https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-803937
Initial information suggests that the fire that broke in Rafah following the airstrike targeting two Hamas senior members on Sunday most likely occurred as a result of shrapnel hitting and igniting a fuel tank in the vicinity of the attack, ABC News reported on Monday, citing a US official.
https://cross-currents.com/2024/05/23/response-to-rav-feldman/
This is going to be short. Others might have much more to say. I would only like to contrast Rav Feldman’s approach with that of R Moshe Sternbuch, shlit”a, – whose anti-Zionist credentials are even richer than those of R Feldman – penned just a few days after Oct. 7. Here is a free translation of his words:
The Gri”z, zt”l, said a lofty thing. When the navi Yonah boarded the ship to escape to Tarshish, and Hashem brought a tempest to the sea that threatened to capsize the vessel, Yonah’s reaction was, “I am the cause of this great tempest.” Now, there were many actual idolators aboard, as it is written, “Each man cried out to his god.” Nonetheless, Yonah did not attribute the cause of the tempest to the sins of all the others on board the ship. He attributed the fault to himself. The Gri”z said that this instructs us on how to react at a time of great affliction – for, after all, only prophecies that had continued relevance to all times were recorded. At such times a person should not seek out the sins of his friend and those around him. Rather, he should say, “I am the cause of this great tempest.” He should examine his own actions, and how to repent for them.
https://time.com/6323730/hamas-attack-left-response/
But for many members of the young left, the massacre of Israeli innocents represents a glitch in a moral dogma that reduces most political conflict to an underlying battle between the oppressor and the oppressed. "The default of the left is to side with the victims and defend them," says Berger, and in the long-simmering conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, "it doesn't seem like the Jews are the victims.”
the Gelmans have ranked among the biggest bankrollers of the Birthright Israel Foundation, which sponsors free trips for Jewish young adults to Israel—and which she also once chaired.
Meanwhile, the Gelmans have simultaneously bankrolled the Bafrayung Fund, their daughter Rachel’s charity, pouring in $3,470,000 between 2019 and 2022—the last year for which disclosures are available—all from Morningstar Philanthropic, the same outfit through which the Gelmans support Birthright and the Israel Policy Forum.
Bafrayund has in turn disbursed money to a wide range of left-wing causes, including those tied to pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli activism. That includes $60,000 for the Palestinian Youth Movement—doled out in annual earmarked tranches to the group’s sponsor WESPAC—and $40,000 for the Arab Resource and Organizing Center.
Malbim (HaCarmel) The name tzaddik refers to one who uses the laws of wisdom to do justice and habituates himself to acting according to the laws of wisdom and this becomes his nature. Even though he is not learned and did not accept and learn the laws of wisdom through extensive study from others, he trained his nature to do them according to commonsense
Ramchal (Daas Tevunos 158.8) And see how much honor the Creator, G-d, gave to the tzadikim, whom He considered to be partners with Him. Because He truly gave them a part in the correction of the world and the perfection of creation.until we find the correction of creation, so to speak, divided between G-d and the tzadikim, which is not fulfilled except by both.
Ramchal (Daas Tevunos 158.13) And now we will explain the reality of the partnership that we mentioned between the righteous and God in the correction of creation in that G-d provides benefit only according to the preparation of tzadikim. It is therefore best if the tzadikim increase preparation upon preparation and correction upon correction, and correspondingly G-d will send benefit and elevation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/27/trump-israel-gaza-policy-donors/
Former president Donald Trump promised to crush pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses, telling a roomful of donors — a group that he joked included “98 percent of my Jewish friends” — that he would expel student demonstrators from the United States, according to participants in the roundtable event with him in New York.
Rav Tzadok (Tzedkas HaTzadik 2:87) There is no decree that comes from the mouth of G-d except with the consent of the righteous of the generation who are His beis din. Until they agree agree, no law is given to world.
“This was a winnable case. It still is not a slam dunk, in my view, having been there every day for the prosecution,” Eisen said in a CNN interview with Jim Acosta on Monday. “I think the odds of conviction are somewhere upwards of 80 percent.”
“In part because of this scattershot approach, the defense is not really gunning for an acquittal. That’s out of reach here,” he continued. “What they are hoping for is one angry juror.”
“Whether there’s one juror who either feels sympathy for Trump or just for whatever reason does not follow the evidence and the law. The holdout,” the expert added. “That’s what they’re trying for. Just one.”
In other words: If some jurors believe that Trump falsified business documents solely to cover up a tax crime, while others believe that he falsified business documents solely to cover up an election crime, the jury can still convict Trump on the felony-level falsifying-documents charges, despite disagreeing on the predicate crimes.
https://www.newsweek.com/maga-response-israel-rafah-strike-1904976
Republicans have generally been supportive of Israel's attacks in Gaza, which were launched in response to the surprise October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. However, a selection of Trump's most dedicated supporters have denounced the continuing assault by the IDF, with some joining leftists in characterizing the situation in Gaza as a "genocide." Trump himself has not denounced Israel's military tactic
Michtav M’Eliyahu(02:186) A Tzadik decrees and G-d upholds, It is clear that it is not meant that a tzadik decrees something that is against the will of the Creator,, but the point is, that there are tzadikkim for whom the whole world exists because of their merit. That means everything that happens in the world is through them. From them is learned how to serve G-d which preserves the whole generation. So by raising up the whole generation it is possible for them to request changes in things that they regard as against the honor of G-d. This is what is meant by a tzadik decrees and G-d fulfills,
Meiri (Tehilim 08:06) Man was made a little lower than angels – this is related to the fact that Tzadikim rule. That is because the Jewish scholars are compared to G-d in that they crown Him and magnify His name
