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Former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took aim at Vice President Kamala Harris during an interview with NewsNation, saying that she is not “worthy” of the presidency and questioning her ability to effectively communicate. Kennedy, who recently dropped out of the race and endorsed former President Donald Trump, suggested Harris would be unable to “put together an English sentence” or defend her policies in a debate. During his interview with host Chris Cuomo, Kennedy explained his decision to withdraw from the presidential race. “It became clear to me, Chris, that I was not gonna be allowed on the debating stage, which was really my only path to victory. I was already being boycotted by all of the mainstream media, the liberal media,” he said. Kennedy also cited polling data indicating that his continued candidacy would result in a victory for Harris in a hypothetical match-up against Trump. Kennedy voiced strong criticism of Harris, saying, “I don’t think that Vice President Harris is a worthy president of this country. I think we need to have a president who can give an interview, who can articulate a vision, who can put together an English sentence, who can articulate and defend her policies and her record, and who can engage in a debate.” “Vice President Harris’s speech at the convention made it very clear that she would continue the warfare state,” Kennedy concluded. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

A suspect is in custody after a shooting at a high school in Georgia that left four dead and nine more hospitalized, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

The shooting took place Wednesday at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, about 35 miles northeast of Atlanta.

“We urge anyone near the area to stay clear while authorities investigate,” the GBI posted on social media just after noon.

Roads leading into the area surrounding Apalachee High School were snarled by gridlocked traffic for a nearly two-mile perimeter surrounding the scene. Hundreds of empty vehicles were parked on the sides of the roads in this partially rural area, double-parked in ditches and left on sidewalks in nearby neighborhoods.

Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith told reporters Wednesday afternoon there were “multiple injuries” as a result of the shooting but that he probably wouldn’t be releasing more information before 4 p.m., when he hoped to hold a news conference.

He asked for patience from the community as they continue to investigate.

“This is going to take multiple days for us to get answers,” Smith said.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens (D) wrote on social media that his prayers were “with the high school students, staff, and families affected by the act of violence in Winder, Georgia.” He added in a thread that he has been in touch with Atlanta police to “bolster patrols around our schools for the rest of the day out of an abundance of caution.”

Winder, Ga., is about 35 miles northeast of Atlanta, and it’s a part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. The city is home to about 29,500 people, according to 2020 census data. It’s known for its 1,816-acre Fort Yargo State Park and its historic railroad.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) posted on social media that he has sent “all available state resources” to the school and urged “all Georgians to join my family in praying for the safety of those in our classrooms.”

President Joe Biden wrote in a statement that he was mourning those slain by “more senseless gun violence” and thinking of the survivors.

“Students across the country are learning how to duck and cover instead of how to read and write. We cannot continue to accept this as normal,” he wrote.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called on Congress to pass gun-control legislation following the school shooting in Georgia.

“We need to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, require safe storage of firearms, invest in violence prevention programs and pass a national red-flag law,” Jean-Pierre told reporters. It was not immediately clear what kind of weapon was used in Wednesday’s shooting.

Later, she added: “We cannot allow this to happen in our communities. We cannot allow this to happen in our schools.”

Vice President Kamala Harris was briefed on the shooting before leaving Joint Base Andrews in Washington, according to a White House official. She will continue to receive updates as authorities gather more information, the official said.

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz addressed the school shooting in a Georgia while meeting with campaign volunteers.

“This is tragic. We don’t know any of the details on it yet, but it’s a situation that’s all too common, and our hearts are out there right now,” he said. Work needs to be done to prevent such shootings in the future, he added.

(c) 2024, The Washington Post · Washington Post staff 

The Biden administration announced wide-ranging actions Wednesday meant to call out Russian influence in the upcoming U.S. presidential election, unsealing criminal charges against two employees of a Russian state-run media company and seizing internet domains used by the Kremlin to spread disinformation. The measures represented a U.S. government effort at disrupting a persistent threat from Russia that American officials have long warned has the potential to sow discord and create confusion among voters. Washington has said that Russia remains the primary threat to elections even as the FBI investigates a hack by Iran of Donald Trump’s campaign and an attempt breach of the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris campaign. One criminal case accuses two employees of RT, a Russian-state-funded media organization that was forced by the Justice Department to register as a foreign agent, of covertly funding a Tennessee-based content creation company to publish nearly 2,000 videos containing Russian propaganda. The defendants, who remain at large, used fake identities and the company was unaware it was being used by Russia. In the other action, officials announced the seizure of 32 internet domains that were used by the Kremlin to spread Russian propaganda and weaken global support for Ukraine. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the actions relate to Russia’s use of state media to enlist unwitting American influencers to spread propaganda and disinformation. Intelligence agencies have previously charged that Russia was using disinformation to try to interfere in the election. The new steps show the depth of U.S. concerns and signal legal actions against those suspected of being involved. “Today’s announcement highlights the lengths some foreign governments go to undermine American democratic institutions,” the State Department said. “But these foreign governments should also know that we will not tolerate foreign malign actors intentionally interfering and undermining free and fair elections.” In a speech last month, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Russia remained the biggest threat to election integrity, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin and “his proxies are using increasingly sophisticated techniques in their interference operations. They’re targeting specific voter demographics and swing-state voters to in an effort to manipulate presidential and congressional election outcomes. They’re intent on co-opting unwitting Americans on social media to push narratives advancing Russian interests.” Much of the concern around Russia centers on cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns designed to influence the November vote. The tactics include using state media like RT to advance anti-U.S. messages and content, as well as networks of fake websites and social media accounts that amplify the claims and inject them into American’s online conversations. Typically, these networks seize on polarizing political topics such as immigration, crime or the war in Gaza. In many cases, Americans may have no idea that the content they see online either originated or was amplified by the Kremlin. “Russia is taking a whole of government approach to influence the election including the presidential race,” an official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said this summer during a briefing. The official spoke on condition of anonymity under rules worked out with that office. Groups linked to the Kremlin are increasingly hiring marketing and communications firms within Russia to outsource some of the work of creating digital propaganda while also covering their tracks, the officials said during the briefing with reporters. Two such firms were the subject […]

Revelations by Israel’s government about the United Nations Relief and Works Agency have shattered the group’s carefully cultivated image as a humanitarian organization, revealing it to be no less than an arm of Hamas in Gaza. However, little light has been thrown on UNRWA’s identical role in Judea and Samaria.

A new film, “UNRWA at War,” focuses on the educational side of UNRWA’s activities, in which children are taught not just to hate, but to kill. Just as it did in Gaza, UNRWA is inculcating children with the same genocidal creed in Judea and Samaria, only in this case for Fatah, the controlling party in the Palestinian Authority.

The roughly 20-minute film was released by the Jerusalem-based Center for Near East Policy Research on Sept. 1 and is available online.

The center’s director, David Bedein, told JNS that the movie shows what’s happening in Bethlehem. “That’s the next place they [the terrorists] are going to break out,” he said.

When could such an attack take place? “It could be as soon as tomorrow,” he said.

The film shows that terrorists, such as Dalal Mughrabi, a Fatah member who participated in the 1978 Coastal Road massacre in Israel, in which 38 Israeli civilians, including 13 children, were murdered, are routinely held up as heroes and role models in UNRWA schools. Images of Mughrabi and other terrorists adorn the schools’ walls.

In the film, Arab students in Judea and Samaria, products of UNRWA schools, speak of Mughrabi with reverence.

“She’s like my sister, like my mother. She’s part of our people,” says a boy from the Al-Amari refugee camp east of Ramallah. A girl of about six, also from Al-Amari, says, “Dhalal Mughrabi is a Palestinian martyr. She fought against the Jews. She blew them up.”

Bedein, who has been sounding the alarm regarding UNRWA for decades, describes the indoctrination the kids are receiving as “murder education.” UNRWA, he said, is a “machine” that produces genocidal children in a “cookie-cutter” manner.

Kutaiba Hatab, 15, attends the UNRWA Boys School in the Jalazone refugee camp north of Ramallah in Samaria. Asked in the film what he’s taught about the right of return, he says, “To fight, and to keep fighting, until Palestine is liberated!” He goes on to state that when he grows up, “I’ll be a jihadist and fight for Allah!”

“Do you hate Jews,” an interviewer asks Rada Abu-Hatab, 12, an UNRWA student in Jenin. “Yes, a lot,” she answers. “I want to fight and become a martyr and ascend to heaven with Allah!”

Mohammed Mahmud Khalil, an UNRWA student from Ein Arik, an Arab town near Ramallah, says, “What is the solution to Jerusalem? To kill the Jews. We’ll get rid of the Jews … With Allah’s help, I will become a holy warrior.”

All the children connected the Hamas invasion of Oct. 7 to the right of return, characterizing the gruesome attack as an effort to liberate the land from the Jews.

“Oct. 7 is related to the right of return because Hamas reconquered part of our land that was taken by the occupiers,” says Osama Belashe, an UNRWA student from Jalazone. “In school our teacher taught us we have to return. Even if Israel gives us compensation [to stay here] we have to return.”

For Bedein, the most important thing the film documents is that at UNRWA, children receive military training. In previous films, Bedein has shown that these training camps were set up near Israel Defense Forces bases.

He worries that Israel has been slow to adapt to the post-Oct. 7 reality. “They’re making the same mistake they made last October, not paying attention to the preparations for war in the UNRWA camps,” he said.

However, he sees signs of awakening, noting a recent Israel Army Radio report that the military intended to investigate military training at UNRWA camps.

And next week, Bedein is to present his findings to a Knesset committee. “People who did not take me seriously over a period of 36 years are now taking me seriously,” he said.

Incompetence, or willful blindness, on the part of the Israeli authorities is a recurring theme for Bedein.

He said the Foreign Ministry has a special division dedicated to overseeing UNRWA, yet its representatives were oblivious regarding the weapons held at UNRWA camps. He brought them to the Askar camp bordering Nablus (Shechem) to show them. “They had no idea about the guns,” he said.

Moreover, Israel never exercised what oversight it had, he said. “Israel has the power to veto anything in Palestinian education. What we learned from Oct. 7 is that they weren’t doing it,” he added.

“Back in the 1980s, I began this conversation with how humanitarian supplies were sold in the open market and with no supervision,” Bedein said. “And they [Israel] didn’t make any changes. There was no oversight. To say they’re not doing their job is an understatement,” he added.

Although many have argued for doing away with UNRWA, according to Bedein that’s not a realistic solution. The organization is too embedded in the territories and in the United Nations, and the General Assembly would never accept it, he argued. However, he continued, it is possible to change UNRWA from within by pointing out the absurd situation and demanding change.

“The theme of UNRWA education is ‘peace starts here,’” he said. “How could it possibly be that a U.N. social work agency would be using their education system to prepare kids for war?”

Bedein has put together a five-point plan for changing UNRWA from within:

1. Cancellation of the new UNRWA curriculum based on jihad.

2. Disarmament of UNRWA schools and cessation of paramilitary training.

3. Dismissing UNRWA employees affiliated with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah.

4. Resettling fourth- and fifth-generation refugees from the 1948 war rather than keeping them in perpetual refugee status.

5. Demanding an audit of donor funds.

He has met five times with Antonio Guterres, the U.N. secretary general, whom he said is open to his proposals.

While UNRWA was always corrupt, it wasn’t always the way it is now, he said.

Even the children going through the schools, while they spoke of “their homes in Jaffa,” didn’t talk about going back and killing everyone in Jaffa as they do now, he said.

“The change took place after 1992 when the PLO was put in charge by [then-Foreign Minister] Shimon Peres,” he said. “UNRWA was handed over to the PLO.”

Donald Trump is betting that Americans crave trillions of dollars in tax cuts — and that growth will be so fantastic that it’s not worth worrying about budget deficits. In short, he’s hoping that most economic analyses of his ideas are dead wrong. Vice President Kamala Harris believes that big corporations and the ultra-wealthy should pay more in taxes — and wants to use those revenues to help spur the construction of 3 million homes and offer tax breaks for parents. She’s hoping to deliver on the types of policies that President Joe Biden has been unable to secure in a lasting way. The two presidential nominees are using the week before their debate to sharpen their economic messages about who could do more for the middle class. Harris will discuss her policy plans Wednesday in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, while Trump will address the Economic Club of New York on Thursday. The economy has historically been a dominant issue in presidential elections. In an August survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs, Trump did narrowly better on the economy with 45% saying he would handle it better and 38% saying Harris would. There are high stakes in this showdown because the winner of November’s election could rewrite much of the federal tax code next year, when parts of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts are set to expire. A look at the candidates’ proposals: DIFFERENT PITCHES TO THE MIDDLE-CLASS Trump and Harris have different ways of trying to help the middle class. The former Republican president sees tax cuts for businesses and the wealthy as essential for promoting more investment, with those who’ve previously advised him saying average growth would top 3%. Mind you, overall economic growth never hit 3% a year when Trump was president. But between 2018 and 2019, the median household income jumped by $5,220 to an inflation-adjusted $78,250, according to the Census Bureau. “What I tell people all the time: The Trump policies were designed to lift middle-class wages, re-onshore and re-industrialize,” said Joseph LaVorgna, an economist who worked in the Trump White House. “The intention is to get wages higher.” By contrast, Harris wants to upgrade the middle-class promise of home ownership and ease the high costs of parenthood. She also wants tax breaks for entrepreneurs. It’s a message meant to show that Harris can address the problem of prices as people are still recovering from inflation spiking to a four-decade high in 2022. First-time homebuyers could get $25,000 in down payment assistance that would be coupled with broader policies to encourage the construction of 3 million additional homes in four years. New parents could get a $6,000 tax credit and an expanded child tax credit. “When working- and middle-class Americans have the opportunity to earn more, to build a business, to buy a home, to climb the economic ladder, it strengthens our economy and helps us grow,” said Brian Nelson, a Harris adviser. NO TAXES ON TIPS, SOCIAL SECURITY Trump has proposed no taxes on tips paid to workers or Social Security income. Harris has embraced the idea of not taxing workers’ tips. As Ernie Tedeschi at the Yale Budget Lab noted, excluding tips from taxes is unlikely to provide much of an economic boost even if some individuals feel better off. He noted that just 2.5% of workers receive tips and that many […]

Hi everyone! I’m Rivka, and I’m only 7 years old. I want to tell you about something strange that happened to me. I always loved running, playing in the yard, and drawing colorful pictures.  Every day was full of joy and laughter, I had so much fun, but now I’m sad.  The doctors said I have a serious illness. I don’t really understand what that means, I just know it’s something unpleasant. Suddenly, my body started hurting, and I can’t play the way I want to. Instead of laughing with my friends, I find myself in the hospital a lot. I’m very scared. They say I will have to go through treatments that won’t be pleasant, and that I might lose my hair. That really scares me. I want to stay the way I am, a regular girl who loves to play and dream. Mummy and Tatty are doing everything they can to help me, but I can see it’s very hard for them. They have to pay a lot of money for my treatments, and it’s not easy for them. Please, if you can, help me get better. I will be so grateful to you. I really want to go back to playing, drawing, and living like all the other kids. Any help you give will give me great hope. Thank you so much, Rivkush Donate now

A shooter at a Georgia high school killed four people on Wednesday, authorities said, sending students scrambling for shelter in their classrooms — and eventually to the football stadium — as officers swarmed the campus and parents raced to find out if their children were safe. At least nine people were injured and a suspect was in custody, authorities said. It was not immediately clear if the shooter was a student at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, about an hour’s drive from Atlanta. “What you see behind us is an evil thing,” Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said at a brief news conference outside the school. He declined to give details about the suspect. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said four people were dead and at least nine injured. The school shooting was just the latest among dozens across the U.S. in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut, Parkland, Florida, and Uvalde, Texas. The classroom killings have set off fervent debates about gun control and frayed the nerves of parents whose children are growing up accustomed to active shooter drills in classrooms. But they have done little to move the needle on national gun laws. Jacob King, a sophomore football player, said he had dozed off in his world history class after a morning practice when he heard about 10 gunshots. King said he didn’t believe the shooting was real until he heard an officer yelling at someone to put down their gun. King said when his class was led out, he saw officers shielding what appeared to be an injured student. Prior to Wednesday’s shooting, there had been 29 mass killings in the U.S. so far this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. At least 127 people have died in those killings, which are defined as incidents in which four or more people die within a 24-hour period, not including the killer — the same definition used by the FBI. Last year ended with 217 deaths from 42 mass killings in the U.S., making 2023 one of the deadliest years on record in the country. Ashley Enoh was at home Wednesday morning when she got a text from her brother, who’s a senior at Apalachee High: “Just so you know, I love you,” he texted her. When she asked in the family group chat what was going on, he said there was a shooter at the school. Enoh’s younger sister, a junior at the school, said she had heard about the shooter and that everything was on lockdown. Sophomore Kaylee Abner was in geometry class when she heard gunshots. She and her classmates ducked behind their teacher’s desk, and then the teacher began flipping the desk in an attempt to barricade the classroom door, Abner said. A classmate beside her was praying and she held his hand while the students waited for police. Layla Ferrell, a junior, was in a health class when the words “hard lockdown” appeared on a screen in the classroom and lights began flashing. Ferrell said she and her frightened classmates piled desks and chairs in front of the door to create a barricade. Helicopter video from WSB-TV showed dozens of law enforcement and emergency vehicles surrounding the school […]

The war between Israel and the Hamas human animals continues to rage, with tragic news that the bodies of six Israeli hostages, one of whom was an American citizen, have been recovered. These captives were apparently not abandoned or killed in the fighting, but coldly executed.

The always eloquent British author and conservative political commentator Douglas Murray, who has spent time reporting in the region, joins Piers Morgan on Uncensored to analyze the latest developments. Douglas is steadfast in his belief that Hamas is the central cause of the conflict, stating that the aim of Hamas is not a ceasefire, but the destruction of Israel.

WATCH:

Salvagers abandoned an initial effort to tow away a burning oil tanker in the Red Sea targeted by Yemen’s Houthi rebels as it “was not safe to proceed,” a European Union naval mission said Tuesday, leaving the Sounion stranded and its 1 million barrels of oil at risk of spilling. While a major spill has yet to occur, the incident threatens to become one of the worst yet in the Iranian-backed rebels’ campaign that has disrupted the $1 trillion in goods that pass through the Red Sea each year over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. It also has halted some aid shipments to conflict-ravaged Sudan and Yemen. “The private companies responsible for the salvage operation have concluded that the conditions were not met to conduct the towing operation and that it was not safe to proceed,” the EU’s Operation Aspides mission said, without elaborating. “Alternative solutions are now being explored by the private companies.” The EU mission declined to answer questions from The Associated Press about the announcement, other than to say its “assets have been engaged in protecting the tugs involved.” The safety issue could be the fire burning aboard the vessel. Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC taken Tuesday afternoon and analyzed by the AP showed the Sounion still ablaze. The U.S. State Department has warned that a spill from the Sounion could be “four times the size of the Exxon Valdez disaster” in 1989 off Alaska. Meanwhile, there’s the threat of attacks by the Houthis, who on Monday targeted two other oil tankers traveling through the Red Sea. The Houthis have suggested they’ll allow a salvage operation to take place, but critics say the rebels have used the threat of an environmental disaster previously involving another oil tanker off Yemen to extract concessions from the international community. The Houthis initially attacked the Greek-flagged Sounion tanker on Aug. 21 with small arms fire, projectiles and a drone boat. A French destroyer operating as part of Operation Aspides rescued its crew of 25 Filipinos and Russians, as well as four private security personnel, after they abandoned the vessel and took them to nearby Djibouti. Last week, the Houthis released footage showing they planted explosives on board the Sounion and ignited them in a propaganda video, something the rebels have done before in their campaign. The Houthis have targeted more than 80 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels as well. The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the U.K. to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran. There no American vessels known to be in the Red Sea at the moment as the EU mission has taken charge after the Sounion attack. A U.S. defense official, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss information not made public, said the American military has not been […]

Last month, the Israeli Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration set borders known as “blue lines” for a new 150-acre Gush Etzion town called Nahal Heletz, located in the Judean hills just outside of Yerushalayim, in an area with a Jewish presence dating back thousands of years.

The new community, also known as “Neve Ori,” in memory of 19-year-old Ori Ansbacher, a Gush resident who was murdered in 2019 by an Arab terrorist, will essentially create a contiguous Jewish presence between the Etzion bloc community of Neve Daniel and Yerushalayim’s southern neighborhood of Gilo.

Nahal Heletz was one of five communities in Yehuda and Shomron that received Cabinet approval in June in response to the Palestinian Authority’s push for statehood and support for international legal action against Israel.

A spokesperson for the Gush Etzion Regional Council told JNS that at this point, the municipality has not yet solidified building plans for the new community. However, JNS obtained a copy of a form, recently sent out as a feeler to local residents and non-residents alike, to see if there are those who had interest in moving to the new community, essentially as founding pioneers, once plans were finalized.

The approval for Nahal Heletz and the four other communities, along with additional building in Yehuda and Shomron, drew ire from outgoing European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

“The European Union condemns the planned so-called legalization of five Israeli settlement outposts and the announcement of thousands of new housing units in the occupied West Bank,” according to the E.U. statement.

The move was also blasted by Israeli left-wing organizations including Emek Shaveh, Combatants for Peace and Peace Now, all of which oppose a Jewish presence in Yehuda and Shomron.

According to the Regavim organization, a young Christian Arab woman named Alice Kisiya, whose family lives in the nearby Palestinian Authority town of Beit Jala, has drawn international attention to the issue by creating a series of viral videos and appearing on international news channels to falsely claim that the area belongs to her family.

Naomi Linder Kahn, director of the International Division of Regavim, told JNS, “Regavim has 10 years of documentation from Israel’s courts, both on a municipal and supreme court level, indicating this land does not belong to Kisiya family.

“Nahal Heletz, per the court, is a combination of Israeli state land and private “‘himnuta,” an arm of the Jewish National Fund which purchases land on behalf of the Jewish People,” said Kahn.

“The Family from Beit Jala [Kisiya] said they owned a part of that land and went to court. However, claims that they owned the land and had building permits were proven to be false. They lost in court and the structures built there were demolished,” she added.

Kahn noted that the family gained global support when they accused Israel of discriminating against them as Christian Arabs. However, she stressed, “they have absolutely no claim to the land. Two years ago, they invented a new name for the area calling it ‘Al-Makhrur,’ saying it was some ancient Arab village. But that name didn’t even exist.”

At the same time, she explained that UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, recognized part or all of the area where Nahal Heletz sits as a world heritage site within the “State of Palestine.”

UNESCO referred to the area as the “Land of Olives and Vines – Cultural Landscape of Southern Jerusalem, Battir.” Battir is a P.A. village in the area, named for Betar, an ancient Jewish town that fell in the final battle of the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Romans in 135 CE. The town was recognized by UNESCO for its magnificent ancient agricultural terracing.

Kahn stressed UNESCO called it the Land of Olives and Vines to leave its status ambiguous, adding that Israel doesn’t recognize declarations of world heritage sites in “Palestine.”

Kahn said the area has been a battleground for a long time “because of the area’s strategic importance as a crucial buffer zone, protecting Jerusalem from the south, and the fact that it overlooks the two main southern access points to Jerusalem—the tunnel road and the road to Malha, Road 285.

“The P.A for years has been attempting to annex the area, along with many other strategic points throughout Area C. Regavim demands the government take action,” Kahn continued.

Eve Harow, a licensed tour guide, educator and podcaster, told JNS, “Nahal Heletz is right next to Battir. One of the biggest mistakes Israel made was turning Battir over to the P.A. That is flat-out ours. It’s from Bar Kokhba, you can still see remains there from the war with the Romans. It’s actually one of the most beautiful examples of Jewish agriculture from the times of the Second Temple.”

She added, “We have coins and the history books to prove that this was part of an independent Jewish State called ‘Beit Yisrael’ from 132-136 CE. It’s really the height of chutzpah to take our ancient terracing and say it was there’s. The people who built it and used it, were Judeans from Judea.”

Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar, co-chairs of the Sovereignty Movement, hailed the approval to build Nahal Heletz.

“It is extremely important because of the need for Jewish continuity of communities between Jerusalem and Gush Etzion. As we know, the Arabs have been building in recent years precisely in these areas in order to prevent Jewish continuity,” they said.

They added: “Nahal Heletz is very important to the Greater Yerushalayim Plan, which will add about a quarter of a million Jews to the capital. In this way, the existing sovereignty of Yerushalayim will also spread over Gush Etzion, Ma’ale Adumim, Givat Ze’ev and parts of Binyamin.”

The pair concluded, “Yerushalayim must grow, expand south, north and east in order to deal with the dangerous demographics, as the Arabs are already almost 40 percent of the population of Yerushalayim.”

(JNS)

The Lakewood Alerts website has consistently cautioned the community about the severe dangers posed by Hatzulas Nefashos, an organization that presents itself as a volunteer ambulance service in Jackson, NJ. The repeated alerts, along with strong warnings from rabbanim, have emphasized that this group’s operations are a direct threat to the safety and lives of the broader Lakewood community. Unfortunately, on Tuesday evening, Lakewood Alerts reports, these warnings turned into a grim reality.

The event unfolded in a residential area near E. Veterans Highway, where a young child sustained a serious head injury after falling off furniture. Blood was seen oozing from the child’s ear, a clear indicator of a skull fracture, which is a critical emergency requiring immediate attention from paramedics.

The parents, seemingly unaware of the repeated warnings regarding Hatzulas Nefashos, contacted the organization for help. When Hatzulas Nefashos’ inexperienced EMTs arrived, they were completely unprepared for the severity of the situation. Despite recognizing the need for urgent paramedic intervention, they did not take the necessary steps. Instead of calling Hatzolah of Central Jersey (HCJ), which is known for its qualified paramedics and established protocols, they opted to contact the Ocean County paramedic service. Reportedly, they were informed that it would take an astonishing 20 minutes for assistance to arrive.

Despite this dangerous delay, Hatzulas Nefashos did not contact HCJ. Instead, they made a reckless choice to transport the child themselves with only basic life support (BLS) to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, fully aware that they were not equipped to manage such a critical emergency. Approximately 45 minutes after the initial emergency call, while speeding down Jackson Mills Road, the situation worsened—the child became unresponsive in the back of their poorly equipped ambulance.

Finally realizing the severity of the situation, Hatzulas Nefashos made the call they should have made immediately. They reached out to HCJ, desperately requesting paramedics to take over. HCJ’s paramedics quickly arrived and assumed care for the child, but by that time, valuable moments had been lost. The child, who had been deprived of necessary care for an extended period, was rushed to the hospital, where they remain in serious condition in the PICU.

A deeply upset relative of the family contacted Lakewood Alerts to express their outrage, urging the community to take the warnings about Hatzulas Nefashos seriously. They called on the public to heed the advice of the rabbanim of greater Lakewood, who have clearly stated that only Hatzolah of Central Jersey has the capability to manage severe medical emergencies.

This close call is a stark reminder of the perils linked with Hatzulas Nefashos. The community cannot continue to allow this hazardous organization to operate, putting lives at risk. Let this incident be a wake-up call to all: in a medical emergency, the only organization to trust is Hatzolah of Central Jersey.

{Matzav.com}

A federal judge on Tuesday swiftly rejected Donald Trump’s request to intervene in his New York hush money criminal case, spurning the former president’s attempt at an end-run around the state court where he was convicted and is set to be sentenced in two weeks. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein’s ruling — just hours after Trump’s lawyers asked him to weigh the move — upends the Republican presidential nominee’s plan to move the case to federal court so that he could seek to have his conviction overturned in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling. Trump’s lawyers challenged the decision, filing a notice of appeal late Tuesday in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Trump and his lawyers “will continue to fight to move this Hoax into federal court where it should be put out of its misery once and for all,” his campaign spokesperson, Steven Cheung, said in a statement. Hellerstein, echoing his denial of Trump’s pretrial bid to move the case, said the defense failed to meet the high burden of proof for changing jurisdiction and that Trump’s conviction for falsifying business records involved his personal life, not official actions that the Supreme Court ruled are immune from prosecution. In a four-page ruling, Hellerstein wrote that nothing about the high court’s July 1 ruling affected his previous conclusion that hush money payments at issue in Trump’s case “were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority.” Hellerstein sidestepped a defense complaint that Trump’s state court trial had been plagued by “bias, conflicts of interest, and appearances of impropriety,” writing that he “does not have jurisdiction to hear Mr. Trump’s arguments concerning the propriety of the New York trial.” The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which prosecuted Trump’s case, declined comment. Earlier Tuesday, the office sent a letter to the trial judge, Juan M. Merchan, objecting to Trump’s effort to delay post-trial decisions in the case while he was seeking to have the U.S. District Court in Manhattan step in. Merchan is expected to rule soon on two key defense requests: Trump’s call for the judge to delay his Sept. 18 sentencing until after the November election, and his request that the judge overturn his conviction and dismiss the case in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling. Merchan has said he will rule Sept. 16 on Trump’s motion to overturn the verdict. His decision on delaying sentencing has been expected in the coming days. Trump was convicted in May of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment to a woman, whose allegations threatened to disrupt his 2016 presidential run. Trump has denied her claim and said he did nothing wrong. His lawyers contend the case was tainted by violations of Trump’s constitutional rights and that the verdict is vitiated by the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling. Falsifying business records is punishable by up to four years behind bars. Other potential sentences include probation or a fine. Trump’s lawyers contend that sentencing Trump as scheduled, just two days after Merchan’s expected immunity decision, wouldn’t give him enough time to weigh next steps, including a possible appeal, if the judge rules to uphold the verdict. They also argued a Sept. 18 sentencing, about seven weeks before Election Day, would be […]

YWN has repeatedly warned our readers about the dangerous and life-threatening presence of “Hatzulas Nefashos”, the so-called volunteer ambulance service operating in Jackson. Our warnings, and multiple warnings from rabbanim, have been clear: this organization’s existence poses a literal threat to the lives of the greater Lakewood kehilla. On Tuesday evening, those warnings turned into a terrifying reality. The incident took place in a residential area off E. Veterans Highway in Jackson, when a young child suffered a serious head injury. Blood was visibly coming from the child’s ear – a telltale sign of a possible skull fracture and an emergency requiring immediate paramedic intervention. Contrary to the warnings of more than 100 Rabbonim, the parents called the group for assistance. Hatzulas Nefashos’ EMTs arrived on the scene but were wholly unprepared for the gravity of the situation. Knowing that the child needed urgent paramedic care, they failed to take the necessary action. Instead of calling Hatzolah of Central Jersey (HCJ), which has a proven track record and certified paramedics, they chose to call the Ocean County paramedic service, only allegedly to be told that help would take a staggering 20 minutes to arrive. Despite this critical delay, Hatzulas Nefashos still did not reach out to HCJ. Instead, they made the reckless decision to attempt to transport the child themselves (with only BLS) to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, knowing they lacked the proper training and equipment to handle such a severe medical emergency. As they raced down Jackson Mills Road, approximately 45 minutes after the initial emergency call, the unthinkable happened: the child took a turn for the worse in the back of their ill-equipped BLS ambulance lacking the higher level of care that Paramedics provide. Finally panicking, Hatzulas Nefashos made the decision they should have made from the start. They called HCJ, begging for paramedics to intervene. HCJ’s paramedics swiftly arrived and took over the child’s care, but by then, precious time had been lost. The child, who had been denied critical care for far too long, was rushed to the hospital, where they remain in serious condition in the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit). A furious relative of the family reached out to Yeshiva World News to share their outrage, pleading with the community to heed the longstanding warnings about the dangers posed by Hatzulas Nefashos. They urged the public to listen to YWN and the rabbanim of greater Lakewood, who have made it clear that only Hatzolah of Central Jersey is properly equipped to handle serious medical emergencies. This near-tragedy serves as yet another chilling reminder of the risks associated with Hatzulas Nefashos. We cannot afford to allow this dangerous organization to continue operating, endangering the lives of our loved ones. Let this serve as a wake-up call to everyone: when it comes to medical emergencies, trust only Hatzolah of Central Jersey. YWN is inserting the following audio recordings with time stamps (that were available on social media), so Lakewood residents can see for themselves how this horror unfolded: Hatzulas Nefashos was allegedly called at around 6:20PM. (When they arrived on scene, HCJ was unaware of the emergency). At 6:52 on the recording (32 minutes after Hatzulas Nefashos was called), a HCJ member, unit “L-104” who was working ALS (paramedic services) for RWJ at the time, […]

British columnist and author Allison Pearson slammed Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s announcement on Monday that the UK is immediately suspending 30 out of 350 arms licenses due to “the risk that the arms will be used in serious violations of international humanitarian law” as a politically-tainted move that is a “bold challenge to the limits of satire.” Call me soppy and nostalgic, but I preferred it when Labour was controlled by the trade unions not the Gaza Party. At least the wily leaders of Aslef and the NUM merely wanted improved wages and conditions. They did not expect to dictate British foreign policy. Unbelievably – although maybe all too believably, given this fledgling Government’s ability to do the most awful thing in any given situation – David Lammy announced that the UK was suspending some arms export licences to Israel. It would have been a controversial decision in normal times, but it came immediately after one of the most anguished days in Israel’s history. Six young hostages, who had been in a living hell in the tunnels under Gaza for 11 months, were executed with a bullet to the back of the head by their Hamas captors. But not before that genocidal group had recorded each hostage in order to have a gloating video to release on the day their parents buried them. To hear Lammy say he was suspending 30 of 350 arms export licences because there was a risk such equipment “might be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law,” presented a bold challenge to the limits of satire. The only group which could possibly benefit from such a pause had literally just committed the most grievous possible violation of international humanitarian law: the mass murder of innocent civilians. Unfortunately, the Muslim vote is far too valuable for Labour to allow foreign policy to get in the way of preserving it. Throwing our Israeli allies under the bus while they face an existential threat on all sides was clearly considered a small price to pay if it could appease sectarian extremists here in the UK who pose a demographic challenge in Labour strongholds. As if to confirm our worst suspicions, Lammy’s announcement came on the very same day that four new MPs, elected on a pro-Gaza ticket, and a former Labour leader, informed the Speaker they were founding a group known as the Independent Alliance that would sit together in the Commons – Jeremy Corbyn, long-time Hamas sympathiser; Ayoub Khan, MP for Birmingham Perry Bar; Adnan Hussain, MP for Blackburn; Shockat Adam, MP for Leicester South; and Iqbal Mohamed, MP for Dewsbury and Batley (where a teacher went into hiding with his family in fear of their lives after an angry Muslim mob objected to an RE lesson on blasphemy in which he showed a picture of the Prophet Mohammed). Nothing to worry about, ladies and gentlemen. Just an Islamic separatist caucus now sitting in our Parliament with the aim of influencing government policy towards views which are inimical to our values and traditions. (Can you get arrested for mentioning British “values and traditions”? Asking for 30 million non-brainwashed people.) The UK actually provides less than one per cent of Israel’s armaments. So the cut Lammy announced was only ever crude gesture politics. The man is […]

Israeli forces have killed more than 200 terrorists in recent weeks during operations in the Tel al-Sultan area of Rafah in southern Gaza, the military said on Wednesday.

Troops from the 401st Brigade are active in the area as part of the 162nd Division’s operations in the former Hamas stronghold along the Egypt-Gaza border.

Dozens of weapons stored in civilian structures have been located so far, including a large cache inside a basement where Hamas terrorists were embedded.

“In one encounter, terrorists fired at the troops from inside a building in the area. The troops conducted a targeted raid on the building, searched it, and then eliminated the terrorists inside,” the IDF said.

“In the basement of the building, the troops located large quantities of weapons that were used by the terrorists there,” added the military.

Additionally, soldiers located 10 long-range rocket launchers intended to fire projectiles into Israeli territory.

On Tuesday, Israeli forces in Gaza killed the Hamas terrorist who led the Oct. 7 assault on the northwest Negev moshav of Netiv Ha’asara.

Israeli fighter jets struck a Hamas compound near the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, killing eight terrorists from Hamas’s Daraj Tuffah Battalion. Among them was Ahmed Fozi Nazer Muhammad Wadia, a member of the terror group’s Nukhba force who led the invasion of Netiv Ha’asara, located directly adjacent to the Gaza fence.

On Oct. 7, Wadia, who was active in Hamas’s parachute array, infiltrated the moshav using a paraglider and oversaw the massacre of 21 residents and the kidnapping of one to Gaza.

(JNS)

Senator Ted Cruz blasted CNN following its recent interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, accusing the network of bias and referring to it as a “wholly-owned subsidiary” of the Democratic Party. The comments came during Cruz’s appearance on Fox News with host Sean Hannity, where he mocked the nature of the questions posed by CNN host Dana Bash during her interview with Harris. In the interview, Bash questioned Harris on a variety of topics, including her policy positions, the possibility of appointing a Republican to her Cabinet, the economy, and former President Donald Trump’s attacks on her racial identity. Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, was also questioned about his past lies on his military service. Cruz, however, was unimpressed by the interview, dismissing it as a “fawning, softball” exchange. He argued the interview lacked basic journalistic rigor, comparing it to something orchestrated by the White House press team. “How would those interview questions have been different if the ‘interview’ was conducted by Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary?” Cruz asked sarcastically. “Everything Dana Bash said is exactly what Kamala Harris’ campaign wanted her to say.” Cruz ridiculed the tone of the interview, humorously summarizing it as a series of flattering questions. “It was, ‘Madame Vice President: Tell us how you will help jobs. Tell us all the wonderful things you will do to secure the border. Do you like kittens more or do you like puppies more? Let me close with showing an image of your grandniece gazing adoringly at you. You are a historic transformational figure. Oh, let me clutch my heart,’” Cruz quipped, drawing laughter from Hannity’s audience. The Texas senator concluded by saying that CNN had turned the interview into a “complete laughingstock” and again accused the network of operating as an extension of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Dear Matzav Inbox,

As the school year approaches, families everywhere are busy readying their children for a new academic journey. Backpacks are being packed, uniforms are being pressed, and there’s a palpable excitement in the air. But as we prepare for another year of learning and growth, there’s a deep, aching pain that needs to be addressed—a pain that isn’t spoken about nearly enough.

We have a crisis on our hands. A crisis of children—precious, innocent children—who are falling through the cracks of our education system.

And I’m not just talking about a handful of exceptions or rare cases. No, this is an epidemic, a heartbreaking reality that is quietly unraveling in front of us, affecting countless boys and girls who are being spit out by a system that cannot cater to their needs.

These are not children who simply need to try harder or be more disciplined. These are children who, for various reasons—whether they struggle with learning, have been picked on, have faced social challenges, or, tragically, have endured abuse—are being left behind. These are children who have been turned off from Yiddishkeit, who feel that they do not belong, who are lost and adrift in a sea of expectations that they simply cannot meet.

The boys throw off their yarmulkas and the girls pull on their pants – and parents are left in tears.

This is not an isolated issue. It’s not just a problem that affects a few unfortunate souls. Visit a Kesher Nafshi event, and you’ll see for yourself—hundreds upon hundreds, if not thousands, of parents dealing with the agony of watching their children slip away. Call Nesivos in Lakewood and ask how many cases they’re handling—cases of children who have been chewed up and spit out by a system that, despite its many strengths, is failing them in profound and painful ways.

Speak to Rabbi Chaim Abadi, Rabbi Daniel Kalish, or the incredible heroes of Shalvah High School for girls, and you’ll hear stories that will make your heart break—stories of children in pain, children who feel abandoned, children who feel that they have no place in the very community that is supposed to nurture and protect them.

We have a wonderful chinuch system. We are blessed with extraordinary rabbeim, teachers who are devoted, caring, and passionate. In many ways, we have the best education system we’ve ever had. But it’s not enough to be the best. It’s not enough when we are losing our children in droves. It’s not enough when Yiddishe kinder are slipping through our fingers.

Something needs to change. We need to confront this crisis head-on. We need to acknowledge that our system, as good as it may be, is not working for everyone. We need to find a way to reach every child, to make sure that no one is left behind, to ensure that every child feels valued, loved, and understood.

The time for ignoring this issue is over. The time for sweeping it under the rug has passed.

We need to act, and we need to act now, before we lose another precious neshamah.

Sincerely,

Someone Who’s Been There

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A damning report on a deadly London high-rise fire said Wednesday that decades of failures by government, regulators and industry turned Grenfell Tower into a “death trap” where 72 people lost their lives. The years-long public inquiry into the 2017 blaze concluded that there was no “single cause” of the tragedy, but said a combination of dishonest companies, weak or incompetent regulators and complacent government led the building to be covered in combustible cladding that turned a small apartment fire into the deadliest blaze on British soil since World War II. The inquiry’s head, retired judge Martin Moore-Bick, said the victims’ deaths were all avoidable, and “those who lived in the tower were badly failed over a number of years” by multiple people and organizations. “All contributed to it in one way or another, in most cases through incompetence but in some cases through dishonesty and greed,” he said. While the report may give survivors some of the answers they have long sought, they face a wait to see whether anyone responsible will be prosecuted. Police will examine the inquiry’s conclusions before deciding on charges. The fire broke out in the early hours of June 14, 2017, in a fourth-floor apartment and spread up the 25-story building like a lit fuse, fueled by flammable cladding panels on the tower’s exterior walls. The tragedy horrified the nation and raised questions about lax safety regulations and other failings by officials and businesses that contributed to so many deaths. “How was it possible in 21st century London for a reinforced concrete building, itself structurally impervious to fire, to be turned into a death trap?” asked the report. It concluded: “There is no simple answer to that question.” Grenfell Tower, built from concrete in the 1970s, had been covered during a refurbishment in the years before the fire with aluminum and polyethylene cladding — a layer of foam insulation topped by two sheets of aluminum sandwiched around a layer of polyethylene, a combustible plastic polymer that melts and drips on exposure to heat. The report was highly critical of companies that made the building’s cladding. It said they engaged in “systematic dishonesty,” manipulating safety tests and misrepresenting the results to claim the material was safe. It said insulation manufacturer Celotex was unscrupulous, and another insulation firm, Kingspan, “cynically exploited the industry’s lack of detailed knowledge.” It said cladding panel maker Arconic “concealed from the market the true extent of the danger.” The combustible cladding was used on the building because it was cheap and because of “incompetence of the organizations and individuals involved in the refurbishment” – including architects, engineers and contractors — all of whom thought safety was someone else’s responsibility, the report said. The inquiry concluded the failures multiplied because bodies in charge of enforcing Britain’s building standards were weak, the local authority was uninterested and the “complacent” Conservative-led U.K. government ignored safety warnings because of a commitment to deregulation. The inquiry has held more than 300 public hearings and examined around 1,600 witness statements. An initial report published in 2019, looking at what happened the night of the fire, criticized the fire department for telling residents to stay in their apartments and await rescue. The advice was changed almost two hours after the fire broke out, too late for many on […]

The Tel Aviv District Court held a preliminary hearing on Wednesday regarding a petition claiming anti-Jewish discrimination on the part of the Tel Aviv Municipality.

The petition, filed by the Rosh Yehudi organization and 14 Tel Aviv residents, claims that thousands of Muslims attended a gender-segregated religious event at the city’s Charles Clore Park on June 16, whereas the municipality had refused to grant a permit for a public gender-segregated Jewish religious event.

Rosh Yehudi has information on three separate gender-segregated Muslim prayer events this year on public grounds, Rosh Yehudi head Israel Zeira told JNS on Wednesday.

At Tuesday’s hearing, the municipality appeared to sidestep the accusation altogether, claiming that the petition was based solely on media reports regarding the Muslim events.

“The petitioner is basing itself on a journalistic publication whereas journalistic articles […] cannot form the basis for allegations brought before the court,” the municipality argued, referencing a High Court of Justice case from last year.

The municipality further argued that the reports, which it neither confirmed nor denied, were about events that had already happened and for which no permits had been issued, and therefore irrelevant to a petition concerning the city’s refusal to issue a permit for events that had not yet occurred.

However, the petition, filed last month, argues that allowing gender-segregated Islamic events to take place without a permit is also discriminatory, as it punishes those who seek permits and benefits those who do not.

“Just as nothing prevents a separate policy for Tel Aviv-Yafo’s Muslim minority, which has segregated events, so there should be no opposition in principle in our multicultural society for the practices of the Jewish-religious minority,” the petitioners wrote.

The municipality also argued on Wednesday that gender-segregated events on public grounds discriminated against women, but neither addressed the views of women, including women’s rights activists, who dispute this, nor explained why such segregation is discriminatory only toward women.

Wednesday’s hearing follows a polarizing debate last year about gender-segregated prayer in Tel Aviv’s Dizengof Square. Highlighting coexistence issues between secular and religious Israeli Jews, the debate was sidelined by the outbreak of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, and is resurfacing ahead of this year’s Jewish holiday season.

Rosh Yehudi, whose mission statement speaks of strengthening Jewish identity, had held segregated prayer events at the square for years, with a permit, but last year the city decided to ban physical separation barriers from at such events. This year, the city didn’t respond to the organization’s request for a permit for three months, finally declining it outright last month.

The events of last year’s Yom Kippur prayer at Dizengof Square, which Rosh Yehudi held with a permit, shocked Jews and others across the world. Secular activists interrupted the event, tearing down Rosh Yehudi’s dividers—frames made of flexible materials to symbolically separate the sexes while respecting the municipality’s controversial ban on physical barriers. Some activists threw prayer books into the square’s fountain as they harassed and chased away Jews trying to pray on what many consider Judaism’s holiest day.

Tel Aviv is Israel’s second-largest city, with about 500,000 residents, including many thousands of religious and traditionalist Jews. Many of Tel Aviv’s residents celebrate its secularist identity and what they regard as its spirit of pluralism. These values, however, do not align with limiting the religious freedoms of residents who wish to gather and worship in accordance with their beliefs, the petitioners argued.

Judge Erez Yakuel instructed the parties to try to reach a compromise ahead of another discussion on Sept. 11. “I want you to imagine a square with everybody, worshipers and seculars, who use the whole space as they see fit within the confines of the law,” he told the parties.

But a representative of the municipality told the court: “Sex-segregated prayer cannot be allowed to take place in the city.” Harel Arnon, a lawyer representing Rosh Yehudi, told the judge that the group is prepared to move the event to any place designated for it by the municipality.

Irit Linur, a right-wing television pundit and columnist who is among the petitioners, called the municipality and its refusal to allow sex-segregated prayer in public “antisemitic.”

A secularist activist who attended the hearing, Moshe Peretz, told JNS that if sex-segregated prayer is allowed this year, he would take steps “that would make last year’s event pale in comparison to this one,” He added: “We have allowed Rosh Yehudi to grow and grow and we’re done. We will fight for our street and for our square.”

These threats, and the events of last year, “show that even if the city does compromise, antisemites will disrupt the event. So what are we even talking about here?” Linur said.

In its preliminary reply to the court ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, the municipality, unusually, waded into theology. It explained that, despite the predominant Jewish Orthodox custom, dividing the genders in prayer outside a shuls is not mandated by halacha.

The city also noted certain prohibitions and reservations by rabbinical rulers on prayer in open spaces, apparently to suggest that Rosh Yehudi’s Yom Kippur events violated Jewish principles as well as the city’s regulations, or constituted some misinterpretation of Jewish custom.

The city’s also noted that it does not limit gender-segregated prayer in synagogues and authorizes them as necessary to expand prayers onto public grounds when they get overcrowded.

Leading rabbinical authorities, including David Stav of the Tzohar rabbinical group and former chief Sephardic rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, have supported Rosh Yehudi’s event and defended it against attacks and legal obstacles.

Following the public outcry over last year’s events at Dizengoff Square, the Tel Aviv Municipality on Oct. 6 authorized Rosh Yehudi’s request to hold a Simchat Torah event at the square. This decision came after the High Court of Justice criticized the city’s actions and encouraged a compromise.

The municipality and Rosh Yehudi reached an agreement to hold the event on Oct. 7 without physical barriers separating men and women, with segregation being optional. Additionally, the organizers agreed to relocate the event from the central square to a nearby area. However, the event was canceled due to the devastating Hamas attack on Oct. 7 and ensuing war.

The compromise followed a High Court ruling on a petition by Rosh Yehudi, where the court stated that the city’s claim—asserting Rosh Yehudi had violated permit terms and thus could not hold a gender-segregated event—was not sufficient to justify restricting freedom of worship. JNS

{Matzav.com Israel}

It is with deep pain and sorrow that Hatzolah of Central Jersey mourns the petirah of R’ Yisroel Schenkowleski z”l, a true pioneer and cornerstone of our organization for over 25 years. R’ Yisroel was one of the earliest members of Hatzolah, dedicating himself selflessly to the mission of saving lives. R’ Yisroel’s commitment to Hatzolah, where he was affectionately known as “D-1″ (Dispatch-1), was unparalleled. For years, he dispatched the overnight shifts seven days a week, ensuring that no call for help went unanswered. Through his tireless work and determination, he played a pivotal role in transforming Hatzolah from a small, fledgling organization into the vital, life-saving force it is today. Tens of thousands of patients have been helped because of his incomparable efforts. Beyond his dispatching duties, R’ Yisroel worked closely with local, county, and state authorities on various critical aspects of Hatzolah’s operations. His efforts were particularly instrumental in enhancing interagency communications and collaboration, as well as in ensuring kavod hameis following tragedies. “R’ Yisroel was the heart and soul of Hatzolah’s overnight operations for so many years,” said Hatzolah veteran and Lakewood Committeeman Meir Lichtenstein (L-22). “His dedication and selflessness were unmatched, and his impact on Hatzolah and the Lakewood community as a whole is immeasurable. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him.” Reflecting on R’ Yisroel’s dedication, Avraham Moshe Muller (L-13) said: “He was literally available 24/7 for everyone. Hatzolah was part of his DNA, and he devoted tremendous time and effort to advance Hatzolah as an organization. He never asked for kavod and shied away from any attempts to honor him. R’ Yisroel kept a low profile and operated as one who was truly an osek b’tzorchei tzibbur b’emunah.” One of the founding members of Lakewood Hatzolah, Shea Beren (L-01) added, “He would personally come out to every serious call, every accident, and, rachamana litzlan, every petira. He had a unique way of comforting and calming families in crisis, like only he could do. Hatzolah ran smoothly, but only because “Shenky” was in the background, behind the scenes, making sure of it. He was Hatzolah’s friend and guardian, and the protector and defender of Lakewood—he will be profoundly missed.”