peace plan

Yesterday a secular Israeli indicated that I was crazy and that made me realize the solution for peace

He said "Is it true you  used to live in New York but moved to Israel!?

When I said yes he became agitated and asked maybe you lived in the dangerous section of Bronx?

And I said no it was the best Jewish part of Flatbush!

in short he thought I was crazy!

For many weeks secular Israelis have been demonstrating for a secure secular Democracy or threatening to leave Israel

My solution is not the impractical two state solution but the 70 nation solution

Every Israeli and Palestinian will be given an alternative country with full citizenship employment and dwelling

I think enough would move that there would be no one left to fight!

it would be cheaper that the constant and unlimited  funding needed to support the present situation

The only problem is the fanatics  on both sides who will only live in Israel or don't want Jews to live there 

but we already have no solution to that

The Amshinover Rebbe told a  friend of mine who was forced to return to America for financial reasons

"It is better to be in New York longing to live in Israel that to live in Israel but longing to be in New York!"

Daas Torah update

I have been reading my latest book which is a collection selected blog posts from the last 15 years

it is obvious that it in fact an update to my sefer Daas Torah rather than a recording of an online journal

Weighing Lives: Israel’s Prisoner-Exchange Policy and the Right to Life

 https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1308&context=mjil

Abstract

The state of Israel has engaged in many prisoner-exchange deals involving large numbers of released prisoners in exchange for only a few Israeli captives. The Jibril Agreement and the Shalit prisoner exchange has set the price tag of one Israeli captive to the equivalent of several hundreds of prisoners.

Israel’s prisoner-exchange policy is suggested to contribute to a cycle whereby more lives are lost, which raises many important questions with regard to the right to life. Such a high price tag on Israeli life encourages more kidnappings, which results in further prisoner exchanges—and so forth. It is also claimed that released prisoners sometimes resume their involvement in terrorism, which causes a further loss of lives. This study aims to understand the motivations of Israel to engage in such unbalanced prisoner exchanges, to analyze Israel’s prisoner-exchange policy with reference to various aspects of the right to life, and finally, to offer guidelines and improvements to the current policy to better address the right to life principles. 

Is Shidduch crisis the result of abuse?

 Received an urgent call from America yesterday regarding an unmarried male of 39

The family discovered that their son's high school class has many unmarried older singles and people who have dropped religious observance

Question is 1) Could this be the result of sexual abuse? - the answer is clearly yes

Question 2) is could the trauma remain even decades later? the answer is yes?

Question 3) teachers and rabbis and therapists were consulted and they claim it is just a case of commitment anxiety? The answer is in most cases these people have no competence in dealing with abuse or commitment anxiety

Suggested solution - consult a therapist with solid track record of dealing with sexual abuse cases.

A public relations disaster

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/379085

Ynet journalist Ran Boker wrote, "I'm really having a hard time recovering from this propaganda disaster. There are thousands of changes every reality show contestant goes through. People get a briefing before interviews. So a hostage who was held captive during a war?! Where is the person who is responsible for the propaganda? Terrible."

Then he showed headlines on the foreign channels that mainly cite the conditions in which Lifshitz was held. "Look at the headline of Sky News! It's unbelievable how Hamas schools us even in propaganda. Don't make live hostage statements. Don't hold press conferences. Only release recorded statements. They were held captive by a murderous terrorist organization. Where is the IDF spokesman? What is this crazy propaganda attack? This is delusional."

He made another claim. "The husband of the freed captive Yocheved Lifshitz is still in captivity - what can she say? We can only imagine what Hamas asked her to say and how they threatened her."

An Insane Number of Gen Zers Support Hamas's Slaughter of Innocent Israelis

 https://www.newsweek.com/insane-number-gen-zers-support-hamass-slaughter-innocent-israelis-opinion-1837422

Overall, Americans overwhelmingly support Israel over Hamas. A whopping 84 percent of respondents told pollsters they favored Israel, while just 16 percent favored Hamas. Among older Americans over 65, an astounding 95 percent supported Israel, and just 5 percent said their sympathies lie with Hamas. But among young people age 18 to 24, things looked quite differently.

Just 52 percent of this group said they supported Israel, while 48 percent said they supported Hamas. Yes, that's right: Nearly half of young respondents said they side with the terrorist group that just earlier this month purposefully targeted and slaughtered innocent civilians, including women, children, and infants, in a chilling and sadistic manner.

613 commandments

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/613_commandments

Nahmanides held that this particular counting was a matter of rabbinic controversy, and that rabbinic opinion on this is not unanimous. Nonetheless, he concedes that "this total has proliferated throughout the aggadic literature... we ought to say that it was a tradition from Moses at Mount Sinai".[10]

America's Hard Left Is Tearing Itself Apart

 https://www.newsweek.com/america-hard-left-tearing-itself-apart-1836810

Different views on the left about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are not new, says Paul Quirk, a political science professor at the University of British Columbia in Canada.

"There has long been a spectrum of left-of-center opinion in the U.S. on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—from full endorsement of hardline Palestinians' demands and approval of their conduct, including terrorist attacks, to more restrained criticism of Israeli governments, alleging intransigence in negotiations, disproportionate violence, and indifference to the suffering of innocent Palestinians" Quirk told Newsweek.

A ‘Holocaust’ in Kfar Aza

Israel Bitton in Kfar Azza from Hamodia News on Vimeo.

Gaza hospital blast caused by militants’ rocket, UK agencies believe

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/23/gaza-hospital-blast-caused-by-militants-rocket-uk-intelligence-sunak-israel-palestine 

UK intelligence services have concluded that the deadly blast at al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza was caused by a rocket fired by a Palestinian militant group rather than by an Israeli airstrike, Rishi Sunak has told MPs.

NY Times admits its coverage of Gaza hospital blast relied too heavily on Hamas claims

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/ny-times-admits-its-coverage-of-gaza-hospital-blast-relied-too-heavily-on-hamas-claims/

The initial reports “relied too heavily on claims by Hamas, and did not make clear that those claims could not immediately be verified,” it said. “The report left readers with an incorrect impression about what was known and how credible the account was.”

Are comments being blocked?

 I was just told by a reader that he was blocked from making a comment to a recent post. Has anyone else been blocked?

Intel, defense officials tell senators that Israel did not strike hospital

 https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4263749-intel-senators-israel-did-not-strike-hospital/

U.S. intelligence and defense officials told senators at a classified briefing Wednesday that Israel is not responsible for a blast that reportedly killed hundreds of people at a hospital in Gaza, contradicting earlier media reports and claims from Hamas that an Israeli airstrike caused the carnage. 

Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, also told senators that there is no direct evidence that Iran ordered or had foreknowledge of the attack by Hamas militants that killed more than 1,000 Israeli civilians living near the border with the Gaza Strip, lawmakers say.  

Why U.S. Intel Says Israel Did Not Attack Gaza Hospital

 https://www.newsweek.com/why-us-intel-says-israel-did-not-attack-gaza-hospital-1835897

"Israel did not target the hospital, that we know" a senior Defense Intelligence Agency officer told Newsweek. "Imagery and signals [intercepts] additionally show that a rocket fired from inside Gaza landed near the hospital, not on it."

"We don't know how many people died, nor does Israel. Not yet," says a U.S. Air Force officer working on the subject. "But the intelligence, ours and Israel's, suggests a few dozen at most. I'm not saying this isn't a tragedy," the officer says, "but this is just another case of massive exaggeration and blatant lying on the part of Hamas. Palestinians are the responsible party, not Israel."

Devastating Gaza Hospital Blast—What We Know

 https://www.newsweek.com/devastating-gaza-hospital-blastwhat-we-know-1835576

Later, in a virtual briefing with reporters, Hagari went into further detail on the IDF's investigation, saying it constituted a review of Israeli air, land and sea attacks on Gaza, as well as rocket-detecting radars, which he said detected a barrage of rockets going toward Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital. Hagari said that there were no such Israeli attacks that occurred "next to the hospital" at this time, nor did the damage "fit any ammunition with the air force."

IDF tells world: This is how Islamic Jihad destroyed the Gaza hospital

 https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-768942

IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari on Wednesday laid out the IDF's full comprehensive intelligence case to prove that an Islamic Jihad failed rocket caused the damage Tuesday night to a Gaza hospital, leading to a still-unclear, but large, number of Palestinian civilian deaths.

The chief spokesman presented actual audio recordings in which Islamic Jihad members say out loud that they are responsible for the explosion.

Hamas Uses Western Morality as a Weapon Against Israel | Opinion

 https://www.newsweek.com/hamas-uses-western-morality-weapon-against-israel-opinion-1834774

Israel is generally held to a higher standard of morality by other governments, the media, and academia. Hamas knows this and exploits it as a weapon of war. Hamas understands that the killing of civilians—whether deliberate or collateral to legitimate military actions—is seen as wrong. But when dead children are shown on TV, many viewers fail to distinguish between deliberate targeting of civilians and unintentional collateral deaths. Hamas takes advantage of this psychological reality. Hamas has even come up with a name—"The CNN strategy"—for this misuse of morality.

Why does the Torah not mention Olam Habah The time of the giving of Torag or Ressurection?

 There is a major debate going on now regrading the significance of peshutei hamikra vs derash

Is eye for an eye meant literally?

Why is there pshat and drasha?

How the Activist Left Turned On Israel

 https://time.com/6323730/hamas-attack-left-response/

Instead of condemning and mourning the deadliest day for Jews since Israel’s founding, factions of the grassroots left appeared to celebrate the assault as an act of Palestinian heroism. The national chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine called it "a historic win for the Palestinian resistance." A coalition of 34 Harvard student organizations issued a statement saying they "hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence." The Democratic Socialists of America promoted a pro-Palestinian rally in New York where attendees reportedly chanted “resistance is justified when people are occupied.” One was shown displaying a swastika. A Twitter account apparently belonging to Black Lives Matter Chicago posted an image of a paraglider with a Palestinian flag on X, appearing to celebrate the Hamas terrorists who descended to slaughter hundreds of Israelis at a music festival.

The left faces a reckoning as Israel divides Democrats

 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/left-faces-reckoning-israel-divides-democrats-rcna120076

But after this weekend’s terror attack, the worst killing of Jews since the Holocaust, Simonds said many liberal Jews feel abandoned by people they thought were friends, some of whom have expressed little sympathy for the Israelis killed while focusing instead on the plight of Palestinians.

University Loses Funding on Israel Stance as College Donors Apply Pressure

 https://www.newsweek.com/university-loses-funding-israel-stance-donors-1835027

Jon Huntsman, a former U.S. ambassador to China and Russia, told Penn President Liz Magill that his family will "close its checkbook" on future donations to the university.

"The University's silence in the face of reprehensible and historic Hamas evil against the people of Israel (when the only response should be outright condemnation) is a new low," Huntsman wrote in an email to Magill, according to the student-run Daily Pennsylvanian. "Silence is antisemitism, and antisemitism is hate, the very thing higher ed was built to obviate."

Biden Gains Ground Among Republicans on Israel Response as Trump Stumbles

 https://www.newsweek.com/biden-gains-ground-among-republicans-israel-response-trump-stumbles-1834812

Posting to X, formerly Twitter, Georgia's GOP Governor Brian Kemp wrote: "Women, children, elderly, Israelis, and Americans alike have been slaughtered by these evil terrorists. It is never acceptable to praise deranged murderers or undermine one of our closest allies in their darkest hour.

Creation & The Big Bang

 https://aish.com/creation-the-big-bang/

I have trouble reconciling my reading of Genesis with current scientific theory. When I read the beginning of creation, is seems clear that God created the world complete, as well as the rest of the universe. But physics says that there was a primordial speck which exploded in what is known as the Big Bang, and from this expansion the universe came to be.

Is there a way to integrate the two versions of the story?

Who's behind Israel-Gaza disinformation and hate online?

 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67114313

Ultimately, though, determining whether a profile is actually fake and who exactly is behind it is a very difficult task. It requires information from the social media companies that journalists don't often have access to.

Hamas Abducted My Wife and Babies. They're Running Out of Time

 https://www.newsweek.com/hamas-abducted-my-wife-babies-theyre-running-out-time-1834098

They were on some kind of vehicle as one of the captors put a cover on my wife's head. I immediately recognized my older daughter Raz with her little purple dress. All around them, the attackers were shouting "Allahu akbar". At that moment, I knew they'd been abducted.

'Dad. They shot me. Help': Surviving the Kfar Aza kibbutz massacre

 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67089114

"You want the truth? I don't want the Hamas anymore in my life. We need to destroy them one by one. We need to be strong."

Does Hamas Have a Training Center in Mexico?

 https://www.newsweek.com/hamas-training-center-camp-mexico-israel-war-united-states-1833860

Former President Donald Trump, among others, shared a baseless theory that President's Joe Biden's immigration policies had resulted in Hamas militants "pouring" across the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump also said that Biden and his "boss," former President Barack Obama, would be responsible for any Hamas attacks inside the U.S.

Aliza Lavie: Where is women's sisterhood? These are not women's rights

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/377727

Referring to the latest incident as part of the recent incidents in which religious Jewish leaders were attacked, the most prominent of which is the Yom Kippur incident, Dr. Aliza Lavie says that indeed, "The tables have turned," and red lines were crossed. "We have now seen the opposition leaders realize the damage of their words that were said right after the fast ended and they changed their attitude." Lavie mentions that the municipal order has been in place since 2018 and the question has arisen as to what happened now that led to this incident.

Can We Prevent Alzheimer's? Scientists Say New Tests and Treatments are "a Game Changer"

 https://www.newsweek.com/2023/10/20/can-we-prevent-alzheimers-scientists-say-new-tests-treatments-are-game-changer-1832957.html

To be sure, these drugs are not cures. They offer little relief for patients already in the late stages of Alzheimer's dementia, for whom the effects of the new drugs are modest. They can slow the decline, giving those in whom the disease is moderately advanced an extra year of cognitive lucidity. For those patients and their families that's certainly significant, but nowhere close to a reversal.

PMO: False reports Israel received warning of Hamas attack from Egypt

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/flashes/616243

The Prime Minister's office said: "The report to the effect that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a message in advance from Egypt is absolutely false."

Why Hamas Tried to Sabotage Arab-Israeli Peace Prospects With a Massive Unprovoked Attack

 https://time.com/6321671/why-hamas-sabotaged-peace-prospects-israel-attack/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=sfmc&utm_campaign=newsletter+brief+default+ac&utm_content=+++20231008+++body&et_rid=207247165&lctg=207247165

History again echoes, as the predicate for Hamas’ attack had less to do with anything that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have done—now is not the moment to blame the victim. Rather, the trigger to the attack was likely that the prospect of a wider Mideast peace was almost at hand through an impending deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Hamas’ sabotage parallels the disruption of the prospective Israeli-Palestinian peace plan in 2000 on the heels of a Camp David Summit when the devastation of the Second Intifada ruined any dreams of normalization and resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians.

Ilhan Omar Reacts to Hamas Assault on Israel

 https://www.newsweek.com/ilhan-omar-reacts-hamas-assault-israel-1832893

"I condemn the horrific acts we are seeing unfold today in Israel against children, women, the elderly, and the unarmed people who are being slaughtered and taken hostage by Hamas. Such senseless violence will only repeat the back and forth cycle we've seen, which we cannot allow to continue. We need to call for deescalation and ceasefire," Omar wrote. "I will keep advocating for peace and justice throughout the Middle East."

Reprehensible: Congresswoman calls on US to stop funding Israel amid Hamas attack

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/378069

The congresswoman concluded: "As part of achieving a just and lasting peace, we must do our part to stop this violence and trauma by ending US government support for Israeli military occupation and apartheid. I am continuing to closely monitor the situation, and my Office is ready to support residents of the First District with family members and loved ones in the region."

‘Bring Them Home’: Israeli Families Plead for the Lives of Hamas’ Civilian Hostages

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/hamas-militants-take-israeli-civilians-hostage-prompting-desperate-outcry-from-families?ref=scroll

Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri was quoted telling Al Jazeera on Saturday that all the Israeli hostages taken to the Gaza Strip would likely be freed in exchange for Palestinians serving out sentences in Israeli prisons.

“Our detainees in [Israeli] prisons, their freedom is looming large. What we have in our hands will release all our prisoners. The longer fighting continues, the higher the number of prisoners will become,” he said.

Pentagon says it will support Israel after Netanyahu declares war

 https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4243366-pentagon-says-it-will-support-israel-after-leader-declares-war/

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the U.S. stands squarely by Israel and will ensure it “has what it needs to defend itself” after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war against Palestinian militants that launched a surprise attack on his country.

300 Patients Sue Columbia University Over Doctor's Sexual Abuse

 https://www.newsweek.com/300-patients-sue-columbia-doctors-sexual-abuse-1832067

More than 300 women are suing Columbia University, accusing the institution of "enabling" the serial sex abuser Robert Hadden, who was a gynecologist in its affiliated hospital system.

Marrying again while being married // The International Beit Din has taken upon itself the mission of freeing agunos, but rabbanim from across the spectrum have warned that their methods violate halachah and endanger klal Yisrael

 https://www.amimagazine.org/2021/07/14/marrying-again-while-being-married/

However, the scholarship its members use to justify their decisions has been determined to be sorely deficient. The IBD has published 13 of its “psakim,” which are available for anyone to read on its website. These “teshuvos” were panned by a host of leading poskim, including Rav Hershel Schachter and Rav Mendel Zilber, who said that these supposed psakim are actually error-laden misreadings and misunderstandings of Rishonim and Acharonim. (See our interview with Rav Hershel Schachter for a more detailed explanation.)

Rabbis finally break silence on sex abuse

 https://www.thejc.com/news/world/rabbis-finally-break-silence-on-sex-abuse-1.23372?reloadTime=1656201600011

MAY 26, 2011

The rabbinical advice was both candid and clear. In response to the observation that allegations of abuse had been suppressed out of fear of communal disgrace (hilul hashem), Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn, author of Child and Domestic Abuse, responded: "Covering up is a much worse hilul hashem." Where a child is in danger, he noted that the halachic concept of pikuach nefesh (danger to an individual) mandates the - legally required - reporting of the situation to secular authorities.

Trump's defense in $250M NY fraud case: 'That is not fraud — that is real estate'

 https://nypost.com/2023/10/02/trump-fraud-trial-in-nyc-live-updates-reactions-photos-more/

Donald Trump pumped up his net worth as a vanity project – to climb up Forbes’ list of billionaires – and also so he could save millions on loan and insurance terms, the New York Attorney General’s Office claimed at the start of the former president’s $250 million civil fraud trial Monday.

Israel is fighting a holy war on Judaism, ultra-Orthodox leader claims

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-761164

Gafni launched a scathing attack on economists whom he claimed to have met with over the past few months, stating that "their war is not socio-economic or security-related, it's a war on religion.