Monday, November 8, 2021

Attacks on George Soros is nothing new for Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu

 https://www.thejc.com/comment/opinion/anshel-pfeffer-attacks-on-george-soros-antisemitism-is-nothing-new-for-israel-s-benjamin-netanyahu-1.458706

Just four days earlier, at a meeting of Likud ministers, Mr Netanyahu said money from Mr Soros was financing the campaign in Israel against his plan to deport 30,000 African migrants in the coming months.

A spokesman for Mr Soros’ Open Society Foundation promptly denied this and later in the day Mr Netanyahu changed his story, this time accusing the New Israel Fund of being behind the anti-deportation drive.

His interior minister Arye Deri, meanwhile, was blaming Reform Jews in the United States.

Whether or not he still believes the Hungarian-born billionaire is somehow involved in trying to block the deportations, Mr Netanyahu already has form when it comes to Soros-bashing.

Debunking the myths surrounding George Soros | Reality Check with John Avlon

How Vilification of George Soros Moved From the Fringes to the Mainstream | NYT News

Israeli families of Ethiopian Jews stranded in war-torn country demand action

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/r1tzjhbdt

Despite the clear and immediate danger, a recently reveled classified report by the National Security Council said that any attempt to rescue or open a dialogue on evacuating Falash Mura members to Israel is ill-advised as it could lead to political fallout with the Ethiopian authorities.
Integration Minister Pnina Tamano Shata lambasted the document as an attempt to "torpedo the rescue of the rest of Ethiopian Jewry."

 

Rescue of remaining Ethiopian Jews may lead to coalition crisis - report

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/rescue-of-remaining-ethiopian-jews-may-lead-to-coalition-crisis-report-684334

 A crisis is brewing with Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata (Blue and White) over the continued delay in bringing Ethiopia's remaining Jews to Israel, Army Radio reported on Monday morning. This is due to Tamano-Shata's unwillingness to compromise on the issue, and claims that she will not remain in the government if action is not taken.

According to the report, a classified document compiled by the National Security Council claimed that it is not clear to what extent the 8,000 remaining Jewish are indeed Jewish and to what extent they are actually in danger. The document added that bringing them to Israel without a proper investigation could be a demographic mistake and that a rescue operation may create tensions with Ethiopian authorities.
On Sunday, Haaretz revealed that Israel had already airlifted dozens of Ethiopians out of the war-torn country but then learned that they were not, in fact, Jewish.

JEWISH PENOLOGY: UNANSWERED QUESTIONS by AARON KIRSCHENBAUM

 https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj3kd7h9Yj0AhXFxIUKHYLDC1IQFnoECAMQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.idc.ac.il%2Fen%2F_layouts%2F15%2FElad.SPS.Idc.Sprint4%2FPages%2FHandler.aspx%3Ftype%3Dpublication%26publicationId%3D3903%26userName%3Dkirsch&usg=AOvVaw0btyQnzLXB7dMh_hGypvPR

 We have undertaken a comprehensive study of halakhic penology throughout Jewish history. In the course of our studies we have been stymied by two major problems: the utter impracticality of the criminal law of the Torah as a means of maintaining law and order, and the strangeness of the kippah penalty.

He discusses these fully issues in his major work Jewish Penology Magnes  press 2013

https://www.magnespress.co.il/en/book/Jewish_Penology-3533

We intend to point out that there was more than one system of Jewish penology. We will elaborate upon the existence of a classical system – retributory and expatiatory – related to a self-perfecting society. Only such a society would ordain a painless penalty for death for criminals guilty of the most serious crimes with malice and forethought and a painful punishment with immediate restoration to one's community for criminals guilty of lesser crimes. Criminal penalties for the purposes of deterrence (private or public) or of social rehabilitation are minor considerations.

 In addition to and alongside the classical penological system, we will be detailing other systems of a more practical nature: one governed by the King's law and others emerging from rabbinical ad hoc urisdiction and communal legislation. These systems are less governed by the classical motivations of strict retribution and religious expiation (which continue to play a role – albeit a relatively minor one); deterrence and social rehabilitation, law and order, are their dominant considerations. Moreover the varying degrees of judicial autonomy granted to the Jewish community by the non-Jewish governments resulted invariations in penal practices among the various communities themselves.

Ethiopian PM to Bennett: You let war criminals into Israel

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/316524

Ethiopia’s prime minister accused Israel of allowing a number of officers involved in a massacre in their home country to find refuge in Israel, slamming Israel’s handling of a recent wave of immigrants from Ethiopia.

According to a report by Israel’s Channel 13 Monday afternoon, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed slammed his Israeli counterpart, Naftali Bennett, claiming that at least three to four of the recent Ethiopian immigrants brought to Israel were actually officers involved in a massacre.

 

An Eye for An Eye ֠Payment for the injury

 https://torah.etzion.org.il/en/eye-eye-%D6%A0payment-injury

             The Rambam's view regarding injury seems to be a continuation of his aforementioned position that not only would there have been room for corporal punishment, but even the money that is paid expresses the fact that "he deserves to lose a limb" – even the monetary payment is a kenas imposed on the person who caused the injury.  

What Does ‘Eye for an Eye’ Really Mean?

 https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/479511/jewish/What-Does-Eye-for-an-Eye-Really-Mean.htm

“An eye for an eye” may be an idiom, but the Torah always uses precise language, so why use this particular phrase? There is a purposeful subtext here: The perpetrator deserves to be injured or lose a limb in the same manner as the victim, but G‑d is compassionate, so the perpetrator makes financial restitution to the victim instead. It’s therefore important to bear in mind that, as is the case with all interpersonal transgressions, merely giving financial compensation should not be seen as having made amends for what was done, which can never fully be corrected; The best we can do is offer monetary compensation and beg forgiveness from the victim.

 

Fact check: False claims about George Soros

 https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-false-george-soros-claims-idUSKBN23P2XJ

In a 1998 60 Minutes interview (youtu.be/AiqHiQYuoOs) Soros says his father forged his family’s identity to protect them. Soros, as a teenager, was placed under custody of a government official with the premise of being his godson. During this time, Soros witnessed (but did not actively participate in) the confiscation of Jewish property (here). In the interview, Soros says he doesn’t feel guilt looking back at these events, mentioning that he was a child at the time and that he was a “spectator” to something that would have happened regardless of his presence. 

 SOROS DOES NOT “OWN” ANTIFA AND BLACK LIVES MATTER

George Soros does not “own” ANTIFA or Black Lives Matter.

False. Conspiracy theories about George Soros visible in this post are unfounded.

Dozens of Ethiopians brought to Israel accused of scamming way onto airlift

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/dozens-of-ethiopians-brought-to-israel-accused-of-scamming-way-onto-airlift/

 Dozens of people smuggled in a secret operation from Ethiopia to Israel recently may have misrepresented their Jewish ancestry and exaggerated the level of danger they were in, according to reports Sunday.

An investigation by the Immigration and Population Authority raised “serious doubts” regarding the vast majority of a group of 61 Ethiopians brought to Israel over the last several months, who may have been part of a conspiracy involving a man who immigrated from Ethiopia over 20 years ago, Haaretz reported.

Members of the community involved in the effort denied the accusations, according to Channel 12 news, which also published an assessment from the National Security Council claiming that there was no urgency to airlift efforts.

Israelis rally behind teen brutally bullied at school for viral video

 https://www.ynetnews.com/article/s1upmpbwt#autoplay

Hundreds gathered Sunday night in central Israel to show support for an eighth-grade student from the city of Rishon Lezion, who was filmed being brutally bullied by his classmates at a local school.

Sunday, November 7, 2021

New Jersey GOP senator-elect Ed Durr apologizes for Islamophobic tweet

 https://www.inquirer.com/politics/new-jersey/ed-durr-twitter-racist-tweets-20211105.html

 In a 2019 tweet resurfaced by WNYC, Durr attacked the prophet Muhammad by name, denigrated Muslims as “fools,” and referred to Islam as a “false religion.”

Durr, 58, had made other incendiary claims on social media. He also downplayed the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and touted other right-wing conspiracy theories and referred to all undocumented immigrants as “criminals,” among other comments that have gained scrutiny.

In 1st for Conservative movement, women rabbis tie knot in same-sex wedding

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-1st-for-conservative-movement-women-rabbis-tie-knot-in-same-sex-wedding/

  You could call it bashert: 15 years after a landmark decision in Judaism’s Conservative movement that paved the way for gay and lesbian students to enter its rabbinical schools and for rabbis to perform same-sex weddings, it would seem like destiny that two Conservative rabbis would wed.

Of course, it happened at Camp Ramah.

Rabbi Ariella Rosen and Rabbi Becca Walker tied the knot at the Conservative movement’s camp in Palmer, Massachusetts, last month, with yet another queer woman rabbi, Megan GoldMarche, officiating. Rosen’s father, Rabbi Jim Rosen, also played a role.