Nitel Gavriel

Nitel

Bolton and Pompeo scramble to reassure allies reeling from Trump's Syria decision

cnn

US officials are working to contain the fallout from President Donald Trump's shock announcement of a Syria troop withdrawal, flatly contradicting the President as they do so and raising questions about whether a coherent strategy exists at all.

Trump continues to qualify his statements on the US military presence in Syria, swinging from his ringing, conditions-free declaration in December that troops would be leaving "now" since ISIS had been defeated to Monday's more cautious tweet that troops would leave "at a proper pace."

The two most senior members of Trump's national security teams, meanwhile, are reassuring allies in ways that baldly contradict the President's earlier declarations.

'Not leaving'

National security adviser John Bolton, stressing the US' commitment to the Syria fight in Israel and Turkey, said Sunday that US forces wouldn't leave until ISIS has been crushed and Kurdish fighters working with US troops are protected, describing these as the President's official positions despite the fact that Trump himself hasn't publicly said the same.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, meanwhile, is traveling to eight Middle Eastern countries to stress the US "is not leaving," officials say.

In a gaggle with the traveling press en route, Pompeo denied that there was confusion from allies.

Canadian company fined for falsifying kashrut

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/257297

 Canadian court ordered Eddie Flour Mills to pay $20,000 to the COR kashrut certification board after using the company's logo to market flour and selling it as kosher flour.

The judge later added another $5,000 sentence for possible harm to civilians. However, the judge did not order removing the products from shelves because of what he claimed was "lack of authority". The report was first reported by the Toronto Sun.

During the hearing, the judge explained that "since non-kosher products were sold to innocent consumers who buy only kosher food, it may cause those consumers to experience spiritual trauma.

Prime-time Trump faces credibility crisis

cnn

President Donald Trump will face one huge obstacle when he appeals to Americans in a prime-time Oval Office address Tuesday to unite behind his crusade for a border wall: Himself.

Trump has spent years exploiting immigration -- one of the nation's most divisive fault lines -- during an insurgent campaign and a presidency sustained by the fervor of his committed political base.

But now, the downside of that strategy is becoming evident. In his attempt to convince the nation that a genuine crisis is unfolding at the southern border, the President's arguments face extreme skepticism from those not already in his camp.

About 57% of Americans oppose Trump's wall compared with 38% in favor, according to a December CNN poll conducted by SSRS. Those numbers are similar to where they were just after Trump took office in 2017.

On Tuesday night, Trump will commandeer the symbolic might of his office in an effort to bolster a political approach that has failed to force Democrats to cave to his demand for $5 billion in wall funding amid a government shutdown now in its third week.

Trump's False Border Wall Claims

בית הדין התיר לבעל מסורב גט לשאת אישה שניה

.kikar.

למרות חוק הביגמיה וחרם דרבנו גרשום החליט בית הדין הרבני בתל אביב להתיר לבעל מסורב גט לשאת אישה שניה לאור הנסיבות המיוחדות של המקרה.

המדובר בבני זוג שנישאו לפני כשמונה שנים. כחצי שנה לאחר החתונה עבר הבעל תאונת דרכים קשה בה הוא נפצע אנושות. הוא אושפז, עבר שיקום של שנים רבות וכיום הוא נמצא בשלב שיקומי סופי לקראת חזרה לשגרה.

מספר חודשים לאחר הפציעה טסה האישה עם התינוק שנולד לביקור משפחתי בן עשרה ימים בצרפת. מאז חלפו שבע שנים ועד היום היא לא חזרה לישראל עם בנה.

Fox News’ Chris Wallace Shreds Sarah Huckabee Sanders Over Border Terror Claims

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fox-news-chris-wallace-sarah-huckabee-sanders_us_5c321e10e4b073352833c7c0

“Let’s talk about the wall,” Wallace said.
“The president talks about terrorists potentially coming across the border.”

He then showed a clip of Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen stating Friday that
“over 3,000 special interest aliens” trying to enter the U.S.
from the southern border had been stopped by Border Patrol agents.

“But special interest aliens are
just people who have come from countries that have ever
produced a terrorist, they’re not terrorists themselves,” Wallace said.
He also cited State Department reports that found “no credible evidence of any terrorist coming across the border from Mexico.”

Sanders responded, “We know that roughly nearly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists come into our country illegally,
and
we know that our most vulnerable point of entry is at our southern border.”

Wallace, ready to pounce, interrupted Sanders with a blistering fact-check.

“Wait wait, ’cause I know the statistic,” he said.
“I didn’t know if you were going to use it, but I studied up on this.
Do you know where those 4,000 people come or where they’re captured? Airports.”

The exchange begins below around the 5:35 mark:

No, Mexico isn't paying for border wall through USMCA trade deal, despite Donald Trump's claims

another failed campaign promise

politifact

President Donald Trump campaigned on the promise that Mexico would pay for a border wall, yet stands firm on his call to U.S. lawmakers to provide money to construct it. All while also claiming that Mexico is already paying for the barrier.

"Mexico is paying for the Wall through the new USMCA Trade Deal. Much of the Wall has already been fully renovated or built. We have done a lot of work. $5.6 Billion Dollars that House has approved is very little in comparison to the benefits of National Security. Quick payback!" Trump tweeted Jan. 2.

Tom Nichols: Are Facts Dead?

Trump Escalates His Assault on Civil-Military Relations

the atlantic

We’ve gotten used to so much in Donald Trump’s two years in office, from the cruelty of his immigration policies to his childlike understanding of international trade, and from his apparent fear of Vladimir Putin to his whipsawing of the financial markets. Too many Americans have simply become accustomed to the president’s antics as a normal part of the background noise of their lives. Sometimes Trump’s disjointed thoughts are merely an embarrassment; at other times, he makes dangerous policy changes or wipes out great amounts of wealth in a tweet.

Now, however, the president has opened a Pandora’s box by escalating his attacks on senior U.S. military leaders. No American president has ever dared risk the American civil-military relationship for less cause or with such childish malice.

American citizens don’t think much about civil-military relations. That’s good: It’s a sign of a healthy polity. We don’t worry about tanks rolling up North Capitol Street or paratroopers lolling about in Lafayette Square. We’re not that kind of country. But the president has taken a dangerous path, excoriating retired military leaders who criticize him and lavishing praise and make-believe pay raises on the active-duty military voters who he believes support him. A precious heritage built on the dual pillars of military obedience to civilians and civilian respect for military professionals is now at severe risk.

Brains of 3 People Have Been Successfully Connected, Enabling Them to Share Thoughts

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-successfully-connected-the-brains-of-3-people-enabling-them-to-share-thoughts

Neuroscientists have successfully hooked up a three-way brain connection to allow three people to share their thoughts – and in this case, play a Tetris-style game.

The team thinks this wild experiment could be scaled up to connect whole networks of people, and yes, it's as weird as it sounds.

It works through a combination of electroencephalograms (EEGs), for recording the electrical impulses that indicate brain activity, and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), where neurons are stimulated using magnetic fields.

The researchers behind the system have dubbed it BrainNet, and say it could eventually be used to connect many different minds together, even across the web.

President Trump’s error-filled holiday tweets on the border wall

washingtonpost

Need to stop Drugs, Human Trafficking,Gang Members & Criminals from coming into our Country.”

—President Trump, in a tweet, Dec. 27, 2018

Over the holidays during the government shutdown, President Trump repeatedly posted on Twitter a variety of rationales for why a wall along the southern border is necessary. He also spoke to reporters before and after his brief post-Christmas visit to Iraq. We’ve covered many of these issues in previous fact checks, but here’s a quick overview for readers who might have missed — or tried to ignore — the tweets between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

“The Democrats don’t want it, because they don’t want open borders, and yet every one of those Democrats approved the wall, or a fence, or very, very substantial barriers. Every single one. I don’t think there’s one — but let’s assume, let’s use the word, almost everyone approved a wall, or a fence, or exactly what we’re talking about, as little as three years ago.”

—remarks after Christmas video conference with troops, Dec. 25

Sen. Charles E. Schumer and many Democrats (though not Rep. Nancy Pelosi) voted for the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which was signed by President George W. Bush and authorized building a fence along nearly 700 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. But the fence they voted for is not as substantial as the wall Trump is proposing. Trump has called the 2006 fence “such a nothing wall.”

To Trump, opposing the wall is tantamount to not wanting any border security at all. But Democrats have offered support for $1.3 billion in security enhancements. That doesn’t include funding for Trump’s wall, but it includes 65 miles of pedestrian fencing along the Southeast Texas border with Mexico, similar to what already exists. (Note: an earlier version of this article incorrectly said Pelosi voted for the law. It passed 283-138 in the House, with 64 Democrat votes, and 80-19 in the Senate, with 26 Democrat votes.)

“We’re going to have safety. We need safety for our country, even from this standpoint. We have terrorists coming in through the southern border. We have the terrorists also coming in, fellas, through the southern border.”

—remarks in Iraq, Dec. 26

Trump is creating an association between the southern border and terrorists when there is none. As we’ve previously reported, almost all terrorism suspects are apprehended at airports. Plus, a recent report from the State Department showed there was little credible information suggesting terrorists were trying to enter the United States through the southern border.

“This isn’t about the Wall, everybody knows that a Wall will work perfectly (In Israel the Wall works 99.9%). This is only about the Dems not letting Donald Trump & the Republicans have a win. They may have the 10 Senate votes, but we have the issue, Border Security. 2020!”

—Tweet, Dec. 27

Only one-tenth (33 miles) of the Israeli barrier with Palestinian territories is an eight-meter (26-foot) concrete wall. The other 90 percent is a two-meter (6.5-foot) electronic fence. As for 99.9 percent, those numbers are a fantasy. The New York Times in 2016 reported on a vast smuggling industry that easily evades the Israeli security fence and wall that divides Israeli and Palestinian areas.

“Have the Democrats finally realized that we desperately need Border Security and a Wall on the Southern Border. Need to stop Drugs, Human Trafficking,Gang Members & Criminals from coming into our Country.”

—Tweet, Dec. 27

Most drugs come into the United States across the southern border with Mexico. But a wall would not limit this illegal trade, as much of it travels through legal borders or under tunnels unaffected by any possible physical barrier. Even if the wall could curb illicit drug trafficking, it would have a minimal impact on the death toll from drug abuse. Prescription drug overdoses claim more lives than cocaine and heroin overdoses combined. (This is a Bottomless Pinocchio claim.)

“Do the Dems realize that most of the people not getting paid are Democrats?”

—Tweet, Dec. 27

There is no evidence that most of the government workers affected by the government shutdown are Democrats. Trump at one point also claimed, without evidence, that most of the workers affected by the shutdown supported his stance.

“The reason the DACA for Wall deal didn’t get done was that a ridiculous court decision from the 9th Circuit allowed DACA to remain, thereby setting up a Supreme Court case. After ruling, Dems dropped deal - and that’s where we are today, Democrat obstruction of the needed Wall.”

—Tweet, Dec. 27

The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was in November 2018. Pelosi and Schumer announced they had a deal with Trump on extending DACA in September 2017 that did not include wall funding, but then Trump later backed out of it after pressure from his right flank and he began to push for broad changes to the immigration system in exchange for allowing DACA-eligible people to remain. No judge had ruled to uphold DACA in the interim.

A bipartisan coalition in the Senate last year rejected, by a vote of 60 to 39, a measure backed by Trump that would have all but ended the family-based migration system that has been in place for decades. A separate bipartisan measure that would have legalized the DACA “dreamers” and allocated $25 billion for a wall on the border with Mexico fell six votes short of the 60 needed to proceed to a final vote. But it earned far more votes than Trump’s preferred approach and might have succeeded if it had White House backing.

'A sad day for Jews in Europe and for religious freedom'

Israelnationalnews

A regional ban on kosher and halal slaughter will go into effect in northern Belgium on Tuesday, affecting the majority of Belgium’s Jewish community.

In 2017, Belgium’s two regions – the Dutch-speaking Flanders region and the French-speaking Wallonia – voted to require that all animals being slaughtered be stunned first, effectively banning traditional Jewish and Muslim methods of slaughter.

The bans did not go into effect immediately, however, with the Flanders law taking effect first, on January 1st, 2019.

The slaughter law in Flanders will force the Jewish community in Antwerp, which makes up close to two-thirds of the country’s Jewish population, to find new, imported sources of kosher meat and poultry.

Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, the president of the Conference of European Rabbis, lamented the kosher slaughter ban, calling it a “sad day for religious freedom in Europe”.

"We are in the midst of an attack on the freedom of religion. The European capital has, with its laws and lack of tolerance for minorities, proven that radical Islam has won. We managed to block many [similar pieces] of legislation in other country in Europe and attempts to pass bills in the European parliament and initiatives in the the EU's agencies."