Archive for month: November, 2017

Terror Thwarted
An Israeli firefighter noticed a suspicious looking Arab man wandering near the entrance of the settlement of Kochav Yaakov in Samaria. He called police who apprehended the man and found him carrying a bag with a knife and a Koran. The man admitted that he was planning to carry out a terror attack. Police are searching for an alleged accomplice.

For further reading click here.

British Blunder
Priti Patel, the UK Secretary of State  for International Development, resigned after it was revealed that she met with members of the Israeli government, including the PM, without informing or getting the permission of the British government.

Patel, who was a rising star in Britain’s Conservative party and a staunch supporter of Israel, was on a private vacation in Israel with her family when she “secretly” met with Netanyahu and other government and business leaders.

After the visit, Ms Patel suggested some of Britain’s aid budget go to the Israeli army. She also asked her officials to see if Britain could support humanitarian operations conducted by the Israeli army in the occupied Golan Heights area. The request was seen as inappropriate, since the UK doesn’t recognize Israeli sovereignty in the Golan.

Patel was also found to have met “secretly” with other Israeli officials in NYC in September.

Prior to resigning, Ms Patel apologized for not informing the Foreign Office of the meetings and for suggesting Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, knew about her plans in advance of the visit.

Israel has lost a friend in the UK.

For further reading click here.

American Zionist Convention
The American Zionist Movement (AZM) will hold its National Conference in Washington, DC from November 15-17, which coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration and the 70th anniversary of the UN Partition Resolution.

The conference, with over 50 presenters, will feature key speakers including Ambassador Ron Dermer; Baroness Ruth Deech; Malcolm Hoenlein;  Col.(ret.) Richard Kemp; Brig.Gen. (ret.) Yossi Kuperwasser; Gusti Yehoshua-Braverman: and Richard D. Heideman. The program includes panels, discussions and briefings on Israel and Zionism, and special events, including The Balfour Gala hosted at The Embassy of Israel, and sessions on Capitol Hill featuring a Congressional and Diplomatic Luncheon honoring Ambassador Dermer.

For more information click here.

New Town
A new Haredi town will be established in the next couple of years, but not in Israel. The Satamar Hassidic community of Kiryas Yoel in the township of Monroe, NY will be splitting off from the township to become The Town of Palm Tree — an English translation of the Satmar rebbe’s surname, Teitelbaum. Over 80% of the voters in Monroe voted to allow the 20,000 strong Hassidic community to form it’s own town, which will be the first totally Hassidic town in the US (and in the world, outside of Israel). The new Town of Palm Tree will also annex several hundred acres of land from Monroe.

For further reading click here.

Druze Appeal
Following a terror attack by the Nusra Front that claimed 18 lives in the Syrian Druze village of Hadar, the spiritual leader of the Druze community in Israel, Shaykh Muwaffak Tarīf, asked the IDF to warn the Nusra Front to stay away from the village. He said, “We didn’t ask and are not asking Israel to go into Syria or take over the village. The Nusra Front is under the watchful eye of the IDF, which could tell them: ‘Be careful, don’t go near this village, to us this is a red line.’ We’re counting on the IDF to do this.”

Tariff also told the PM, Defense Minister and IDF commanders, “Israel must stand beside the Druze and protect this village, and not let the Nusra Front conquer it and slaughter its people.”

The IDF gave assurances that it would prevent the Nusra Front, and any other terror group, from advancing on the village.

For further reading click here.

Gaza Infighting
Despite the reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah which gave the Palestinian Authority control over Gaza, the PA’s General Intelligence and Preventive Security service arrested 50 Hamas operatives in the West Bank in October. They also arrested 130 other operatives belonging to other groups including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

PA President Abbas is trying to assure that Hamas does not gain any power in the West Bank, in order to protect his own power.

For further reading click here.

Kotel Ferraris
A few weeks ago directors of Ferrari, the international sports vehicle company, asked the Chief Rabbi of the Western Wall (Kotel) for permission to park several cars in part of the Western Wall plaza during the early morning hours of Friday in order to make a tour of Jerusalem—to be held several hours before Shabbat—easier. He rejected the request. Then they presented their request to a junior official of the Heritage Foundation, which administers the holy site, and he approved it.

Last Friday Kotel worshipers were shocked to see about twenty Ferraris parked at the holy site. The Chief Rabbi was away at the time, but when he heard the news he was furious. He said, “We won’t even allow a can of Coke to be sold here. We’re rejecting requests left and right to place beverage vending machines on the site, despite the heat and people’s thirst, and end up with a spectacle of 20 sparkling Ferraris? Out of the question.”

The rabbi and the CEO of the Heritage Foundation accepted full responsibility for the “grave, unfortunate error” and promised stricter measures are forthcoming.

For further reading click here.

Coming Home
It has been revealed that Israeli diplomats, instructed by Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely, have been involved in secret discussions with the government of Ukraine to obtain permission to transport the remains of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov from his tomb in Uman to Israel.

Tens of thousands of Israelis visit the tomb each year, particularly on Rosh Hashanah, since Rabbi Nachman promised that anyone who visits and prays at his grave on the holiday will be blessed and lifted up from the depths. But the phenomenon of having over 30,000 Jewish men leave the Holy Land to go to Ukraine for the High Holiday doesn’t sit well with many rabbinic authorities. Even leaders of the Breslov sect are pushing to move the rabbi’s remains and bring his blessings home to Israel.

But given the huge amount of revenue that Ukraine gets from the massive tourist trade driven by the rabbi’s tomb, the chances of them letting the remains live the country are extremely slim.

Perhaps cutting off that revenue stream for a couple of years by urging Israelis to stay away will persuade the Ukrainians to change their minds? Some well placed bribes will probably help too.

For further reading click here.

Praying Together
Jewish and Arab volunteers work side by side in the United Hatzalah rescue service. President and Founder of United Hatzalah Eli Beer saw the video and said the following: “One of the things not mentioned nearly enough in the media is the cooperation and friendships that are formed by people of different faiths working together to achieve a common goal. At United Hatzalah, we have volunteers and staff members of all faiths represented in Israel, working together to save lives. Volunteering side by side, day in and day out achieves a bond of friendship between people of different faiths that is rarely seen in today’s polarizing world.”

To watch a video of a Jewish and Moslem volunteer praying in the same room on a break in Jerusalem, click here.

IDF Says No
The IDF has refused to allow Hamas to retrieve the bodies of its terrorists that were killed in the tunnel destroyed earlier this week unless Hamas releases more information regarding the bodies of slain IDF soldiers killed in 2014’s Operation Protective Edge. Hamas had appealed through the Red Cross on Wednesday. Although the bodies are technically in Gaza, the IDF prohibits Gazans from getting within 300 meters of the border.

Several left-wing organizations yesterday appealed to the Attorney General and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories demanding that the IDF allow the Palestinian search and rescue teams to enter the border area to locate and retrieve the bodies.

A spokesperson from one of the organizations, Muna Haddad, said, “To prevent them from locating and rescuing those missing in the area currently under the control of the Israeli army is a blatantly illegal policy and contravenes both Israeli and international law and violates the Geneva Convention.”

For further reading click here.

Air Force Show
This coming Sunday, Israel will host air force units from around the world as part of the biannual “Blue Flag” international training exercise. The exercise, which is centered at the Ovda airbase in southern Israel, will be the largest ever in Israel’s history. It will include around 70 foreign aircraft, and hundreds of pilots and air support team members. Participants in Blue Flag include the United States, France, Italy, Greece, Poland, Germany, and India.

To watch a video and see images click here.

Birthright Makes Change
Two years ago Birthright, the organization that organizes free trips to Israel for Jews in the early twenties, integrated meetings with Israeli Arabs into their trip itineraries. This week they suspended those meetings. In a statement to Haaretz, Birthright explained that the “results of the initial evaluation have shown that there is a need for further analysis of this module in the context of the educational trip as a whole.”

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union of Reform Judaism, criticized the decision saying, “The fact  that Birthright Israel has decided to halt their outreach to Arab citizens of Israel shows just how out of touch Birthright is  becoming. Birthright has been a transformative experience for over half a million young Jews, 40 percent who self-identify as Reform, but many are now questioning whether the ten-day trips are exposing participants to a too-narrow slice of contemporary Israel.”

Jacobs added that cutting out the meetings, “will communicate loudly and clearly that these are trips with a narrow political agenda that is out of step with today’s young Jews and most of their parents as well.”

For further reading click here.

Chief Rabbi
According to a report in the haredi Mishpacha magazine, top officials in the Shas party are considering asking Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef to resign as Chief Rabbi of Israel and join Shas in order to revitalize the party. As Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Yosef is forbidden from engaging with a political party.

Shas officials believe that Rabbi Yosef can blunt Shas’ continuous slide in the polls if he would join the party due to his stature as the son of Shas founder and former Chief Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef. A senior Shas official said, “Thousands of attendees fill every event which the Chief Rabbi appears at. It’s almost like 25 years ago when Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef was still alive – he brings electricity with him”.

For further reading click here.

Kosher Beauty
Rotem Rabi, 21, is Miss Israel 2017. Now she’s in China for the international Miss World pageant. Rabi was raised in a traditional family and keeps kosher, always. That’s not so easy in China. Rabi said, “I’m having difficulty with the food, almost nothing here is kosher.
I’m living on pineapple and cookies, and I hope that the problem will be solved in the next few days.”

I’m sure Chabad will be on the case after they read this.

For further reading click here.

Shabbat Music
What happens when a group of Sephardic musicians get together for an informal jam session to sing Shabbat songs? You will definitely enjoy.

To watch the video click here.