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June 24, 2019 at 8:52 am
The testimonies of Palestinians who suffered torture at the hands of the Palestinian Authority because they collaborated or were suspected of collaborating with Israel are due to be presented to the International Criminal Court at The Hague today.
Two years ago, Jerusalem District Court Judge Moshe Drori ruled that the P.A. was responsible for abuses against 52 Israeli and Palestinian citizens from Judea and Samaria that included murder, abduction, imprisonment, torture and rape.
The ruling described horrific violations: the victims were subjected to electric shocks, hung upside down for long periods, had molten plastic poured on them, had their fingernails and teeth pulled out, were sterilized, denied sleep and food.
In some cases, their relatives were raped and/or murdered. One accoun...
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June 24, 2019 at 8:51 am
Israel’s defense establishment has heightened its military readiness and alert status in the wake of increased tensions between Tehran and Washington, according to a report by Israel’s Channel 12 on Sunday.
According to the report, which did not cite sources, the Israel Defense Forces has completed a series of steps to ensure preparedness in the event of an Iranian attack, whether via Iranian proxies Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, or by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria.
Also on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton in Jerusalem ahead of a tripartite meeting of Israeli, American and Russian security officials in the city scheduled to begin today.
During his meeting with Bolt...
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June 24, 2019 at 8:50 am
Prime Minister Netanyahu said Sunday he is ready to “consider” the forthcoming US peace plan to resolve the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“We will consider the American proposal in a fair and open way,” he said as he hosted US national security adviser John Bolton ahead of a summit in Bahrain where Washington plans to unveil economic details of its long-awaited Middle East peace plan.
Palestinians have already rejected the plan and are boycotting the economic roll-out this week in Bahrain, citing blatant bias in favor of Israel.
“I don’t understand how the Palestinians rejected the plan even before knowing what it contained,” said Netanyahu. “That’s not how you move forward.”
Read more at i24NEWS.
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June 24, 2019 at 8:48 am
Baltimore, MD - June 24, 2019 - 2019 - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Meir Meth & Esther Berkowitz on their engagement.
Mazel Tov to Mr. & Mrs. Reuven Meth and Mr. & Mrs. Aryeh Berkowitz
יה"ר שיזכו לבנות בית נאמן בישראל. אמן
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June 24, 2019 at 8:44 am
Israel’s two largest parties, Likud and Kachol Lavan, denied reports on Sunday that discussions are underway to cancel the planned September elections and form a unity government.
According to Hebrew language media outlets, the plan involved mustering the votes of 80 MKs to cancel the law that dispersed the Knesset after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition earlier this month. Such a move would reportedly also automatically cancel the planned elections.
An official in Netanyahu’s Likud Party, however, was quick to reject the claim, telling The Times of Israel that he was unaware of any such efforts.
Kachol Lavan also firmly refuted the report, saying in a statement, “There is only one option to cancel the elections — that Netanya...
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June 23, 2019 at 3:22 pm
Jerusalem - An Israeli Cabinet minister and ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is questioning a key component of the Trump administration’s new Mideast peace plan.
Tzachi Hanegbi, minister for regional cooperation, said Sunday that the U.S. proposal for a land link between the West Bank and Gaza Strip is “irrelevant” as long as the Hamas militant group controls Gaza.
The $50 billion economic plan, unveiled Saturday, calls for a travel corridor between the two Palestinian areas through Israel.
“It will be relevant when Gaza will stop being a pro-Iranian terror kingdom, meaning it’s irrelevant today and in the foreseeable future,” Hanegbi told Israel’s Kan Radio.
The U.S. is holding a two-day conference in Bahrain this week. The Palestinia...
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June 23, 2019 at 3:20 pm
Little Rock, AR - Press secretary Sarah Sanders seems to be in an enviable position as she leaves the White House for a possible run for governor in her home state of Arkansas. She has the tacit endorsement of a president popular in the state and political connections that go back to her dad Mike Huckabee’s more than 10 years as governor.
Since her departure was announced this month, Sanders hasn’t ruled out the possibility of a run for public office when she returns to Arkansas later this summer. Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who was reelected last year, is barred by term limits from running again in 2022.
Other White House officials who left have remained in the public eye by writing books and hitting the lecture circuit, but none has made a high-profile run for off...
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June 23, 2019 at 3:17 pm
Charlottesville, VA - The avowed white supremacist who plowed his car into counterdemonstrators opposing a white nationalist rally in Virginia two years ago, killing one person and injuring dozens, has asked a judge for mercy and a sentence shorter than life in prison.
Lawyers for James Alex Fields Jr., 22, said in a sentencing memo submitted in court documents Friday that the defendant should not spend his entire life in prison because of his age, a traumatic childhood and a history of mental illness. Fields pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes in March and is set to be sentenced on June 28.
“No amount of punishment imposed on James can repair the damage he caused to dozens of innocent people. But this Court should find that retribution has limits,” his attorneys wrote.
Bu...
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June 23, 2019 at 11:43 am
Jerusalem - The Chief of Japan’s Self Defense Forces General Kōji Yamazaki visited Israel as the guest of IDF Chief of General Staff LTG. Aviv Kohavi, the first time such a visit took place since diplomatic relations between Japan and Israel were established in 1952.
The IDF stated that the two military leaders met to “discuss the potential to further the partnership between their militaries.”
The visit included talks on “the regional situation and its challenges and opportunities,” the IDF added. Read more at VINnews
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June 23, 2019 at 11:43 am
Jerusalem - U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said Sunday that Iran should not “mistake U.S. prudence and discretion for weakness,” after the U.S. abruptly called off military strikes against the Iran in response to the shooting down of an unmanned American surveillance drone.
Bolton’s tough message seemed to be aimed not only at Tehran, but also at reassuring key U.S. allies that the White House remains committed to maintaining pressure on Iran. Israel, along with Arab countries in the Gulf, considers Iran to be their greatest threat, and Trump’s last-minute about face appears to have raised questions about U.S. willingness to use force against the Islamic Republic.
The downing of the aircraft on Thursday marked a new high in the rising tensions between ...
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June 23, 2019 at 11:41 am
United Nations - The Israel Trauma Coalition has recently been granted the status of a Special Advisor to the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the highest status a non-profit can achieve on the global stage.
The status of the Special Advisor gives the organization special recognition for its work in Israel and around the world. An 18-month vetting process was conducted prior to receiving this status.
ECOSOC is the United Nations’ central platform promoting sustainable development.
Created in 2001, the ITC is a non-profit organization partnering with over 40 organizations to create a continuum of care in the trauma field, response, and preparedness.
ITC has worked in Sri Lanka, Haiti, India, France, Japan, Nepal, the Philippines, Chechnya, Jordan, and th...
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June 23, 2019 at 11:38 am
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has received an “excellent” letter from President Donald Trump, and is seriously considering what his American counterpart had to say, North Korean state media reported Sunday.
Earlier this month, Trump announced he had received a “beautiful letter” from Kim, breaking the silence between the two men since a summit in Hanoi in February ended in failure. Now, Trump appears to have written back, and received a similarly warm response.
Kim “said with satisfaction that the letter is of excellent content,” the Korean Central News Agency reported.
“Appreciating the political judging faculty and extraordinary courage of President Trump, Kim Jong Un said that he would seriously contemplate the interesting content,&r...
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June 23, 2019 at 11:37 am
A 45-year-old Moroccan man detained by German police has been accused of threatening, demeaning and spitting at two Jews in Hamburg.
Shlomo Bistritzky, regional chief rabbi and a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary in Hamburg, and Eliezer Noe were approached near the city hall, where the two met with Mayor Peter Tschentscher, by a passer-by who harassed and spat on them.
Bistritzky told the Hamburg Abendblatt that the man confronted them by saying “Shalom” and then “said something that sounded threatening. We faced him and asked him what he had said. He then reached under his shirt and pulled out something … and began to threaten us verbally.”
The object reportedly was a lighter, which the man, who spoke Arabic and German, lit while insulting and threatening the two...
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June 23, 2019 at 10:11 am
President Donald Trump warned the United States may launch a devastating military attack on Iran unless it comes to the negotiating table and drops its bid to develop nuclear weapons.
“I'm not looking for war and if there is, it'll be obliteration like you've never seen before. But I'm not looking to do that. But you can't have a nuclear weapon. You want to talk? Good. Otherwise you can have a bad economy for the next three years,” Trump said during an interview with NBC’s “Meet The Press“ airing Sunday.
The president said he’d be willing to sit down with Iranian officials without any pre-conditions.
The comments, made during an interview taped Friday, came the same day Trump confirmed on Twitter that he called off a retaliato...
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June 23, 2019 at 10:03 am
“Can one truly assess how much is gained from completing Daf Yomi?”
HaRav Pam zt”l Leaves Us with Timeless Lesson
When the Daf Yomi cycle of three cycles ago concluded - in Elul 5757 (1997)- the scope of next year’s The Siyum worldwide celebrations was unthinkable.
Still, the markings of Daf Yomi’s exponential growth could already be clearly seen. In a scale unprecedented at the time, both Madison Square Garden and Nassau Coliseum in New York, plus satellite locations worldwide, were filled with celebrants of The Agudah’s 10th Siyum Hashas of Daf Yomi.
The legendary Rosh Yeshiva of Torah Vodaath, HaRav Avrohom Hacohein Pam zt”l, was honored with the has’chala (commencement) of the new Daf Yomi cycle. “Can one truly assess how much...
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June 23, 2019 at 9:45 am
Beirut - Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has criticized the Trump administration’s $50 billion investment proposal, part of its Middle East peace plan, saying Beirut will not be “tempted” by money at the expense of Palestinians’ rights.
State-run National News Agency quoted Berri as saying Sunday that those who believe Beirut will be lured by billions of dollars at a time when Lebanon is passing through an economic crisis are “mistaken.”
The 10-year plan calls for projects worth $6.3 billion for Palestinians in Lebanon, as well as $27.5 billion in the West Bank and Gaza, $9.1 billion in Egypt and $7.4 billion in Jordan.
The large sums for Jordan and Lebanon, countries with substantial Palestinian refugee populations, are an apparent att...
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June 23, 2019 at 9:04 am
Gaza City - Palestinian officials on Saturday dismissed proposals unveiled by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner for big money projects to form the first economic portion of the Trump administration’s long-awaited Middle East peace plan.
Senior Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official Hanan Ashrawi said Kushner’s plans were “all abstract promises” and said only a political solution would solve the conflict.
Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls Gaza, was more blunt, saying: “Palestine isn’t for sale”.
An Israeli cabinet minister welcomed the plan.
The Trump administration’s $50 billion Middle East economic plan calls for creation of a global investment fund to lift the Palestinian and neighboring Ar...
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June 23, 2019 at 9:01 am
Tehran warned Washington on Saturday that any attacks against Iran would set the Middle East on fire.
Iran’s warning came after President Donald Trump revealed on Friday that he canceled an order for strikes against three Iranian sites just ten minutes before they were to be executed after being told the raid would kill 150 people. The strikes were meant to serve as a response to Iran’s downing of an American drone in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Firing one bullet towards Iran will set fire to the interests of America and its allies” in the region, armed forces general staff spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi told the Tasnim news agency.
“If the enemy — especially America and its allies in the region — make the military mistake of shooting...
