Israel digs in heels on Gaza, demands captives' release

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/rivlin-gaza-rehabilitation-must-be-linked-to-israeli-captive-release-672344

In three high-level meetings this week, Israel has insisted on linking the rehabilitation of Gaza with the return by Hamas of the remains of two soldiers and the release of two captives.

President Reuven Rivlin raised the matter with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday in New York and with US President Joe Biden on Monday in Washington.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett raised the matter during his first phone call with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi since taking office earlier this month.

 

Chief Rabbi Yosef: Science, math are nonsense, study in yeshiva instead

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/chief-rabbi-yosef-science-math-are-nonsense-study-in-yeshiva-instead-672378

Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef described Israel’s school core curriculum studies program as “nonsense” and said pupils should study in yeshivas instead where only religious studies are taught.

Yosef’s comments sparked criticism toward the Sephardi chief rabbi, who was accused of promoting dependence on government handouts and charitable donations instead of advancing self-reliance.

“There is nothing like the holy Torah, the Torah is above everything,” said Yosef in a recent synagogue address, first reported by the Kikar Shabbat news website.

“If a pupil is asked where do you want to go, a yeshiva high school [where religious studies are taught together with the core curriculum] or a holy yeshiva, there is no doubt, a holy yeshiva, there is no doubt,” declared the chief rabbi.

Pfizer, Moderna COVID vaccines produce ‘long-lasting’ immune response — study

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/pfizer-moderna-covid-vaccines-produce-long-lasting-immune-response-study/

The Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna coronavirus vaccines produce a continuing immune response, a study has found, indicating that they offer long-lasting protection against COVID-19.

 The study, published Monday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, found that the vaccines “induce persistent” production of antibodies “enabling the generation of robust humoral immunity.”

In addition, the vaccines were found to produce high levels of antibodies against three known variants of the coronavirus, including the Beta variant first detected in South Africa. There was an even stronger antibody response to the variants among those who were vaccinated after already previously being infected with COVID-19.

Supreme Court Declines to Hear School Bathroom Policy Case in Win for Transgender Man

https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2021-06-28/supreme-court-declines-to-hear-school-bathroom-policy-case-in-win-for-transgender-man

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case over the right of a transgender man to use the school bathroom that aligned with his gender identity, handing a win to Gavin Grimm, the man at the center of the case, and ending his yearslong legal fight over the issue.

Grimm sued Virginia's Gloucester County School Board in 2015 after it enacted a policy barring him from using the men's restroom at the high school he attended and instead offered only the option of using a single-stall bathroom. Last August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled 2-1 that the school board had engaged in sex-based discrimination and violated the 14th Amendment.

 

Ultra-Orthodox rabbinic leadership: 12-year-olds must get vaccinated

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/ultra-orthodox-rabbinic-leadership-12-year-olds-must-get-vaccinated-672341

Two of the most senior rabbis in the ultra-Orthodox world, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky and Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, have called for all children 12-years-old and over to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

 

Yeshiva teacher suspected of sexually blackmailing his teenage students

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/yeshiva-teacher-suspected-of-sexually-blackmailing-his-teenage-students

Police say they have arrested a teacher at a Chabad yeshiva in central Israel on suspicion that he sexually blackmailed male students aged 14-15 using the Hangouts messaging app.

The teacher allegedly contacted the boys, presented himself as a fellow teenager, and after a while asked them for nude photos and sexually explicit videos, sometimes in exchange for money. He then threatened to publish the footage if they didn’t send him more material.

The suspect was arrested on June 16 and has been in custody ever since. He is accused of molesting a minor, blackmail and possession of obscene material.

 

At Home With... Rabbi Bulka

The WHO did not reverse its position on kids and COVID-19 vaccines

 https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jun/24/facebook-posts/who-did-not-reverse-its-position-kids-and-covid-19/

 If Your Time is short

• Social media posts falsely claimed that the World Health Organization recently reversed its policy and said children shouldn’t be vaccinated against COVID-19.
• The posts were referencing an actual WHO webpage, but the guidance was originally posted on April 8 and reflected the organization's stance that vaccine supply is limited in some countries and children shouldn’t be prioritized over other high-risk groups because COVID-19 disease is milder in kids.
• The WHO updated the guidance for children on its webpage on June 23 based on a recent scientific advisory meeting in which the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was found to be safe for those ages 12 and up.

COVID: Was Israel wrong not to vaccinate children ages 12-15 right away?

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/covid-did-israel-screw-up-not-vaccinating-children-ages-12-15-right-away-672203

 Also on Sunday, the Israeli Pediatric Society published a new position paper reiterating their support for the vaccine, and addressing the issue of possible side effects.

Prof. Tzachi Grossman, the head of the organization, and its colleagues wrote that the risk for a child to develop a severe form of COVID if infected – which stands at 1:3000 – outweighs that of developing a myocarditis – which according to US data for ages 12-17 stands at 1:16,000 (according to Israeli data for the age group 16-19, the occurrence was 1:6,000).

COVID-19 Vaccine: What Parents Need to Know

 https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/covid19-vaccine-what-parents-need-to-know

 Should I consider getting my child vaccinated for COVID-19?

Yes. Although COVID-19 in children is usually milder than in adults, some kids can get very sick and have complications or long-lasting symptoms that affect their health and well-being. The virus can cause death in children although this is rarer than for adults.

Honig: Don't buy Bill Barr's latest story about the Big Lie

 https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/28/opinions/bill-bar-election-fraud-big-lie-honig/index.html

 Barr spoke to the Atlantic about his post-election turnabout, which culminated in his December 1, 2020, public statement to the Associated Press that "to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election." Barr tells of how he stood up to Trump, invoking Trump's wrath during the frantic post-election weeks when Trump tried desperately to overturn the election's results.

But Barr conveniently omits the crucial fact that, for months before his endgame turnabout, he had been relentlessly parroting and amplifying Trump's most dangerous lies about election fraud throughout the runup to the November 2020 election.

Inside William Barr’s Breakup With Trump

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/06/william-barrs-trump-administration-attorney-general/619298/ 

 Donald Trump is a man consumed with grievance against people he believes have betrayed him, but few betrayals have enraged him more than what his attorney general did to him. To Trump, the unkindest cut of all was when William Barr stepped forward and declared that there had been no widespread fraud in the 2020 election, just as the president was trying to overturn Joe Biden’s victory by claiming that the election had been stolen.

Theodor Herzl vs. Rabbi Kook

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/theodor-herzl-vs-rabbi-kook-610614

The notion that there is an intrinsic contradiction between Theodor Herzl’s Zionism and that of Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook, first chief rabbi of Israel, is prevalent in many national-religious circles. Indeed, Rabbi Benny Lau asserts in “Statehood and spirit” (Magazine, August 30): 

McCaffrey Blasts 'Terrible' FOX News Attacks On Gen. Milley