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December 10, 2019 at 2:25 pm
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday the Islamic Republic was ready for a full prisoner exchange with the United States, tweeting: “The ball is in the US’ court.”
“After getting our hostage back this week, fully ready for comprehensive prisoner exchange,” Zarif said.
The United States and Iran on Saturday swapped prisoners — American graduate student Xiyue Wang, detained for three years on spying charges, and imprisoned Iranian stem-cell researcher Massoud Soleimani, accused of sanction violations — in a rare act of cooperation between two longtime foes.
Separately, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said Iran had always sought an “all for all release” with the United States.
“We are ready to coope...
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December 10, 2019 at 2:23 pm
Over the past 12 months, Israel has seen an increase in nutritional insecurity and hunger, according to a report published Monday by Latet, Israel’s largest nonprofit organization. An umbrella organization for many local groups and associations, Latet operates a food bank and provides monthly food assistance to tens of thousands of families.
According to the report, the number of Israelis suffering from nutrition insecurity, defined as a lack of access to a wide range of foods that provide all essential nutrients, rose from 16% in 2018 to 18.5% in 2019. The number of those suffering from food insecurity rose from 5.5% to 6.5%. Among Israelis supported by local charity groups, 12% said they had to resort to humiliating situations such as looking for food in garbage bins or begging, u...
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December 10, 2019 at 2:08 pm
Israeli politics remained stuck in a logjam on Monday, with Yisrael Beiteinu head Avigdor Lieberman appearing to rebuff a call to join a right-wing coalition headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Blue and White party number two Yair Lapid saying he would forgo a rotating arrangement with party chairman Benny Gantz.
Following a second round of elections in September after a vote in April failed to produce a clear winner, both Netanyahu and Gantz have failed to form a workable governing coalition. If one was not established by Wednesday, a third round of elections would be triggered automatically.
On Monday, a tentative date for those potential elections was announced — March 2.
Netanyahu called earlier Monday for Lieberman to renege on his pledge to only support a unity ...
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December 10, 2019 at 1:47 pm
Two gunmen are firing upon police and people from a building on Martin Luther King Drive near Bidwell Avenue, injuring at least one police officer Tuesday afternoon.
Martin Luther King Drive has been cleared of people, police said.
The two gunmen arrived in the area in a U-Haul van, each carrying long guns into the bodega, police said in radio transmissions.
The grocery is the Jersey City Kosher Supermarket. A Talmud Torah located on the second floor is currently on lockdown.
At 12:51 p.m., police reported that a person appeared to be shot inside the store, near the front entrance.
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December 10, 2019 at 11:05 am
This article is adapted from my upcoming sefer, “What Can I Say... Today?” All halachos mentioned herein are complex and part of a larger framework. The purpose of the article is to raise awareness of these essential halachos. Hence, one should not draw any practical conclusions without first consulting a Rav.
Without Incriminating Others
Let us discuss a scenario in which a question of loshon hora arises. Suppose something improper was done, and Reuven asks Shimon, “Who did this?” May Shimon tell Reuven that it was Levi (who did, in fact, do it) in order to deflect the blame from himself?
The halachah is that it is considered loshon hora to incriminate Levi. Therefore, Shimon should merely deflect the blame from himself (by saying, “It wasn’t me!&rd...
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December 10, 2019 at 11:04 am
GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Employees at a Bed, Bath & Beyond in North Carolina discovered an uninvited sleepover guest hiding in the store when they opened up Monday morning.
The Greenville employees called local police around 8:30 a.m. and officers responded to a “breaking and entering in progress,” according to The News & Observer.
The intruder turned out to be a 14-year-old runaway who had “camped out” at the store overnight after leaving home, Greenville police spokeswoman Kristen Hunter said.
The teen wasn’t harmed and was taken back to his house. His name wasn’t immediately released.
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December 10, 2019 at 11:04 am
Agudath Israel of America is pleased to announce it has received an award from the NYC Complete Count Fund — a partnership between CUNY, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the New York City Council. The NYC Complete Count Fund is a first-of-its-kind Census-related community organizing program that will support and resource community-based organizations to help NYC reach a full and accurate count in the 2020 Census. These funds will support the Agudath Israel Census Outreach Project.
The Complete Count Fund was built with the understanding that local community-based organizations — which serve New Yorkers in the communities where they live and in the languages that they speak — are the most trusted messengers of important and sensitive information.
Agudath Israel is proud to joi...
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December 10, 2019 at 10:58 am
Germany will donate $66 million to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced on Friday during her first-ever visit to the former Nazi concentration camp.
The funds, half to come from Germany’s federal government and half from regional governments, will help the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation reach its goal of raising $133 million.
Merkel’s visit to Auschwitz included a stop at the museum’s conservation laboratories, the site of a gas chamber and a crematorium, and a moment of silence at the Death Wall, where around 20,000 people were shot to death.
She took a tour of the former death camp, where more than 1 million people—mostly Jewish men, women and children—were murdered, together with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawi...
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December 10, 2019 at 10:56 am
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was one of the most senior political figures to attend the annual Israeli-American Council (IAC) summit in Florida over the weekend.
Hernández seemed to enjoy every moment of the three-day confab, proving once again that his country is an ally of the Jewish state.
“This organization is just wonderful,” he told the summit. “It feels like a big family here.”
“I can feel the love that fills these halls. It’s a huge honor to be part of this IAC experience because this is my family—the family I joined when I was a 22-year-old sent to Israel,” he said.
Hernández was referring to his stint as part of the MASHAV leadership program, where the Israeli Foreign Ministry invited him ...
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December 10, 2019 at 10:53 am
Baltimore, MD - Dec. 10, 2019 - BJL wishes a hearty Mazel Tov to Mr. Eliyahu & Mrs. Stacey Baron on the birth of a son
יה"ר שיזכו לגדל בנם לתורה, לחופה, ולמעשים טובים. אמן
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December 10, 2019 at 10:38 am
In Bereishis (32:11) the posuk tells us that Yaakov was worried that he was too small in stature to receive the kindness of Hashem. The gemara in Taanis (20b) says we learn from the above posuk that a person is forbidden to stand in a place of danger and rely on a miracle since it is possible that Hashem will not perform a miracle. Even if Hashem will perform a miracle he will have some of his zechuyos deducted.
A question arises based on the Rema in Orach Chaim (187,188) discussing the fact that on Chanukah we say Al Hanisim in Birkas Hamazon. There is a special horachaman to say if a person forgot to say Al Hanisim. This hor...
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December 10, 2019 at 10:36 am
Amid the rise of anti-Semitism in the United States, former U.S. Ambassador to Austria and philanthropist Ronald S. Lauder announced on Monday the launch of the Anti-Semitism Accountability Project (ASAP), investing $25 million in political campaigns against federal, state and local candidates who support or normalize anti-Semitism.
The group will focus on candidates from both parties who are on the ballot before or on Election Day in November 2020.
ASAP will produce and run television and digital advertisements, opposition research, grassroots and grasstops outreach, on-campus organizing and rapid response to defeat candidates supporting anti-Semitic ideas.
“Anti-Semitism has become fashionable again and for too long, American Jews have been silent. It’s time to make our vo...
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December 10, 2019 at 10:32 am
President of the Palestinian Authority (PA) Mahmoud Abbas announced late Monday that elections will be held in the next few months, though he didn’t give a specific date, according to Hebrew media.
Abbas stressed the need to hold elections in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, agreed upon by all Palestinian factions, and has insisted on the participation of Arab residents in East Jerusalem — something Israel has objected to in the past.
“We formally asked Israel to allow the residents of East Jerusalem to participate in the upcoming Presidential and Legislative Elections, in accordance with the agreements signed between PLO & Israel in the years 1996 & 2006,” Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein al-Sheikh said.
Read more at i2...
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December 10, 2019 at 10:29 am
House Democrats plan to unveil two articles of impeachment Tuesday, charging President Donald Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, according to multiple lawmakers and aides.
The Judiciary Committee plans to vote on the articles on Thursday, setting up a vote on the House floor next week to make Trump the third president in history to be impeached. The markup will be the last major step before the House votes to formally impeach Trump.
Democratic leaders plan to formally announce the articles at a press conference Tuesday morning. Judiciary Committee Democrats intend to meet ahead of the announcement and review the articles.
Read more at POLITICO.
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December 10, 2019 at 10:26 am
Washington, DC — House Democrats have struck an agreement to support the new U.S. trade deal with Mexico and Canada, Rep. Henry Cuellar said Tuesday, marking a victory for President Trump who ran for office in 2016 on a pledge to renegotiate or terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The House is planning to vote on the agreement next week, said Rep. Cuellar, a Democrat who represents a Texas border district and has been leading the push for ratifying the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
The new USMCA will replace Nafta when ratified and contains provisions aimed at creating more manufacturing jobs, for example, by increasing the proportion of vehicles that must originate in North America for the cars and trucks to rec...
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December 10, 2019 at 10:25 am
A lawyer for an Israeli-American woman jailed in Russia said that her case would possibly be resolved through “political influence,” including a pardon from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Naama Issachar, 26, was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years imprisonment two months ago for drug smuggling, a charge she vehemently denies. She was caught with a small amount of cannabis at a Russian airport as she waited for a connecting flight.
At a press conference in Israel, Issachar’s Russian lawyer Vadim Klyuvgant said, “Naama’s case will possibly be examined and brought to an end in Russia through some kind of political influence.”
Regarding the possibility of a pardon, he said, “In accordance with Russia’s constitution, the president is authori...
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December 9, 2019 at 9:38 pm
House Democrats began to lay the groundwork for articles of impeachment Monday, lambasting President Donald Trump as a danger to the country during a contentious hearing that foreshadowed a party-line vote on charges that could include abuse of power, obstruction of justice and obstruction of Congress.
Over the various and at times disruptive objections of Republicans, Democratic lawmakers marched forward with their public case for impeaching Trump, a process that could reach a pivotal stage later this week with a historic committee vote.
Describing Trump as a “continuing risk to the country,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., forcefully accused the president of using his office to pressure Ukraine to launch political investigations, and then tr...
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December 9, 2019 at 9:37 pm
She’s not running for president — yet — but Hillary Clinton was the top choice for Democratic voters in the Harvard-Harris national poll released last week.
Mrs. Clinton drew 21%, followed by former Vice President Joseph R. Biden with 20%, when registered Democrats were asked whom they would support for the 2020 party presidential nod if she and former Secretary of State John Kerry were added to the mix.
Placing third in the hypothetical race was Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders at 12%, followed by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 9% and ex-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at 7%.
The online survey of 1,859 voters was conducted Nov. 27-29, a few days after Mr. Bloomberg entered the race, by the Harris Poll, and released by the Center...
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December 9, 2019 at 9:23 pm
Republican Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Lindsey Graham says the impeachment process in the House is partisan.
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December 9, 2019 at 9:20 pm
A Jordanian court has sentenced a man to eight years in jail for plotting to attack the Israeli embassy in Amman last year, AFP reported on Monday.
The country’s state security court ruled that the 33-year-old Khaled Abu Raya had “threatened to carry out terrorist acts,” according to the report.
Raya planned “to open fire on the embassy and its employees in a bid to kill a large number of Israelis,” according to the charge sheet, which also said he was motivated by the transfer of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem last year, as well as Israel’s policy towards the Gaza Strip.
The court also sentenced another Jordanian, Munir Ibrahim, to three years in prison for planning to sneak into Israel and attack soldiers, according to the report.
Desp...
