Tuesday, January 7, 2020
Trump repeatedly claimed in 2011 and 2012 that Obama would start a war with Iran to win reelection
"Our President will start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate," Trump said in a November 2011 video on his YouTube channel.
"He's weak, and he's ineffective," Trump added. "So I believe that he will attack Iran sometime prior to the election, because he thinks that's the only way he can get elected."
Speaking on the Sean Hannity radio program in January 2012, Trump predicted "some kind of a war" with Iran prior to that year's election.
"I say that he starts a war in Iran before the election, which will make it very hard for the Republican to win," Trump said. "He'll start a war, you know, lives will be wasted for no reason."
"I think it's going to happen sometime prior to the election. There'll be some kind of a war started," added Trump.
On Fox News' On the Record in February 2012 Trump said it was "pretty sad" to say, but said Obama would go to war nonetheless.
"I've said before, I think Obama will go to war with Iran because I think he views it as good politically," Trump said. "That's pretty sad and it's a pretty sad thing to have to say, but I think he will absolutely go to war with Iran. I think he views that as a positive from a political standpoint, and I think he's just waiting for the right moment."
Speaking on the Laura Ingraham Show in April 2012, Trump repeated his prediction. "I happen to think that the president is going to start a war with Iran," said Trump. "I think it'll be a short term popular thing to do. And I think he's going to do that for political reasons."
Trump made the same prediction on Fox News' Justice with Judge Jeanine that month.
"In my opinion, Obama will start a war," Trump said. "For about three weeks it'd be very popular about, by the way, six months later he'll be very unpopular, but by that time it's too late."
"Well, I think that he would do it," Trump continued. "I do believe he will do it -- whether he does it under the guise of Israel or not -- but I do believe he would do it. I've been making that prediction. Let's see what happens. Many of my predictions, as you know better than anybody have come true."
Is medical research facing a replication crisis?
https://www.castoredc.com/blog/replication-crisis-medical-research/
In the past few years, there has been
a growing controversy surrounding the validity of a number of
cornerstone medical research papers. For example, Amgen, a US biotech
company, attempted to replicate 53 high-impact cancer research studies
and were reportedly able to replicate only six. Similarly, researchers from Bayer, a German pharmaceutical company, reported that they were only able to replicate 24 out of 67 studies.
Moreover, John Ioannidis, MD, Professor of Medicine and Statistics at
Stanford University—a strong voice in the replication debate—showed that of 45 of the most influential clinical studies, only 44% were successfully replicated.
Monday, January 6, 2020
Police nab American who fled to Israel amid child sex abuse allegations in 2010
https://www.timesofisrael.com/police-nab-american-who-fled-to-israel-amid-child-sex-abuse-allegations-in-2010/
Police on Sunday arrested a Brooklyn native who has been illegally
residing in Israel since 2010 amid allegations that he sexually abused
his female relatives, a law enforcement official said.
While the identity of the suspect was revealed in the American
press shortly after he fled the country, the Justice Ministry has placed
a gag order barring the publication of the man’s name in order to
protect the identities of the alleged victims.
The suspect was arrested in southern Israel and brought on Monday
before the Jerusalem District Court, where a representative from the
International Affairs Division of the State Prosecutor’s Office filed a
petition for extradition back to the US.
Sunday, January 5, 2020
On foreign policy, Trump flouts risks that gave others pause
https://www.timesofisrael.com/on-foreign-policy-trump-flouts-risks-that-gave-others-pause/
US President Donald Trump is not the first American leader to have
Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in his sights, but he was the first to
pull the trigger.
It’s a pattern that has emerged throughout Trump’s presidency. On
a range of national security matters, he has cast aside the same
warnings that gave his predecessors in both parties pause.
At times, he has simply been willing to embrace more risk. In other
moments, he has questioned the validity of the warnings altogether, even
from experts within his own administration. And he has publicly taken
pride in doing so.
Trump’s willingness to buck conventional thinking has been a defining
feature of his political life. As he enters the final year of his first
term, aides and allies describe him as increasingly emboldened to act
on his instincts. He’s banished the coterie of advisers who viewed
themselves as “guardrails” against his impulse. Others, like former
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, have left because they disagreed with
Trump’s decision-making.
Dan Shapiro.: 'Iran has capabilities far beyond al-Qaeda or ISIS'
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/274041
Soleimani, head of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard
Corps (IRGC), was eliminated Thursday night in a US drone strike near
the Baghdad International Airport in Iraq.
"Qasem Soleimani had the blood of many thousands on his hands:
Americans, Iraqis, Lebanese, Syrians, Israelis & many, many others.
Truly one of the most evil men on the planet. Seeing his smiling mug in
selfies with terrorists across the region was hard to take. Good
riddance," Shapiro tweeted.
"That he deserved this fate, a fate he authored for so many others,
is not in question. The ability to carry it out is also impressive, as
an intelligence and operational achievement. To take a decision like
this has major strategic consequences. Iran has capabilities far beyond
al-Qaeda or ISIS when their leaders were eliminated. And they will have
many opportunities to respond.
"The question is, will the US and our allies be ready? To state the
obvious, careful, strategic, fact-based planning is not a hallmark of
our current President. So there is plenty of risk in this moment."
Did the Killing of Qassim Suleimani Deter Iranian Attacks, or Encourage Them?
“He was a monster, no question,” said Vipin Narang, an M.I.T. political scientist who has studied efforts to halt Iran’s nuclear program. “But there’s a consequentialist argument as well.”
Using retribution as justification can be straightforward in criminal proceedings, where judges and juries can apply the law without considering strategic consequences. But that logic does not apply in foreign policy, analysts said.
“The underlying reason that we don’t go around killing all bad people is that we usually make a decision about which bad people it’s in our interest to kill at this time,” said Lindsay P. Cohn, a foreign policy scholar at the Naval War College, who spoke in a personal capacity. Relying on retribution alone as a basis for such action, she said, is “fundamentally unstrategic.”
If the killing of General Suleimani creates a precedent for assassinating senior government figures, he said, American officials and their allies could become targets as well. And that would be a source of broad global instability.
“We killed people inside their sovereign territory, without the permission of the government,” Dr. Cohn said, noting that the American airstrike also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, an Iraqi militia leader aligned with Iran, and other Iraqis. “This is a massive violation of sovereignty.”
“We killed people inside their sovereign territory, without the permission of the government,” Dr. Cohn said, noting that the American airstrike also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, an Iraqi militia leader aligned with Iran, and other Iraqis. “This is a massive violation of sovereignty.”
Iraq Updates: Parliament Endorses Ousting of U.S. Troops
Many in Iraq considered America’s killing of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani,
a top Iranian commander, in Baghdad as an assault on its sovereignty.
Assassination or defensive action? Soleimani killing ignites freighted debate
https://www.timesofisrael.com/assassination-or-defensive-action-soleimani-killing-ignites-freighted-debate/
After Friday’s targeted killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani,
newsrooms struggled with the question: Had the United States just
carried out an assassination? And should news stories about the killing
use that term?
The AP Stylebook, considered a news industry bible, defines
assassination as “the murder of a politically important or prominent
individual by surprise attack.”
Although the United States and Iran have long been adversaries and
engaged in a shadow war in the Middle East and elsewhere, the US has
never declared formal war on Iran. So the targeted killing of a high
Iranian state and military official by a surprise attack was “clearly an
assassination,” said Mary Ellen O’Connell, an expert in international
law and the laws of war at the University of Notre Dame School of Law.
The neoconservative fantasy at the center of the Soleimani killing
But Eric Brewer, a long-time intelligence official who
recently left Trump’s National Security Council after working on Iran,
doesn’t find that narrative compelling. “Soleimani’s death is not going
to end Iranian influence in Iraq,” he told me, “nor is it likely to lead
to some sort of regime change uprising in Iran.”
There are a few reasons for that.
First, Iranian influence is already well entrenched
inside Iraq’s military and political structures; removing Soleimani from
the equation doesn’t change that. Second, Iraqis and Iranians
have shown they are willing to push for better governance without US
military intervention spurring them to action. In fact, Iraqi protests
recently led some of the leadership there to resign, partly fueled by
the perception that Iran was really running Iraqi affairs of state. And
today there are already large-scale anti-US demonstrations sweeping Iran after the Soleimani killing.
Third, US-Iran history over the last few decades makes
everyday Iranians skeptical of American intentions in the country,
especially Washington’s involvement in the 1953 coup
of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh. (There was an
anti-government movement to remove President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from
power when Barack Obama was president, and he chose not to get involved
so it didn’t seem like the US was meddling.)
Finally, there’s the hypocrisy problem: The US has no
qualms about supporting other authoritarian regimes around the world,
including Iran’s chief rival Saudi Arabia.
Saturday, January 4, 2020
27 y.o. Female Refusenik in Israeli Jai
BS"D
6 Teves, 5780 °° Jan. 3, '20
Parshas Vayigash
27-year-old Female Refusenik Languishing in Israeli Military Jail
An Update on the Crisis of Female Military Conscription in Israel
By Binyomin Feinberg
1.
URGENT ALERT: Ora bas Aliza, a national-religious woman of Ashdod -
now 27 years old - is presently languishing in Israeli Military Jail
Four, according to late word we received this morning, right before
Shabbos in Israel.
2. Reportedly, after civil police recently stopped her, Ora was transferred to and incarcerated by Military Police - over a slight delay in submitting her Religiosity- certification ("Tatzhir Dat") -- an astounding TEN YEARS ago!
3. The "Tatzhir Dat" is the standard
"religiosity"-certification document required by the Army to exempt a
girl from military service on religious grounds. It used to be unheard
of for any religious girl to be arrested for simply being late in
sending in her documentation. But recently, numerous innocent religious
girls have been languishing in military prison, often under brutal
conditions, with the reason/ pretext that the Army didn't receive their
religiosity certification on time. In actuality, there are probably many
more such girls than we know of. Some of those may have ultimately
succumbed to pressure, and enlisted in the Army. Escalating the
conscription of religious girls is the apparent goal of this harsh
treatment of non-violent, religious girls.
4.
Historically, any girl who was even slightly Torah-observant generally
obtained an exemption from the military draft. However, in recent
years, that's changed dramatically. For example, in the Summer of 2013,
the Israeli government issued an official policy change, seeking to
increase enlistment specifically of religious girls. Since then, things
have been getting increasingly worse for religious girls, especially
over the past two years. In some cases, the brutality towards innocent
religious girls - simply seeking to remain faithful to their religion -
employed by the military police, prison personnel - and the legal system
itself - has been downright shocking. This was well illustrated in some
famous cases, such as Yuval bas Tamar, Orah and Moriah R. (bnos
Beruriah), Rinas bas Chedva, and Lidar Shira L. (bas Yaffa).
5.
In our Jewish Press Dispatch columns since February, and in our online
posts, we've been documenting specific, confirmed cases of girls
(mostly religious) either incarcerated or under threat thereof, for
their steadfast refusal to serve in the military. This is a systemic
problem, and, as such, will only be alleviated by proper public
exposure.
6. We've
also been identifying multiple cases of human rights abuses of
incarcerated girls, including denial of medical care (e.g. Yuval bas
Tamar (2018); Miriam N. (about a month ago in Military Prison Six)),
denial of religious rights, such as kosher food and modest clothing; and
denial of communication. This is all in addition to the pattern of
denial of their religious rights via systematically denying their
religious exemptions, in a panoply of underhanded, even illegal ways. In
this particular case, it isn't clear yet to us that Ora's rights to a
religious exemption are being (tentatively) denied, because of an
apparent news "brownout" on the part of some of those dealing with her
case. But what is clear is that she is being subjected to totally
unwarranted harassment, of a persecutory nature.
7.
The experience of young women in Israeli military prisons generally
ranges from extremely difficult to the horrific. One girl we reported on
recently, Shir, even attempted to take her own life in Military Prison
Four last month. (Suicide within the Army is a blight unto itself.)
8.
Moreover, in addition to all of the other suffering they endure in
jail, every hour a girl is in prison poses a substantial risk that she
could be pressured or terrorized into submitting to enlisting in the
Army. On that basis alone, we are obligated to employ all legitimate
means to obtain their immediate freedom. This is truly a cause of pidyon
shevuyim, and should be treated accordingly.
9.
What generally makes the most impact in gaining the release of these
girls is intelligently disseminating quality information. That type of
"pirsum" escalates pressure on the Israeli government to free those
girls. The Israeli government is more concerned about their public image
in America than about what their own citizens say. So it's important
for readers to thoughtfully consider how to intelligently disseminate
this information as widely and expeditiously as practical, particularly
via social media.
10. Another way to have a
real and lasting impact is to help organize a women's demonstration
against the Israeli military abuse of women and girls. What goes on in
the Israeli Army is the most widespread governmental assault against the
purity, morality, rights, and wellbeing of Jewish women and girls in
recent history, perhaps dating back to wartime Europe. The unrelenting
mistreatment of girls seeking to avoid conscription into the promiscuous
military environment is just part of that broader systemic abuse. Even a
relatively modest demonstration of ladies in front of an Israeli office
or forum would raise awareness immensely, and thereby help deter such
abuses, going forward. The signage is crucial. It should call attention
to the fact that no one has a right to treat Jewish or non-Jewish girls
as they're treated in and by the Israeli Army - which has actually
developed a term reflective of their true view of the role of girls and
women in the Army: "Miz'ron Tzahali."
11. On
this issue, women have more of an ability to help break through the wall
of silence than men do. Thus, their obligation reflects that tactical
advantage. All readers would be well-advised to see the very strong
letter written by HaGaon Rav Meshulum Dovid Soloveichick Shlit"a
addressing the need to raise international awareness about these burning
issues.
12. Realistic Goals: If we cannot
reasonable expect to end the conscription of women, we certainly can
contain it. And the recent escalation of Israeli military recruitment
assaults against girls seeking to secure their exemptions should compel
us to become far more vigilant in seeking creative ways to get our
message out.
13. For some timely insights, please also review our article on the upcoming fast-day of Asara BeTeves:
"Tenth of Teves: A Day of Reckoning"
https://daattorah.blogspot.
https://daattorah.blogspot.
~~~
14.
For an update of this week's coverage of the ongoing crisis of Israeli
military conscription of women and girls, see the weekly email
newsletter of the Coalition for Jewish Values (Parshas Vayigash), issued
yesterday (Thu., Jan 2), in the Israel section, in which they linked to
three related posts:
° IDF Drops Rosh Yeshiva For Opposing Female Combat Roles
° Protesting Anti-Religious Persecution in Israel today:
https://daattorah.blogspot.
° We Need to Ensure that No Girl Be Drafted into the Israeli Military:
° Protesting Anti-Religious Persecution in Israel today:
https://daattorah.blogspot.
° We Need to Ensure that No Girl Be Drafted into the Israeli Military:
Friday, January 3, 2020
Here's How 2020 Democrats Are Reacting to the U.S. Assassination of Iran's Qasem Soleimani
https://time.com/5758264/qasem-soleimani-2020-democrat-reaction/
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday that
President Donald Trump has “tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox”
with the targeted killing of Iran’s top general in an airstrike at
Baghdad’s international airport.
The former vice president joined other Democratic
White House hopefuls in criticizing Trump’s order, saying it could leave
the U.S. “on the brink of a major conflict across the Middle East.”
Israel low on flu vaccines as virulent strain hits
https://www.ynetnews.com/health_science/article/BJNdnmv1U
At least 100 people hospitalized in serious condition with complications from virus so far this winter, compared to just 45 last year; just 150,000 vaccines remain, leaving some 7 million Israelis to potentially spend the rest of the winter unvaccinated
Israel shuts Hermon ski resort as Iran plots revenge for Soleimani killing
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-closes-hermon-ski-resort-as-iran-vows-revenge-for-us-killing-soleimani/
An Israeli ski resort near the Syrian border that was the site of a previous missile attack was closed to visitors on Friday, amid fears of Iran exacting revenge on Israel for the US killing of a powerful Iranian general.
The Israel Defense Forces said it had ordered the Mount Hermon Ski resort in the Golan Heights shuttered for the day “in light of a situational assessment.”
The move was made hours after a US airstrike on a pair of cars at Baghdad’s airport killed Qassem Soleimani, the powerful head of Iran’s elite Quds Force and a major player in placing Iranian troops and pro-Iran proxies in Syria. Other senior members of a pro-Iran militia in Iraq were also killed.
Secular Israeli Fear of the ultra-Orthodox Has Turned Into Hatred
https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium-secular-israeli-fear-of-the-ultra-orthodox-has-turned-into-hatred-1.8349346
Even if the ultra-Orthodox do army service and learn core curriculum subjects, non-religious Israelis will see them as a threat. The simple truth is that secular people don’t want Haredim to exist
Thursday, January 2, 2020
Tenth of Teves: A Day of Reckoning
5 Teves, 5780 °° Jan. 2, '20 ver. 1b
by Binyomin Feinberg
1. According to the saintly Chasam Sofer, in his Drashos (for Adar 7th, I recall), the fast-day of the 10th of Teves holds a special significance, one hard to overstate: it is the day on which HaShem convenes the Heavenly Tribunal to adjudicate whether we will merit the rebuilding of the Bais HaMikdosh that year, or, alternatively, whether we merit the opposite: it's virtual re-destruction. (Chazal exhort us that any generation in which the Bais HaMikdash is not rebuilt - it is as if it's destroyed, once again.)
2. However, while looking around at what passes for issues of importance in much of "frum culture" (employing that term specifically), you would never know it. It behooves us to seek to identify some of the truly important issues, issues that we need to consider before next Tuesday. Clearly, it's not most of the triviality, nonsense, and distractions that popularly pass for topics of interest. Klal Yisroel faces multiple issues of monumental importance, and unfortunately the tzibbur is being misled or kept in the dark about many of them.
3. Let's pose some questions, focusing on one particular concern, of which we B"H have direct and detailed factual knowledge, i.e. the drafting of girls into the Israeli military (an issue we focus on extensively in our postings).
4. It's important to emphasize that the female draft is only one very important issue of multiple very important concerns. Others include:
° the phenomenon of covering up for and enabling child molesters;
° allowing or enabling people to destroy innocent people's reputations with baseless accusations (because they're easy targets);
° honoring, supporting, and voting for leftist (Dem or GOP) elected officials (who've created an environment in which the Chinuch of Jewish and non-Jewish children alike are increasingly coming under the influence of the LGBTQ Mafia);
° unbridled greed, resulting in immoral business practices, massive theft, massive Chillul HaShem, massive instigation of Jew-hatred (e.g. by some greedy real-estate developers), entire "frum" mini-industries built on misrepresentation/ hype, etc.
Some of the questions we raise here regarding the female draft could similarly be posed regarding those and other burning concerns.
5. Please do not take this analysis as a critique as much as an inquiry: What's the thinking here? What's the mentality behind this apparent lack of mentality?
6. Question: Do we expect to merit the rebuilding of the Bais HaMikdash while too many of us are preoccupied feasting at banquets, enjoying Glatt-kosher globe-trotting cruises*, lavish hotel vacations, etc. - all while largely oblivious to the plights of those severely disadvantaged due to our communal silence - for one example of many - dozens of girls (religious, traditional ("mesorati") and otherwise) who are at this moment languishing in Israeli military prisons, many over their refusal to serve in the notoriously immoral, exploitive, and abusive co-ed military?
{*Note: The goal here is not to critique the tourist industry. Take your Caribbean cruise if you truly need it, and can afford it. Here we are addressing taking Yiddishkeit, and basic decency, more seriously.}
7. Facts on the conscription of females into the military have been reported for many months. For almost a year, the Jewish Press has reported on many specific abuses, those involving Army-refuseniks like Rinas bas Chedva, Orah Chaya and Moriah Leah bnos Beruriah, Lidar Shira and Zohar bnos Yaffa, Ziva bas Mazel, Avigail Leah Houseband, Olga S., Mindel Cheshin, and others.
8. For samples of online reports, see:
https://daattorah.blogspot.
https://daattorah.blogspot.
~~~
https://daattorah.blogspot.
http://daattorah.blogspot.com/
~~~
https://daattorah.blogspot.
~~~
https://daattorah.blogspot.
http://daattorah.blogspot.com/
~~~
https://daattorah.blogspot.
(Nov. 7, '19)
~~~
https://daattorah.blogspot.
(Nov. 6, '19)
~~~
https://daattorah.blogspot.
(Oct. 30, '19)
~~~
https://daattorah.blogspot.
https://daattorah.blogspot.
~~~
https://daattorah.blogspot.
(Parshas Beraishis)
https://daattorah.blogspot.
(Oct 8, 2019)
~~~
Violating the Vineyard:
https://daattorah.blogspot.
(28 Aug.)
~~~
Update:
https://daattorah.blogspot.
(cf. Jewish Press, Sept.13,'19)
~~~
Opportunities for Public Kiddush HaShem (Sanctification of the Divine Name) in Israel:
https://daattorah.blogspot.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/
~~~
Update on recent cases of Israeli girls persecuted for abiding by Torah Law in avoiding the draft:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/
~~~~
Statement of Help Rescue Our Children, Fri, Jun 21,'19, Regarding the Drafting of Girls into the IDF:
https://drive.google.com/file/
~~~~
https://www.vosizneias.com/
https://www.dropbox.com/s/
~~~
Update on recent cases of Israeli girls persecuted for abiding by Torah Law in avoiding the draft:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/
~~~~
Statement of Help Rescue Our Children, Fri, Jun 21,'19, Regarding the Drafting of Girls into the IDF:
https://drive.google.com/file/
~~~~
https://www.vosizneias.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~
9. The question we must ask is: Where is OUR massive communal outrage over the female draft? In addition to the enlistment of girls into the military, which is itself prohibited to the extent of being "yai'horaig ve'al ya'avor," the government actually forces girls to enlist, which is far, far worse. Moreover, the nature of a military environment lends itself to immorality, and the Army experience certainly is no exception to that rule, to understate. And those in the know - all know it very, very well. And they even coined a nomenclature for it: "Mizron Tzahali." [For the record, we are also aware of specific cases of credible accounts of abuse by male IDF personnel.]
10. If G-d-forbid non-Jews would be perpetrating against Jewish girls anything close to a fraction of what transpires regularly in the Israeli military, there would be worldwide outrage. But because it's being perpetrated by Jews - it's less newsworthy than the social events whose photos merit prominent centerfold profiling in frum papers weekly??
11. This illustrates the absurdity here: When a drunken teen scribbles a misspelled swastika on a shul, leftist elected officials waste no time in rushing to the nearest teleprompter to chapp [grab] a cheap photo-op, genuflecting to "eradicating antisemitism" -- and their shallow performances are dutifully advertised by frum media outlets, as if this is a major development we need to be updated on. But when TENS of thousands of Jewish girls - many of them religious (National Religious, others, and even a few Chareidi girls) - are being forced, terrorized, duped, or otherwise enlisted into the notoriously immoral Israeli military, we hardly hear a peep of protest. Worse, we don't hear the protest even when we're confronted with a constant stream of cases that demand and easily enable an effective protest. Precisely where are our communal senses, sensibilities, and priorities?
12. How precisely do we expect to fare in our upcoming Heavenly Trial, given our communal tolerance of the "Hashtokoh-campaign," i.e. the news-blackout by most "frum" papers (aka "news"papers) - with the noteworthy exception of the Jewish Press (and a recently-started Chareidi paper called "Lehovin")? They're only getting away with this censorship because of our overall communal silence. Our responsibility is commensurate to our ability to have an impact - see Gemara Shabbos 54b.
13. Perhaps one could suggest that that when, in this week's parsha, Yosef cried over Binyomin (Ber. 45:14), over the future destruction of the Bais HaMikdash - twice (Gemara Meggillah 16b) - perhaps there was something else included in his crying. Perhaps Yosef also forsaw the extension of our Exile, the "virtual destruction" of the Bais HaMikdash every single year, year after year after year, as adjudicated on the Tenth of Teves. Perhaps this crying is a reason why by Yosef, unlike by Binyomin, the posuk says he "fell" (onto Binyomin); see note in Rashi. Perhaps Yosef "fell" to signify an ongoing repetition of the Churban HaBayis, reflecting that we simply fail to learn the lessons of the Churban, the destruction, and continue to "fall," to make the same types of mistakes and missteps.
(14. Perhaps this event is juxtaposed immediately at the reunification of the two sons of Rochel because it is through them that we can overcome Amalek, and it is primarily the influence of Amalek, the ultimate maisis (enticer to sin), in our midst that prolongs the bitter Exile. Perhaps one could suggest that due to the extended separation of the two sons of Rochel, Binyomin was denied the immense spiritual benefits of proximity to his older brother, and therefore, le'Doros, the Jewish People were left susceptible to succumbing to evil influences - ultimately sourced in Amalek - which ultimately precipitated the Destruction of the Bais HaMikdash. And it's by identifying infiltrating Amalekite ideas and attitudes that we can overcome the evils of Amalek, and become a truly free People - free to serve HaShem alone, and not serve men who rebel against Him, while feigning allegiance to Him.)
15. Boruch HaShem, not all are remaining silent. A major protest was held monday night outside Israeli military prison Four, over the female draft in general, and over specific girls incarcerated recently. Two of those girls, both religious, have been reportedly released since then, apparently in wake of the shock of that unusual protest. Protesters actually made their way inside the compound around 10:40pm, after a surrounding fence had been neutralized. In an open manifestation of Divine Intervention, at about 11pm, the protesters witnessed the latenight co-ed mingling in the adjacent Army barracks, accentuating why it's so important for those incarcerated girls to remain resolute against doing anything that could lead them to enlist. (See https://daattorah.
Those who care have whom to join in raising our voices.
16. When the Redemption does arrive, we will be each confronted with our own inconsistencies, as described by Medrashim on this week's parsha (45:3). We, who care about Klal Yisroel in - and outside - Eretz Yisroel maintaining fidelity to the Torah, will be asked: what did we do to help these innocent girls stand up against being forced into the military? It is our choice to have what to answer.
The Ottomans are back - what does that mean for Israel?
https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/The-Ottomans-are-back-what-does-that-mean-for-Israel-612789
What has happened is that the historically powerful periphery states, Turkey and Iran, have risen to grab influence throughout the Middle East. These states, as the Ottoman Empire and Persian Empire, were weakened in 1920 and European powers supplanted their historic role. But now, with Europe looking more insular, these countries are rising again.
Turkey’s expedition to Libya is just one symbol of that new world order in the Middle East
Russia transfers Naama Issachar back to Moscow prison
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/273955
The Israeli Consulate in Moscow on Wednesday afternoon updated Yaffa Issachar, the mother of Naama Issachar, that her daughter is being transferred back to the Moscow prison she has been held in since April.
On Tuesday evening, Naama Issachar was been transferred from Moscow to a remote prison under poor conditions. In the new prison, her belongings - including warm clothes and books - were taken from her, and her mother was banned from visiting and sending letters.
On Wednesday morning, there was talk of removing Naama to an even more remote prison.
However, Russian authorities instead chose to transfer her back to Moscow.
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