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February 20, 2020 at 9:04 am
Likud Knesset Member Gideon Sa’ar said on Wednesday that while the Trump administration’s Mideast peace plan is better than any proposal Israel has seen in decades, a Palestinian state just miles from Israeli population centers “is not part of my vision.”
Speaking at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Organizations on Wednesday morning, Sa’ar, a member of the Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, was asked about the importance of the so-called “deal of the century” and the challenge for Israel to see the plan implemented under its current caretaker government.
“We have a very important opportunity to implement sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and areas of Judea and Samaria,” said Sa’ar, adding that “...
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February 20, 2020 at 9:02 am
There is no national primary for presidential nominations, but Super Tuesday is as close as we get. That’s the day when the most states hold nominating contests, the most voters have a chance to go to the polls, and the most delegates will be allotted to candidates. More than a third of all delegates for the Democratic National Convention are up for grabs on this one day.
What happens on Super Tuesday will shed some light on the big questions around the Democratic presidential primary – and there are a lot more questions than usual at this point in an election cycle.
Here’s what you should know.
Q: When is Super Tuesday?
A: It’s March 3. It will be the first big primary day after the four early nominating states – Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Ca...
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February 20, 2020 at 9:00 am
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief political rival, former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, said on Wednesday that he would not take up Netanyahu’s challenge to a televised debate.
Netanyahu declared on Tuesday, “I’m ready to go anytime or anywhere. … I have no teleprompters, we’ll talk truth.”
The Israeli news site N12 reported that, when asked if he would debate Netanyahu, Gantz replied, “I look him right in the eyes, I look at the Israeli public right in the eyes, I put the whole truth in front of the Israeli public every evening and I intend to keep doing so.”
“Netanyahu is lying, faking and spinning, and I don’t intend to attend this party,” he added.
In response to Gantz’s comments, Netan...
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February 20, 2020 at 8:59 am
A new three-year marine archaeology project will seek to explore Israel’s coasts, including ancient shipwrecks and submerged villages, aiming to find clues to the history of the last 11,000 years in the region.
“Along the coast of Israel, submerged settlements, ancient harbors and sunken ships tell a unique story of 11,000 years of human resilience and adaptation,” said Assaf Yasur-Landau, director of the Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies at the University of Haifa.
After receiving a $1.3 million grant from the Koret Foundation, the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Center for Marine Archaeology (SCMA) and the University of Haifa’s Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies will collaborate on the project.
“The Koret Foundation...
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February 20, 2020 at 8:57 am
Watch highlights from the ninth Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas as Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Amy Klobuchar clashed with debate newcomer Mike Bloomberg.
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February 20, 2020 at 8:56 am
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Six Democratic presidential hopefuls met on the debate stage in Las Vegas, but it was the newcomer, former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who received the most attention, and none of it positive. Here are some key takeaways from the debate.
THE $60 BILLION PUNCHING BAG
Bloomberg was the object of scorn, ridicule and contempt. And that was just in the first five minutes of the debate.
With all candidates flashing heat, a measure of the urgency they feel to survive in what is becoming an increasingly bitter nomination fight, the attacks focused on Bloomberg were a clear measure of his perceived strength. He has spent more than $400 million so far on advertising that in turn has given him strong standing in state and national polls.
Sen. Bernie Sanders recalled Bloo...
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February 20, 2020 at 8:56 am
“Antisemitism and hatred of Jews is growing” in Germany, the mayor of Frankfurt warned on Wednesday.
Speaking in Tel Aviv at Muni Expo 2020, Mayor Uwe Becker posited, “What increases antisemitism is a lack of knowledge. People don’t know about Jewish life, young people in Germany know about hate and the Shoah, but they don’t know about normal Jewish life in the 21st century. The average Germany child learns that in 1933 Germans started killing Jews, and then by 1945 the war was over. Children don’t learn about Jewish life; they only know that Jews are victims.”
“We have a problem with the antisemitism of adults, not only children,” he added. “Antisemitism is from the far left to the far right, influenced by anti-Zionism which be...
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February 20, 2020 at 8:44 am
There is something about going back to where it all began to make you remember who you are and what matters most.
Taking part in the Agudah’s 20th annual Yarchei Kallah, participants found themselves overtaken by an emotional connection to Eretz Yisroel, knowing that they were following in centuries-old footsteps and are crucial links in a chain extending back to Klal Yisroel’s origins. More than just an educational experience, the Yarchei Kallah has demonstrated that the seforim that have been their constant companions and the experiences they have shared are elements of a mesorah that has been handed down through the generations, one that defines us and has sustained us through the years.
The air was electric in the batei medrash as enthusiastic lomdim dove headfi...
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February 19, 2020 at 10:37 pm
Baltimore — Baltimore City Council members are working to get better opportunities for those finding it difficult to get hired.
Their efforts come as a third of working-age residents in Baltimore are without a job.
It's all a part of a resolution introduced in January, which would update council members on the city's labor market in hopes of getting youth and people with criminal records a chance to work.
Keeping the revenue flowing in Baltimore City and in typical workers' pockets is seemingly a tough task, as the U.S. Department of Labor estimates there are about 96,000 open jobs in the state of Maryland yet about a third of working-age residents in Baltimore are without work.
"Of city residents who are employed, 27% make less than $15 an hour," said Councilwoman...
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February 19, 2020 at 10:33 pm
After Gov. Larry Hogan took Baltimore City's elected officials to task, Mayor Bernard C. "Jack" Young said the state is in part to blame for the city's crime problem.
"We appreciate any help that the governor wants to give us, you know?" Young said in a Wednesday news conference following the weekly Board of Estimates meeting. "Department of Corrections, really, their job is to correct criminal behaviors and they have failed, 'cause they're turning people back onto the streets of Baltimore with no skills, no training and they need to provide that."
Since 1992, the state has operated city correctional facilities.
"The state has plenty of resources," Young said. "If they can do that, we can cut down on a lot of crime in the city of Baltimore."
As of Wednesda...
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February 19, 2020 at 10:30 pm
JERUSALEM (JNS) — Israeli tech leader Amnon Shashua will be awarded the 2020 Dan David Prize for his contributions to the field of artificial intelligence (AI) as CEO of Mobileye and co-founder of OrCam, a tech company that harnesses AI-driven computer vision.
The international Dan David prize, headquartered at Tel Aviv University, is awarded annually and includes three prizes of $1 million to each of three recipients for outstanding scientific, technological, cultural or social impact on the world.Shashua has published more than 120 papers on artificial intelligence, holds more than 45 patents and pioneered the use of tensor analysis to computer vision and machine learning. His work has resulted in safer driving and innovation in autonomous vehicles. Since Mobileye’s acquisit...
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February 19, 2020 at 10:24 pm
A lawyer for Julian Assange said in a British court Wednesday that former Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher, an ally of President Trump, made an offer to the WikiLeaks founder on behalf of Trump to pardon Assange in exchange for an admission that Russia had nothing to do with the 2016 hack and leak of emails from the Democratic National Committee.
Assange is in a British prison while he awaits a decision on an extradition request by the United States. The U.S. government wants him to stand trial for violations of the Espionage Act for his alleged role in obtaining and disseminating secret government documents in 2010 and 2011 relating to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Assange is fighting the extradition – arguing that he acted as a publisher and journalist, and that the Un...
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February 19, 2020 at 10:14 pm
One of the Torah’s fundamental principles, cited in Parshas Mishpatim, is the concept of eyen tachas eyen, shayn tachas sheyn – that the Torah ascribes punishments on a mida k’neged midah basis. Nevertheless, within this framework, we understand that the Torah does not literally call for blinding one who blinds or cutting off the arm of one who steals, rather monetary damages are paid to the victim of a crime by the perpetrator. This doctrine is consistent with the Torah’s approach to the Eved Ivri. (21:2) There are two ways in which a person can become an Eved Ivri. Either, one chooses to sell himself so as to eliminate the burden of supporting himself for a period of time or Bais Din may sell someone into avdus if they steal and are unable ...
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February 19, 2020 at 9:44 pm
Elizabeth Warren and each of the four other remaining Democratic presidential contenders wasted no time in scorching Michael Bloomberg in Wednesday night's off-the-rails debate in Las Vegas, as the former New York City mayor sought to fend off accusations that he's essentially buying his way into the race with his vast fortune.
In her first turn at the microphone, Warren asserted that she would support whoever wins the nomination, but warned that Democrats "take a huge risk if we just substitute one arrogant billionaire for another."
She said the field is running against somebody "who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians -- and no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump, I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg."
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February 19, 2020 at 8:38 pm
China has expelled three U.S.-based journalists for The Wall Street Journal after its foreign ministry deemed an op-ed in the newspaper referred to the country with a “racist” headline.
A statement obtained by multiple news outlets from China’s foreign ministry blamed the expulsions on an opinion piece written by Walter Russell Mead titled “China is the Real Sick Man of Asia,” a reference to the ongoing outbreak of a new form of coronavirus in the country.
“The Chinese people do not welcome media that publish racist statements and maliciously attacks China,” spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters, according to Reuters. “In light of this, China has decided to revoke the press cards of the three Wall Street Journal correspondents in Beijing sta...
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February 19, 2020 at 8:32 pm
Republican Jewish Coalition blasts presidential hopeful who called Israeli government racist: Outrageous.
The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) on Wednesday responded to remarks made by Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) during a CNN town hall in Las Vegas on Tuesday evening.
In response to a question on how US-Israel relations would look under his administration, Sanders replied, "To be for the Israeli people and to be for peace in the Middle East does not mean that we have to support right-wing, racist governments that currently exist in Israel."
Sanders further said, “What American foreign policy has got to be about in the Middle East is bringing the Israelis, bring the Palestinians together under the banner of justice. We have the wea...
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February 19, 2020 at 8:19 pm
If you know everything, there is nothing for you to hear.
-Nathan Safran
Parashat Yitro opens by telling us that Yitro “…heard about all God has done for Moshe and His people when He brought them out of Egypt.” But this statement begs the question, what exactly did he hear that made him come? Rashi answers that he heard about the splitting of the Sea and the war with Amalek. Really? Only Yitro heard? Is it not written in the Shira that, ‘…the nations of the world heard and shuddered’?
How to reconcile this seeming contradiction?
The Zohar teaches that the text is telling us that, “…the whole world heard and was not humbled, while Yitro heard and was humbled and was drawn close to fear God.&rdqu...
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February 19, 2020 at 8:13 pm
Benny Gantz, candidate for prime minister, hid information from Shabak after his phone was hacked, report says.
Former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, who chairs the Knesset's center-left Blue and White party, hid information from Shabak (Israel Security Agency), News1 reported.
The information hidden from Shabak pertained to embarrassing content on Gantz's mobile phone, which had been hacked, and the information on the phone.
According to News1, some of the videos were intimate in nature and had been sent to a woman who lives in the US and with whom Gantz has had a close relationship for several years.
The hack was first reported by Channel 12, and Gantz was informed of it by two Shabak agents. However, at the time of the report, the content an...
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February 19, 2020 at 8:13 pm
President Trump announced Wednesday that Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, will become acting director of national intelligence, in a move that has heartened conservatives eager for new leadership as a series of scandals have plagued the intelligence community.
Grenell, a Trump loyalist who has a large and active conservative following on Twitter, would take over from the current acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, amid the president's push to remove what he calls bad actors at the highest levels of the FBI and other agencies.
Maguire was required by law to leave the post of acting director of national intelligence within weeks. Grenell would become the first openly gay Cabinet member in history upon his se...
