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June 19, 2021 at 10:42 pm
Evyatar, a new city in Samaria that was supposed to be ordered evacuated by Prime Minister Netanyahu, was left standing, perhaps to throw the responsibility onto the incoming government.
Defense sources estimate that the evacuation would cost NIS 10 million. Bennett is expected to rule on the matter in the near future. The high price tag is due in part to the amount of construction already completed, including multiple permanent buildings and paving. Heavy machinery and significant manpower will be needed to reverse such a quantity of work.
Arutz Sheva has also learned that Defense Minister Gantz was furious with the community leaders of Evyatar who established the settlement without any permits of any kind. The community has rejected these accusations, saying that the town was buil...
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June 19, 2021 at 10:39 pm
Ebrahim Raisi, a hardline judge under US sanctions for human rights abuses, secured victory as expected on Saturday in Iran’s presidential election after a contest marked by voter apathy over economic hardships and political restrictions.
With all 28.9 million ballots counted, Raisi was elected with a tally of 17.9 million, Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said on state TV.
Turnout in Friday’s four-man race was a record low of around 48.8% and there were 3.7 million invalid ballots that were likely to have been mostly blank or protest votes.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called Raisi the “Butcher of Tehran” and “an extremist responsible for the deaths of thousands of Iranians.”
“His election should prompt renewed de...
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June 19, 2021 at 10:17 pm
Amazon is selling its own COVID-19 test kit directly to customers. Results from the test will appear on an Amazon diagnostics website that was originally designed for use by Amazon employees. The test’s public availability was first reported by Stat News.
The test is on sale for $39.99 and has one-day shipping through Prime in some areas of the US.
To use the test, a patient swabs their own nose at home and places it in a box with a prepaid shipping return label. The swabs are then sent to a centralized lab. Amazon got the Food and Drug Administration’s sign-off on its COVID-19 test kit in March. At the time, it planned to use the test for its onsite employee testing program.
At-home medical testing got a new burst of attention&nb...
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June 19, 2021 at 10:09 pm
The Palestinian Authority canceled a deal on Friday to receive soon-to-expire COVID-19 vaccines from Israel after an initial Israeli shipment showed an expiration date sooner than had been agreed, the PA health minister said.
Israel and the PA announced a vaccine swap deal earlier on Friday that would have seen Israel send up to 1.4 million Pfizer-BioNTech doses to the PA, in exchange for receiving a reciprocal number of doses from the PA later this year.
The doses were due to “expire soon,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office said in a statement announcing the deal. The PA said they had been “approved in order to speed up the vaccination process” in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
“They told us the expiration date was in July or August, ...
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June 19, 2021 at 10:06 pm
IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi will lead a senior delegation of top Israeli military officers to Washington early Sunday to meet with American officials about Iran’s nuclear program and its expansionist efforts in the region, the Israel Defense Forces said Thursday.
“The chief of staff will discuss with his counterparts current shared security challenges, including matters dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat, Iran’s efforts to entrench itself militarily in the Middle East, Hezbollah’s rearmament efforts, the consequences of the threat of precision-guided missiles and joint force build-up,” the military said.
Kohavi’s trip comes amid lingering tensions between the US and Israel over the Iran nuclear issue. US President Joe Biden’s administrati...
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June 19, 2021 at 10:03 pm
Former President Donald Trump said his successor is “indoctrinating America’s schoolchildren with some of the most toxic and anti-American theories ever conceived,” in a Friday opinion piece.
Trump explained what President Joe Biden wants to accomplish with the country’s schools, and how the progressive plan can be stopped, in commentary for Real Clear Politics.
The former president wrote that the left has changed its narrative from saying American history is evil to “telling Americans that they are evil.”
“In classrooms across the nation, students are being subjected to a new curriculum designed to brainwash them with the ridiculous left-wing dogma known as ‘critical race theory,'” Trump said. &ldq...
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June 19, 2021 at 10:01 pm
Canada is extending a ban on non-essential travel with the United States and the rest of the world until July 21, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said on Friday, prompting frustration from businesses worried about the economic damage.
Canada’s Liberal government is under increasing pressure from businesses and the tourism industry to ease the ban, which was first imposed in March 2020 to help contain spread of the coronavirus and has been renewed on a monthly basis ever since.
“In coordination with the U.S., we are extending restrictions on non-essential international travel and with the United States until July 21st, 2021,” Blair said on Twitter.
Ottawa will reveal on June 21 how it plans to start lifting the measures for fully vaccinated Canadians and others who ar...
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June 19, 2021 at 10:00 pm
The UN General Assembly unanimously elected Antonio Guterres to a second term as secretary-general on Friday, giving him another five years at the helm of the 193-member organization at a time a deeply divided world faces numerous conflicts, the growing impact of climate change, and a pandemic still circling the globe.
Ambassadors in the assembly chamber burst into applause as Assembly President Volkan Bozkir announced Guterres’ re-election by “acclamation,” without a vote. Just before the announcement, Estonia’s UN Ambassador Sven Jurgenson, the current Security Council president, read a resolution adopted by the 15-member council recommending Guterres for a second term.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gild Erdan congratulated Guterres and said he hoped he would con...
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June 19, 2021 at 9:57 pm
Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Reinman is, first and foremost, a noted author of acclaimed sefarim and a talmid chochom who has spent his years in the beis medrash. He is also the bestselling author of a classic series of books - including The Promised Child and The Marrano Prince - written under the pseudonym Avner Gold. A talmid of Rav Yitzchok Hutner who later learned in Lakewood, Rabbi Reinman is a brilliant linguist with many fascinating stories and insights to share, which he does so eloquently in this episode of Inside ArtScroll. A delight to listen to, you’ll be entertained and impressed as you hear about Rabbi Reinman’s life and accomplishments. [Purchase Rabbi Reinman’s Avner Gold books HERE and his other books HERE.]
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June 19, 2021 at 9:56 pm
President Rivlin will visit the United States of America at the invitation of President Biden; the presidents will meet on Monday 28 June / 18 TammuzDuring his visit, the president will hold meetings at the United Nations, meet representatives of the American Jewish community and hold other farewell meetings in Washington DCPresident of Israel Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin will make a farewell visit to the United States of America at the invitation of President Joe Biden.On Monday 28 June / 18 Tammuz the president will meet with US President Biden. Timing of the meeting to follow. The president will return to Israel on Wednesday 30 June / 20 Tammuz.
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June 19, 2021 at 9:55 pm
Young homeless people in the Big Apple will soon be getting $1,250 in no-strings-attached cash each month — in a $2.5 million city-backed experiment to see if they use it to get off the streets and try to get jobs.
The “Trust Youth Initiative” — partially funded by the city — will start with up to 40 homeless people ages 18 to 24, “especially Black, Indigenous, Latinx and LGBTQ youth,” the organizers said in a release.
They will get the monthly cash for up to two years, with no limits on how they spend it — and larger up-front payments available to get into housing.
A “rigorous evaluation” will then “compare the outcomes and experiences” of the target group with others getting smaller stipends and regular homel...
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June 19, 2021 at 9:54 pm
Netanyahu family to remain in Prime Minister's Residence until July 10. Until then, no official meetings will take place there.
The offices of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu have reached an agreement on when the Netanyahu family will vacate the Prime Minister's Residence on Balfour St.
It was agreed that the Netanyahu family will end their stay at the residence on July 10. Until then, no official meetings will be held at the residence.
The next day, the residence will be used by Prime Minister Bennett.
On Friday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett conveyed a message to opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu that he must vacate the official Prime Minister's Residence on Balfour Street in Jerusalem within two weeks.
Earlier it was report...
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June 19, 2021 at 9:50 pm
Rabbi Meir Schuster ztz"l was always a mystery to me. Not long after my wife and I arrived at Ohr Somayach in the summer of 1979, Rabbi Schuster ztz"l began asking us to host guests on Leil Shabbos. On Thursday night, the phone would ring, but when either I or my wife picked it up, there would be silence on the other end. Eventually, I learned to respond, "Is that you, Rabbi Schuster?" as a prelude to the inevitable question, "How many can you take for Shabbos night?"
But what I could never figure out is his how someone so shy that he could not initiate a phone conversation with someone he knew could force himself to approach dozens of complete strangers every single day. Yet I knew that he did. My friends and I in the Ohr Somayach beis medrash nicknamed him the Pied Piper. Every day, and...
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June 18, 2021 at 5:58 pm
Today, the OU welcomed introduction in the U.S. Senate of the bipartisan “Pray Safe Act of 2021,” legislation that will establish a clearinghouse on safety and security to govern best practices for faith-based organizations. U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) introduced the legislation Thursday. The clearinghouse at the Department of Homeland Security would operate in conjunction with the Department of Justice, the White House and other governmental agencies and departments to educate and publish online best practices and recommendations for the safety and security for faith-based including day schools, synagogues, churches and other houses of worship.
The clearinghouse would, among other things, provide information on targeted violence and terroris...
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June 18, 2021 at 5:58 pm
Tomorrow, 9 Tammuz, is the 6th yahrtzeit of my sister-in-law, Batsheva Yeres. The shtikle is dedicated le’iluy nishmasah, Batsheva Blima, a”h bas HaRav Moshe Yosef HaLevi, ybl”t.
The Weekly Shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmas my Oma, Chaya Sara bas Zecharia Chaim, a"h.
This week's shtikle is dedicated for a refuah sheleimah for my father.
Please include Reuven Pinchas ben Yehudis in your tefillos.
This week's parsha contains the unfortunate events of mei merivah. The tragic outcome of that incident was that neither Moshe nor Aharon were allowed to enter Eretz Yisroel. Moshe's role is clear although the actual understanding of exactly what the wrongdoi...
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June 18, 2021 at 2:47 pm
Baltimore, MD - June 18, 2021 - 2:43PM - An electric line snapped and is down at the corner of Smith avenue and Labyrinth Road knocking out power too many in the area. Traffic is backed up on Smith to 7 Mile Lane.
Steer clear of the area.
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June 18, 2021 at 1:58 pm
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), who stirred controversy as former President Trump’s White House physician, said Thursday he is circulating a letter among House GOP colleagues that calls on President Biden to take a cognitive test to prove he is mentally fit to be commander in chief.
Jackson began collecting signatures for his letter this week during GOP meetings and House votes. It will be sent to Biden and his team in the next day or two, he said.
“Just everything that has been going on for the last year and a half … [Biden] doesn’t know what’s going on, where he’s at. He’s very confused all the time,” Jackson said in a brief interview with The Hill.
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June 18, 2021 at 1:40 pm
Baltimore City businesses will have a few extra months to comply with the city's upcoming plastic bag ban. Due to the economic impacts of the pandemic, Mayor Brandon Scott pushed the ban's start date to Oct. 1 of this year.
The ban was scheduled to lift in July.
Once the ordinance takes effect, businesses will not be able to distribute plastic bags at check out. Any other bags distributed will require a 5 cent surcharge.
Over the next few months, Baltimore's Office of Sustainability will distribute reusable bags to residents who need them.Businesses in Westminster will need to phase out plastic bags on July 1.
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June 18, 2021 at 11:52 am
Perhaps Israel's most difficult manifestation of Deceit Democracy came in 1992 when voters' predilections for a right-wing government were subverted by the quirks of that year's election rules and the foolish hubris of too many right-wing political figures.
The Israeli Left has had an obsessive compulsion to cry out constantly about the sanctity of Israeli Democracy. Ironically, no institution has done more to shame, tarnish, and cheapen Israeli democracy than Israel's Left, including the latest deceit that has unfolded with formalizing the Naftali Bennett government. His Yamina party that literally campaigned as "right-wing oriented" (the word's very definition) now has coalesced with an amalgam of left parties: (i) Yair Lapid's moderately left Yesh Atid, ...
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June 18, 2021 at 11:40 am
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) will force a vote Tuesday on a sweeping bill to overhaul federal elections.
Schumer informed his caucus of the schedule during a closed-door meeting on Thursday, a Senate Democratic source familiar with the meeting told The Hill.
The bill, known as the For the People Act, is expected to fall short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a GOP filibuster and advance past a first procedural hurdle.
But Democrats are scrambling to try to figure out a way to unify their 50-member caucus, which would at least allow them to keep the spotlight on Republican opposition instead of their own internal divisions.
