JERUSALEM (JNS) — Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit filed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s indictment in Jerusalem on Tuesday, just hours after Netanyahu withdrew his request for parliamentary immunity from prosecution in the three corruption cases against him. The indictment marks the first time a sitting Israeli prime minister will face criminal charges. Following the withdrawal of the immunity request, Netanyahu’s main political rival Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, who like the prime minister was in Washington, D.C., for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump regarding the U.S. administration’s Middle East peace plan, said in a statement: “Netanyahu is going to trial. The citizens of Israel face a clear choice: a prime minister who will w...
BORO PARK (VINnews) — U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr met with Jewish leaders in Boro Park on Tuesday, amid a recent uptick in anti-Semitism across New York City. The meeting was held at the Boro Park JCC, and the mission was to “discuss anti-Semitism and ways to combat it,” according to ABC News. “I’m extremely distressed by the uptick in hate crimes against the Jewish community,” said AG Barr. Barr further said that he is “extremely distressed” about recent acts of intimidation and violence against Jewish communities, and vowed that we will see an increased effort on the federal level to combat and prosecute these hate attacks. Barr said that he will be issuing a directive to all US Attorney Offices across the US, to “reinvigorate...
As a cohen, I often participate in the mitzvah of pidyon haben, redeeming a firstborn male child, a bechor; but I have never been asked to participate in redeeming a firstborn donkey, in Hebrew called petter chamor. The Torah mentions this mitzvah in three different places. (1) In Parshas Bo, the pasuk says: Every firstborn donkey, you shall redeem with a “seh,” and if you do not redeem it, you should break its neck. Furthermore, the firstborn of your children, you shall also redeem (Shemos 13:13). (I will explain later why I did not translate the world “seh.”) (2) The pasuk repeats the same commandment almost verbatim in Parshas Ki Sissa (Shemos 34:20). (3) In Parshas Korach, the Torah states: And the firstborn of a non-kosher animal you shall redeem (Bamidbar ...
President Trump on Tuesday called for a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as he unveiled the details of his administration’s much-awaited Middle East peace plan. Trump announced the proposal alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during remarks in the East Room of the White House. "My vision presents a win-win situation for both sides," Trump said. "Today Israel has taken a giant step toward peace." While Trump and Netanyahu praised the plan as a way toward ending the decades-long conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians, odds of the peace plan taking shape are long given that the Palestinians have preemptively rejected the plan. "This is a great deal," Trump said. "And the Palestinians may not have ...
[Ed. Note]: There is a great new resource available for reviewing or learning the daf. Request to join by texting 7185772401 or clicking here or by emailing dafbirchaschaim@gmail.com for archives of the shiur. To download click here . In Shemos 10:22 Moshe tilted his hand toward the heaven and darkness descended all over Mitzrayim and one was able to feel the darkness. Rashi explains the reason Hashem made darkness was so that the Jews of that generations who were resha’im and did not want to leave Mitzrayim would die during those three days and the Mitzriyim would not see it and say that the Jews are being punished just like us. In the gemara in Megillah 11a we see that Dasan an...
A deadly pneumonia-like illness that has raised the specter of an international health emergency has now claimed over 100 lives. Most of the deaths have occurred in the mainland China province of Hubei where the virus originated. The death toll comes from China Global Television Network, a state-run media organization that has been following the situation closely. So far, all deaths have been recorded in China. The new virus, now known as 2019-nCoV, is part of a family of coronaviruses that includes everything from the common cold to deadly SARS, which killed hundreds in 2003. Read more.
The Yesha Council umbrella group of settler leaders announced on Tuesday that it would oppose President Donald Trump’s peace plan, hours before the White House was slated to unveil its details. “We are very troubled,” said Yesha Council leader and Jordan Valley Regional Council Chairman David Elhayani in a statement after meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu along with someone he referred to as a senior US official. “We cannot accept a plan that would include the establishment of a Palestinian state, which would pose a threat to the State of Israel,” he said. “We will also not allow for the establishment of a Palestinian state, even if that means giving up on enacting sovereignty in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley [for now],” E...
U.S. forces have recovered the remains of two American service members from the Air Force plane that crashed in eastern Afghanistan Monday, a U.S. defense official tells Fox News. The two Americans recovered were the only two on board the E-11A plane,  the official added. The aircraft is the U.S. military's version of the civilian Bombardier Global Express business jet. The identities of the two have not been publicly announced, pending notification of their relatives, according to the Associated Press. Read more at FOX News
NEW YORK (VINnews) — The Metropolitan Travel Authority (MTA), which is responsible for providing public transportation in New York State with an estimated 11 million passengers daily, revealed a new advertising campaign Monday designed to encourage passengers on public transport to report hate crimes and other “bias-motivated” threats or graffiti. The campaign comes in the wake of a spate of anti-Semitic and xenophobic hate crimes in the NY public transit system, with the latest occurring just hours before the campaign, as New York police arrested a man for allegedly terrorizing a transgender woman on the subway over the weekend. The announcement of the campaign was set for January 27th, the day when Auschwitz was liberated, now recognized as International Holocaust Rem...
NEW YORK (VINnews) — Elie Wiesel’s only son Elisha has led a rocky path living in the shadow of his Nobel-prize winning father and his father’s torrid past. In a revealing New York Post interview, Wiesel described his relationship with his father, his religious journeys and how he felt firsthand his father’s experiences after visiting Auschwitz with his father in 1995. ”It was a very powerful experience,” he said of the notorious extermination camp in Poland where his father was deported at age 15. Elie’s mother and younger sister were sent to the gas chambers on the first day there. “We found the spots where my father thought each of the various members of [our] family died and read Psalms there,” Elisha recalled. But even more emot...
On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which commemorates the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed on Monday the Never Again Education Act, a bill that seeks to expand Holocaust education. The final tally was 393 to 5, with four Republicans and one Independent, Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, voting against the bill. If enacted, it would expand the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s education programming to teachers nationwide, requiring the museum to develop and disseminate resources to improve awareness and understanding of the Holocaust and its lessons. The bill heads to the U.S. Senate, whose version slightly differs from the one in the House. “We have learned over time that it’s not enoug...
Former National Security Adviser John Bolton cannot let the leak of his memoir stand and should go to the press and explain what he knows about aid to Ukraine, says Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday that she was not thinking about the 2020 Democratic primary or her effect on voters when she criticized Sen. Bernie Sanders, her 2016 primary rival, in a new documentary. In an interview with Variety, Clinton said her comments about Sanders’s likability and whether she would support him if he’s the Democratic nominee, were made more than a year ago. “I think we did that interview about a year-and-a-half ago. I wasn’t thinking about the election by any means,” Clinton told Variety. “I’ve said I’m going to support the nominee,” she added. “But I do think it’s important to look at somebody’s record and look at what they’ve gotten done and see whether you agree...
The U.S. State Department, working with Congress, is slated to send $2 million to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation to “preserve the Auschwitz and Birkenau Memorial and Museum so future generations never forget, and to further efforts to combat contemporary forms of anti-Semitism,” announced U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday. Between 2013 and 2018, the United States sent $15 million to support the foundation. “The United States encourages other nations to join us in supporting the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation. We firmly believe it is humanity’s duty to honor Holocaust survivors, guard the memory of Holocaust victims and all other victims of Nazi persecution, and fight back against anti-Semitism, and attempts to ignore and revise history,” said P...
A senior adviser to Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz, currently accompanying Gantz on a visit to Washington, D.C., to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, has likened Trump in the past to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and insinuated that he colluded with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has also suggested that Trump play Russian roulette with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. In August 2017, Tzur tweeted: “Barack Hussain Obama left, Donald Adolf Trump arrived. Dying to see who comes next.” Similarly, in March 2016, Tzur tweeted: “Donald’s next book: Mein Trump,” playing on the spelling of Trump’s name (in Hebrew, “p” and “f” are represented by the same letter). In September 2017, during attempted negotiations between Trump...
Leaders of the Hamas terrorist organization and Fatah will join forces Tuesday in a rare meeting in Ramallah against President Trump’s long-awaited peace plan, officials said. “We invited the Hamas movement to attend the emergency meeting of the leadership and they will take part in the meeting,” senior Palestinian Authority official Azzam al-Ahmed said. Hamas official Nasser al-Din al-Shaar confirmed he would attend the meeting, which all Palestinian Arab factions were invited to. “The meeting will discuss the position that must be taken (against) Trump’s plan,” Shaar said. Read more at Arutz Sheva.
Iranian media claims that “many CIA” officers were killed in a plane crash on Monday. The Taliban initially claimed large numbers of Americans were killed, while Russian media and Iranian media then asserted that a senior CIA officer responsible for killing IRGC general Qasem Soleimani was on board. The claim has been greeted with skepticism. Michael D’Andrea’s name began to appear in Farsi media in the wake of the Soleimani killing when articles at Mehr News and Radio Farda claimed he was involved in planning the US operation. Later on January 27 his name appeared again in rumors after the plane crash. There are many who might have an interest in spreading conspiracies about the Taliban downing high ranking US intelligence officers, nevertheless Iran’s Tasn...
The Baltimore City Council approved new legislation Monday night set to help city agencies identify the symptoms of trauma and help reduce its effect on children, according to WBAL-TV 11. The Baltimore City Trauma-Responsive Care Act will establish a citywide task force with the purpose of identifying children who have experienced trauma and assist them in finding help. Councilman Zeke Cohen sponsored the bill, stating over 50% of the children in Baltimore have experienced at least one type of major trauma. If this trauma goes unaddressed, the possibility of the young person becoming an offender or victim of violence increases, Cohen said. The new law requires all city agencies to be trained in identifying trauma and how to respond to it appropriately. The bill also calls for city agenc...
Baltimore police report a man was assaulted by a "squeegee kid" last week after he didn't allow the kid to clean his windows. Around 6 p.m. Jan. 25, a man was sitting in his work truck in the unit block of South President Street when he was approached by an unknown black male wearing a black hoodie and black pants, according to police. The man told police he didn't want the kid to clean his windows, and the kid then smacked the man's car window before walking away. The man got out of his truck and asked the kid why he smacked his car. Police said the kid then punched the man in the left eye before fleeing the scene eastbound on Lombard Street. The man was treated for blurred vision and pain by medics at the scene but denied to go to the hospital, police report. Police c...
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