe the Trump administration is preparing to formally recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights – ending a decades-long US policy of non-recognition of Israel’s annexation of the strategic plateau.
The officials cited by the report say the US could announce plans to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan as early as next week, coinciding with Israeli premier Binyamin Netanyahu’s meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington, during the annual Americ...
