US ambassador to Belgium urges nation to drop charges over illegal circumcisions

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-ambassador-to-belgium-urges-nation-to-drop-charges-over-illegal-circumcisions/

US Ambassador to Belgium Bill White has called on the country to drop all investigations against three mohels (individuals who perform circumcision) arrested last summer in a raid, calling the case antisemitic in a sharply worded post on X.

In May, police in Antwerp rounded up mohels suspected of illegally conducting the ritual Jewish circumcisions. Officials conducted early morning raids on three locations in Antwerp’s Jewish Quarter and nearby Green Quarter seeking knives and other equipment used in circumcisions, according to reports at the time.

Three mohels have been charged for performing a medical intervention without a medical license, and prosecutors now believe they have enough evidence to get a conviction, Belgian MP Michael Freilich, the country’s only Orthodox Jewish lawmaker, told The Times of Israel. A trial date has not yet been set, he said, noting it may take several months to do so.

Carrie Prejean Boller Calls Out JD Vance After Religious Board Removal

 https://www.newsweek.com/carrie-prejean-boller-calls-out-jd-vance-after-religious-board-removal-11527788

Catholic activist Carrie Prejean Boller has called on JD Vance to speak out after she was removed from Donald Trump's Religious Liberty Commission, saying the vice president is a Catholic "who wants to be president in 2028."

The hearing turned into a debate about Israel and Zionism, which Boller said she does not embrace because she is a Catholic.

On Sunday, Boller said in a post on X: "Let’s see if JD Vance, Marco Rubio and Ron DeSantis speak out in defense of my Catholic religious beliefs. after all these are Catholics who want to be president in 2028. Their silence speaks volumes. Are they Israel first or America first?"

Debunked election claims behind Fulton County search spark new questions for Gabbard

 https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5738302-democrats-question-gabbard-fbi-search/

Democrats are asking new questions about Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s presence at the FBI’s search of a Georgia voting center after an affidavit showed the federal case relies on widely debunked claims about the 2020 election.

“The newly unsealed affidavit shows this search originated from the frivolous claims of Kurt Olsen, an attorney who traffics in debunked falsehoods about the 2020 election. It also makes clear there was no foreign intelligence nexus. So why was the Director of National Intelligence there?” Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said in a statement.

“When the nation’s top intelligence official inserts herself into a matter with no connection to a foreign threat, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that the objective was political – namely, getting back into Donald Trump’s good graces – and that her presence was meant to lay the groundwork for baseless claims of foreign interference. Americans should be deeply concerned about what someone with sweeping authority over the country’s intelligence apparatus might do to achieve that.”

Brad Raffensperger (R), Georgia’s secretary of state who resisted pressure from Trump to “find” more votes in the 2020 election, criticized the merits of the claims underlying the search.

Suffering is determined by Mazel

 Zohar (Bereishis 180b) Where is the cheerful spirit in the righteous man who is broken in body, seeing that he is tormented by his sufferings? And further, do we not know of many righteous men, beloved by the Almighty, who were never a prey to acute suffering or physical weakness? Why this discrimination? Why should these be physical wrecks and the others hale and hearty? One explanation given is that the latter were born of righteous parents, whereas the former, although themselves righteous, were not children of righteous parents. But the facts are against this, since we see many righteous men who are the sons of righteous parents, and who nevertheless are afflicted with bodily ills and are lifelong sufferers. But there is a deep mystery involved here, inasmuch as all the ways of God are based on truth and righteousness. In connection with this verse I have found in the books of the ancients a mystical doctrine, and next to it another mystical doctrine, both being in essence one and the same. It amounts to the following. There is a period when the moon is defective, judgement being visited upon her, and the sun being concealed from her. Now it is the moon that at all times and seasons releases souls to enter the sons of men-she having previously gathered them for the purpose. Of those souls, then, which she releases during the period that she is under sentence, every one will always be the victim of degradation and poverty and suffer other chastisements, irrespective of whether he be sinful or righteous. (Prayer, however, can avert any sentence of punishment.) But those souls which the moon sends forth when she is in the grade of completeness, and the perennially flowing stream plays about her, are destined to enjoy abundance of all good things-of riches, children, and bodily health-and all on account of the mazzal that flowed forth and joined itself to that grade in order to be perfected and blessed by it. We see thus that all things are dependent on mazzal, according to the dictum: Children, life, and livelihood do not depend on a man's merits, but on mazzal. Hence all those who are sorely afflicted in this world in spite of being truly righteous suffer through the mischance of their soul; but in compensation G-d has compassion on them in the world to come.’

Suffering importance

 Zohar (Bereishis 180b) Is not a man often punished by God undeservedly? The answer is, as has been affirmed, that when suffering befalls a righteous man, it is on account of the love which God bears to him. He crushes his body in order to give more power to his soul, so that He may draw him nearer in love. For it is needful that the body should be weak and the soul strong, that so a man may be beloved of God, as the Companions have affirmed, that the Holy One inflicts suffering on the righteous in this world in order that they may merit the world to come. But he who is weak of soul and strong of body is hated of God. It is because God has no pleasure in him that He inflicts no pain upon him in this world, but permits his life to flow smoothly along with ease and comfort, in that for any virtuous act he may perform he receives his reward in this world, so that no portion should be left him in the next world. This is in accordance with Onkelos's paraphrase of the text: “And he repayeth them that hate him to their face which reads: “And he repayeth them that hate him in this world.” The righteous man, then, who is continually broken in body is the beloved of G-d.

Disenchantment with Zionism? Leon Roth and Yeshayahu Leibowitz on the Qibyā Raid

https://seforimblog.com/2026/02/disenchantment-with-zionism-leon-roth-and-yeshayahu-leibowitz-on-the-qibya-raid/

The infamous Qibyā reprisal raid (peʿulat tagmul), led by Major Ariel Sharon, later to become Israel’s Prime Minister, was the first military operation for which the young State of Israel was severely condemned by the UN, major nations, and the world Jewish community. It was carried out on the night of October 14, 1953, in response to many terror attacks by Arab fidāʾiyūn who had infiltrated Israel from Jordan, from the vicinity of the village of Qibyā. In particular, the raid was carried out in response to an attack on the town of Yehud, in which Sultana (Suzanne) Kanias, her three-year-old daughter Shoshana, and her one-and-a-half-year-old son Benny were murdered. Her thirteen-year-old son, Yitzhak, was seriously wounded, and died three years later. The raid was officially named “Operation Shoshana.”

In his response to the raid, Roth asked two main questions: (1) Do we as Jews today have an obligation to traditional Jewish values? (2) What manner of human beings could have carried out the Qibyā raid? In his response to the raid, Leibowitz, in effect, engaged with Roth’s two questions, and gave thought-provoking replies. Although Leibowitz did not mention Roth, it seems clear that he had read his response and was in conversation with it – at least with regard to the second installment (January 15), if not also with regard to the first one (December 15).

Why Pam Bondi’s Panicked Epstein Testimony Is Making Headlines

G-d and Tzadik called Living One

 Zohar (Bereishis 164a)   The Lord liveth, and blessed be my Rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation. This verse, he said, has a recondite meaning We know that God is called the living one. But this verse indicates that the perfectly righteous man also is called living one, so that there is a righteous living one on high, and correspondingly a righteous living one here on earth. On high it is God who is called living one, and here below it is the righteous man who is called living one, as it is written: And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a living man. He was so called because he was a righteous man, and the righteous man is called living one. 

Rabbis Lando and Hirsch condemn riots in Bnei Brak

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/422462

Two prominent haredi leaders condemned the riots today, writing that they were forbidden both as a danger and a sacrilege.

A leader of the haredi community, Rabbi Dov Lando, on Sunday night urged the public to stay away from riots and demonstrations following the incidents today in Bnei Brak and the subsequent clashes with police.

He urged the broader public not to judge the entire haredi community based on the actions of what he described as a small group. “This behavior disgraces those who observe Torah and commandments," he said. “We ask for forgiveness for having reached such a situation and pray for unity and brotherhood among our people."

“Beyond the physical danger, this constitutes a grave desecration of God’s name," he wrote, warning against any participation in such incidents. According to the statement, Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch also joined the call.

Despite Qatar’s moderate image, its textbooks are filled with antisemitism, study finds

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/despite-qatars-moderate-image-its-textbooks-are-filled-with-antisemitism-report/

School textbooks in Qatar teach antisemitic content, portray Christians and other non-Muslims as infidels and idolators, and legitimize the call for violent jihad, according to a report released last week by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se).

Despite Qatar’s efforts to present itself as a modern state working for peace in the Middle East, problematic content remained unchanged for the fourth straight year, showing that reforms have effectively “plateaued,” IMPACT-se said. This is despite public condemnation of the curriculum by the US State Department in 2024, it added.

Textbooks portray Jews as “materialistic, arrogant, deceitful, and hostile to Islam.” Jews are associated with traits such as lying, scheming, and breaching agreements.

Female soldiers attacked in Bnei Brak, rescued by police

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/422446

The incident involved two commanders from the Education Corps serving at the Havat HaShomer base who had arrived for a home visit to one of their soldiers. The crowd believed they were Military Police servicemembers who had come to distribute draft orders.

During the incident, a group of haredi bystanders gathered, shouting “Nazis," and tried to approach the soldiers. According to reports, there were attempts to physically attack them. In addition, a police motorbike was set on fire, and the mob overturned a police vehicle.

Police forces were called to the scene and safely extracted the servicewomen. At least three officers were injured in the riots. So far, 23 arrests have been made.

WH fires member who hijacked antisemitism hearing to condemn Israel

 https://www.israelhayom.com/2026/02/12/white-house-fires-commissioner-antisemitic-outburst-hearing/

A hearing at the White House Religious Freedom Commission, held Monday and focused on antisemitism in the United States, devolved into an extraordinary confrontation after committee member Carrie Prejean Boller chose to redirect the discussion toward Israel and Gaza while incorporating antisemitic statements, leading to her removal from the commission. One of the central witnesses in the discussion was Shabbos Kestenbaum, a American-Jewish activist, who said he was surprised not only by the questions asked but by the disregard for the actual topic.

Noem boasts of Trump administration ensuring ‘we have the right people voting’ ahead of midterms

 https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5739328-noem-voting-midterm-elections/

“I would say that many people believe that it may be one of the most important things that we need to make sure we trust, is reliable, and that when it gets to Election Day, that we’ve been proactive to make sure that we have the right people voting, electing the right leaders to lead this country through the days that we have, knowing that people can trust it,” she said.

“This is Trump’s idea of democracy: leaders get to select their voters instead of the other way around,” Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote on the social platform X.

Trump has so far defended Noem and resisted bipartisan pressure for her resignation or firing. Former Obama adviser David Axelrod suggested in a post on X that Noem’s comments on election security could help explain why.

“THIS is why @KristiNoem will remain in place, despite her flagrant, corrupt mismanagement of the @DHS, at least through the midterm elections,” he wrote. “@POTUS wants a loyal apparatchik in place who will do whatever is necessary to ensure ‘the right leaders’ win.”

U.K. ‘Grooming Gang’ Leader Sentenced to 35 Years for Rape

 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/world/europe/uk-grooming-gang-sentencing.html

Seven men in all were sentenced on Wednesday over their roles in a decades-old national scandal in Britain involving child sexual abuse.