Israeli couple accused of spying by Turkey released, sent home

 https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/israeli-couple-released-from-turkey-on-way-home-685317

 Natali and Mordi Oaknin, the Israeli couple jailed in Istanbul after photographing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s residence, were released from prison and returned to Israel on Thursday morning.

"After joint efforts with Turkey, Mordi and Natali Oaknin were released from custody prison and are on their way home to Israel," Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said in a statement. "[We] thanked the President of Turkey and his government for their cooperation and look forward to welcoming the couple back home.

The couple’s release came nine days after their arrest, after a concerted effort from the Foreign Ministry and Prime Minister’s Office, which emphasized that, contrary to the Turkish prosecution’s accusation, the Oaknins are not Israeli spies and have nothing to do with Israeli intelligence. In addition, Mossad chief David Barnea spoke to his counterpart and President Isaac Herzog called senior figures in Turkey.

Knesset approves commission of inquiry into death of Ahuvya Sandak

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/317113 

The Knesset on Wednesday approved the establishment of a commission of inquiry into the death of Ahuvya Sandak, the 17-year-old boy who was killed in a police chase last year.

Both the coalition and the opposition voted to support the measure, including Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

Under the measure, a joint committee will be established from the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and the Internal Security Committee in the next two weeks, to discuss the issue of the response of the police and the IDF to the 'hill-top youth.' The establishment of the joint committee was initiated by MK Nir Orbach (Yamina).

 

Two men convicted of role in Malcolm X assassination to be exonerated on Thursday

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2021/11/17/malcolm-x-killing-exoneration/

Manhattan prosecutors on Thursday will move to vacate the convictions of two men who served decades in prison for their alleged role in the assassination of civil rights icon Malcolm X, officials involved in the case said.

After a Netflix documentary last year raised doubts about the guilt of Muhammad A. Aziz, who previously went by the name Norman 3X Butler, and Khalil Islam (a.k.a. Thomas 15X Johnson), who died in 2009, the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. launched a review of the case.

Vance’s office and the Innocence Project, which is part of Aziz’s legal team, announced on Wednesday that two men would be exonerated on Thursday afternoon in New York State Supreme Court.

While the announcement did not name the men, Aziz is the only living person convicted in the assassination who has tried to clear his name.

 

Rabbi caught on video giving his shoes to homeless man on NYC subway

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

In a moving gesture that was caught on video and has now become viral on social media, a rabbi gave his shoes to a barefooted homeless man whom he saw on a subway in New York.

Unlikely coalition wants women to register for military draft

 https://www.axios.com/mandatory-draft-registration-women-74f20132-e733-4c90-9c21-07dca512fba0.html

Driving the news: Whether allowing women to serve in combat also means they should have to sign up for the military draft has been a debate for decades. Now, an unlikely coalition of feminists, veterans and conservatives could make it law as part of the Senate's expected passage of the National Defense Authorization Act.

• The House included the change when it passed its version of the NDAA in September. The Senate could act as early as this week.
• A majority on the Senate Armed Services Committee backed the change in a markup over the summer. One group of Republicans now is renewing an effort to block it as the Senate considers amendments before a final vote, but it's not clear they have the numbers to stop it.
• Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said for years the draft also should apply to women.

House set to punish Gosar for violent video depicting killing of Ocasio-Cortez

 https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/17/house-gosar-censure-aoc-video-522794

The House is set to censure Rep. Paul Gosar and boot him from his committees Wednesday over a violent social media post, representing a rare rebuke of a colleague that Speaker Nancy Pelosi deemed an "emergency."

Censures are uncommon in the House, with the last formal admonishment of a member in this manner occurring more than a decade ago. But Pelosi and Democratic leaders moved quickly toward the punishment after Gosar posted an anime video last week that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Joe Biden. 

“We Will Get Through This Together”

Re-Inventing The Steal:" Tell Congress: Hands Off Of Our Daughters - Repeal Selective Service

BS"D 

"Re-Inventing The Steal:" Tell Congress: Hands Off Of Our Daughters - Repeal Selective Service

November 17, '21 / 13 Kislev, 5782 / Vayishlach

by Rabbi Noson Shmuel Leiter, Executive Director, Help Rescue Our Children

"A sign of an idiot is someone who repeats the same actions - expecting different results." 

(- attributed to A.E.)

We in the United States - now facing the specter of expansion of Selective Service to women - ignore the lessons of the disastrous Israeli female military draft at our own societal peril. Here's a vital summary of the relevant issues, in this Veteran's Day post, edited and posted by Arutz Sheva [on November 14]: 

Congress: Kill Selective Service, NOT Our Daughters: 
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/316856

Below are just a few sample articles relevant to sexual abuse and exploitation in the IDF -- from a secular Israeli media source, Israel HaYom. It should go without saying [but sadly needs to be said] that whatever nonsense and iniquity we see coming from the Israeli government or Army does not reflect in any way on Judaism or the Jewish People.  Also realize that whatever news passes Israeli military censors is likely not fully reflective of the full gravity of the actual realia.

1) Reports of sexual assault, harrassment in the IDF up by 24%: 
IDF attributes rise in complaints of sexual assault, sexual harassment to ongoing "collective trauma" caused by the COVID pandemic and says it is working to eradicate such attacks from its ranks. 

By  Lilach Shoval  Published on  02-16-2021 08:28 Last modified: 02-16-2021 08:28

https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/02/16/reports-of-sexual-assault-harrassment-in-the-idf-up-by-24/

2) IDF parents claim daughters sexually harassed while serving as lookouts 

In a letter posted on social media, parents of female lookouts of the 636th Battalion describe their base as "an aggressive and violent environment that excludes women and imposes humiliating and disrespectful rules." 

By  Hanan Greenwood and Shahar Benjamini  Published on  05-07-2021 09:47 Last modified: 05-08-2021 09:21

https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/05/07/outraged-idf-parents-our-daughters-were-sexually-harassed-while-serving-as-lookouts/

3) Sexual harassment victims cannot be ignored over 'inconvenient practices' 

Investigating an anonymous sexual assault complaint has its challenges, but dismissing it from the start due to fear of it being a way to "settle scores" is outrageous and fundamentally wrong. 

By  Efrat Nachmani-Barr and Sharon Zaggi-Pinchas  Published on  10-11-2021 09:56 Last modified: 10-11-2021 10:44

https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/10/11/sexual-harassment-victims-cannot-be-ignored-over-inconvenient-practices/ 

========================

Clearly, the Israeli military drafting of women has decimated the culture. It's literally stolen away the indescribably magnificent spiritual destiny of generations of Israeli mothers. It's had a pernicious effect on the abortion rate. It's stolen untold numbers of Jewish babies from our People, to the detriment of national security, to which female-draft propagandists pay shallow homage.

In America, let's not allow either Democrats or Republicans* to "reinvent the Steal" here by expanding Selective Service to women, or to enable additional "national emergency" conscription.

Our daughters aren't government property.

* https://www.rollcall.com/2021/07/23/conservatives-riled-up-over-registering-women-for-draft/ http://daattorah.blogspot.com/2021/11/demonizing-dems-enables-gop-on-female.html

=========================

Tell Congress today: Kill Selective Service, not our daughters.

To contact Congress by phone:

Congressional Switchboard: 202-224-3121

online: https://www.votervoice.net/mobile/CWFA/campaigns/87862/respond

Anderson Cooper calls out McCarthy’s silence on Gosar

Rep. Gosar's 'Despicable' Attack On AOC Blasted By His Own Sister

Arizona's Gosar to face House censure-resolution vote Wednesday

 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-of-representatives-to-vote-tomorrow-on-resolution-to-censure-representative-gosar

Gosar Digital Director Jessica Lycos told the Washington Post last week that Democrats don’t understand meme culture.

"The left doesn’t get meme culture," Lycos said. "They have no joy. They are not the future. It’s a cartoon. Gosar can’t fly and he does not own any light sabers. Nor was violence glorified. This is about fighting for truth."

 

US Congress to punish lawmaker over violent clip

 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59314792

 The US House of Representatives is poised to punish a Republican lawmaker who tweeted a cartoon depicting him attacking Democrats with swords.

Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar faces a formal censure on Wednesday in the Democratic-controlled Congress.

It came after he posted then deleted an anime video that Democrats say promoted violence against President Joe Biden and lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Mr Gosar has said the video was just a "symbolic cartoon".

It comes just 10 months after supporters of Republican President Donald Trump stormed Congress in an attempt to block the certification of Mr Biden's election victory.

Earlier this year Democrats stripped another Republican lawmaker, Marjorie Taylor Greene, of committee assignments for past remarks that included support for violence against Democrats.

Conservatives accused them of hypocrisy for taking no punitive action against a Democratic lawmaker, Ilhan Omar, who made remarks that were construed as anti-Semitic.

Conference of Synagogue Rabbonim of Agudath Israel Release Statement on the International Beit Din

 

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Agudath Israel of America shared a statement from the Conference of Synagogue Rabbonim of Agudath Israel.

It has come to our attention that the so called “International Beit Din” (IBD) has issued multiple heteirim for married women to remarry without a get, utilizing various methods and arguments.

Gedolei Haposkim and multitudes of Rabbonim from across the spectrum have publicly decried the actions of the IBD and claim that their heteirim have no merit. The Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah and Conference of Synagogue Rabbonim of Agudas Yisrael join them in protest. Throughout the generations such matters were dealt with exclusively by universally recognized, foremost Gedolei Haposkim, in conjunction with other Gedolei Hador, and we firmly state that it is unprecedented and unacceptable for these matters to be dealt with in any other manner.

We turn to Rabbonim from across the country and across the world, and to all who hold our Torah and Kedushas Yisrael dear, to only rely on decisions rendered by valid, recognized Batei Din. It is our opinion that no Rav may be mesader kiddushin for any woman on the basis of a heter from the IBD to remarry. While the plight of agunos pains us deeply, and we hope and pray for them to be released from the chains of igun, dubious heteirim do not resolve their predicament. 

To the contrary, it only complicates a woman’s situation by causing issues of issurim chamurim of arayus and mamzeirus.

 

Demonizing Dems Enables GOP on Female Draft

 BS"D

Distorted Demonization of Democrats Enables Republican Betrayal on Selective Service Expansion

Wednesday, November 17, '21 /  13 Kislev, 5782 / Vayishlach

by Binyomin Feinberg

This post appears on Breitbart today https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/11/16/democrats-may-force-women-register-draft/. It alerts the public to one aspect of the threat of expansion of Selective Service, namely its expansion to include women. Unfortunately, it focuses ire against the Democrats, as opposed to the MANY Republicans who also support this downright barbaric policy. Moreover, the readership of Breitbart would have far more influence in pressuring wayward and wavering Republicans than Democrats. So why the blatant omission?

This imbalanced portrait of the Selective Service danger as a Democratic one is all the more perilous inasmuch as those tainted optics threaten to enable the Republican leadership to get away with "fighting to lose," with the intention of exploiting the expansion of Selective Service to women as a wedge to campaign next year, to retake Congress. (Read carefully: https://www.rollcall.com/2021/07/23/conservatives-riled-up-over-registering-women-for-draft/.) However, that trick is likely to fail, when voters catch on. And eventually, many will.

No, allowing the Republicans another campaign issue isn't worth the price, even for Republicans themselves. Besides the fact that such a nefarious stunt could backfire, once female SS registration is enacted into law, it will be much harder to repeal in the future. That's especially true given the very problem that is being overlooked here: GOP weakness on this issue, weakness apparently rooted far deeper than merely being a political ploy for next year's congressional races.

It would behoove Democratic leadership to take heed here. It doesn't serve their interests to grace the Republican leadership with another campaign issue, albeit a volatile, risky one. Is allowing passage of the NDAA in its current form really worth it for the Democratic Party? Wouldn't that endanger multiple Democratic seats already at risk?

In any case, this type of misportrayal of the crisis demands that concerned Republicans employ all the more vigilance in ensuring that the GOP doesn't betray their base (yet again). It's likely that Republicans will be allowed only ONE amendment on this issue, starting this week.  Therefore, concerned citizens need to ensure that GOP grandstanders do not get away with squandering the one opportunity to avoid Selective Service expansion - by knowingly choosing an amendment (e.g. a "Direct Strike") with less likelihood of success than the most promising prospect: Selective Service Repeal (as in S.1139 / H.R. 2509). 

GOP leadership must be told unequivocally: "If you're not in this to win - we are.  Ensure a vote on repealing Selective Service altogether. Don't play Russian Roulette with our daughters. If you cannot properly oppose the attempt to force young women into the most unequal dangers inherent in military units, and even combat, then nothing you do stand for justifies supporting you."