Surfside, Florida Elects its First Orthodox Jewish Mayor By JNS News Service and AG Slams Barlev: ‘You Have No Authority to Ban MKs from Temple Mount’ By David Israel and Sierra Club Reverses Course, Decides to Reinstate Israel Trips after Talk with Rabbi By JNS News Service and Ignoring History of Bloodshed, Israel to Allow PA Arabs’ Prayer on Temple Mount on Ramadan
Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher, and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money, and spiritual engagement.
The Three are Rabbi Yehuda Glick, famous temple mount activist, and former Israel Mk, and then Robert Weinger, the world's greatest shofar blower and seller of Shofars, and myself after we had gone to the 12 gates of the Temple Mount in 2020 to blow the shofar to ask G-d to heal the world from the Pandemic. It was a highlight to my experience in living in Israel and I put it on my blog each day to remember.
The articles that I include each day are those that I find interesting, so I feel you will find them interesting as well. I don't always agree with all the points of each article but found them interesting or important to share with you, my readers, and friends. It is cathartic for me to share my thoughts and frustrations with you about life in general and in Israel. As a Rabbi, I try to teach and share the Torah of the G-d of Israel as a modern Orthodox Rabbi. I never intend to offend anyone but sometimes people are offended and I apologize in advance for any mistakes. The most important psychological principle I have learned is that once someone's mind is made up, they don't want to be bothered with the facts, so, like Rabbi Akiva, I drip water (Torah is compared to water) on their made-up minds and hope that some of what I have share sinks in. Love Rabbi Yehuda Lave.
AG Slams Barlev: 'You Have No Authority to Ban MKs from Temple Mount' By David Israel
photo Credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90
Newly appointed Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara celebrating in Jerusalem, February 8, 2022.
Internal Security Minister Omer Barlev believes that the ascent of Knesset members to the Temple Mount during the month of Ramadan––which coincides with April 2 this year––is sure to produce a flare-up that must be prevented. And so, last Thursday, Barlev sent down a directive to Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai decreeing that any MK who wants to visit the holy site during Ramadan must request the police district commander's approval as well as the commissioner's approval.
But on Monday, Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara sent Barlev a scathing and poignant letter, which News12 revealed Tuesday night, making clear there was no security justification for his draconian move, at least not according to the security services.
The AG wrote: "I would like to comment that the decision to prevent MKs from entering the Temple Mount should be made after consultation with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense who are in charge of state security, as well as after consultation with the General Security Service (Shin Bet). Restricting an MK's access to any place other than a private domain is possible only when there is a reasonable basis to expect harm to state security or for the purpose of preventing the disclosure of a military secret. The criteria you specified deviate from the criteria outlined in the relevant section of the law."
Barlev's office responded: "The reports that the minister sought to prevent MKs in advance from ascending the Temple Mount are a biased leak that distorts the minister's will. In his letter to the AG, the minister did not wish to restrict the ascent of MKs to the Temple Mount in advance, but only to restrict it if there is a disturbance at that moment, to protect the lives of MKs."
The above makes no sense: if an MK is required to request a permit to ascend the Temple Mount from the district commander and the police commissioner, how can they tell in advance if there's a disturbance at the moment?
Barlev's people continued: "The things quoted are the first part of the AG's response (preventing assent), which the Minister did not ask for. There is no doubt that the freedom of movement of a Knesset member is absolute all year round and throughout the country, including on the Temple Mount. The question remains, in a situation where an unforeseen danger to the safety and life of the Knesset member develops, is it the duty of the police to act to prevent the danger to his life?"
Yes, it is, I'm so glad they brought it up. But acting to protect an MK does not mean banning them from entering – it means sending cops to push back the rioting crowds using whatever means necessary. Do your job.
Otzma Yehudit Chairman MK Itamar Ben Gvir responded: "Minister Barlev is a cowardly minister who has given in to terrorism, but more than that he is acting without an authority like the worst dictator and has to go home. I will ascend the Temple Mount as I always do and hope that the gatekeepers will continue to make it clear to Barlev that Israel is not a dictatorship and the Minister of Internal Security, even if he does not like the ascent of MKs to the Temple Mount, cannot prevent it."
Ben Gvir recently won an appeal to the High Court of Justice against an attempt by Minister Barlev and the Police to ban him from maintaining a parliamentary office in the neighborhood of Shimon HaTzadik (Sheikh Jarrah).
Advantage Ben Gvir.
Ignoring History of Bloodshed, Israel to Allow PA Arabs' Prayer on Temple Mount on Ramadan by David Israel
Israel's defense establishment is fearful of an escalation of the violence in the territories as the holy Muslim month of Ramadan approaches, Reshet Bet radio reported Sunday morning, and yet, for the first time since the outbreak of the corona pandemic in February 2020 and operation Guardians of the Wall in May 2021, the same defense establishment will allow Arabs from the Palestinian Authority to pray on the Temple Mount during the month of Ramadan. Also: visits by families from the Gaza Strip with their loved ones who are Fatah terrorist prisoners will be approved, in addition to ample concessions during the holy days.
You want some more convoluted logic? Reshet Bet cited a security source who stated: "These are very complex days and we are prepared for extreme events, both through intelligence gathering and operations in the field. However, we will make every effort to facilitate the movement of Palestinian workers, including extending the hours of operation of the crossings and facilitating movement."
Honest, he actually said it: we are afraid of wildfires so we'll bring in truckloads of gasoline and matches.
Of course, they'll change their policy and impose strict limits as soon as the first few Jews are murdered, God forbid, as a result of their liberal approach to security and law enforcement. Because the month of Ramadan has always been violent, since before the establishment of the Jewish state.
Ze'ev Jabotinsky's personal secretary, the author Arthur Kestler, referred to the many attacks on Jews in the 1920s and wrote that Muslim clerics at the time "used to call on average a holy bloodbath twice a year. A nice, peace-loving Arab landlord would joke with his Jewish tenants during the month of Ramadan, he would later go to the mosque, listen to the preacher's words, and then run home to slaughter the tenant, his wife, and children with a kitchen knife…"
Israelis call it Ramadam, with the "dam" ending meaning "blood."
Masked Arabs hold stones during clashes near Al-Aqsa mosque with Israeli police on Ramadan, June 28, 2016. / Muammar Awad/Flash90
That same security source told Reshet Bet: "We are monitoring and preparing for the possibility that there are elements who will try to stir up the area. On the other hand, the Palestinian public for the most part is waiting for these reliefs."
And how can we possibly disappoint the Palestinian public?
Israel Hayom also cited a security source, last week, who warned that "the four attacks that took place last week in the Jerusalem area – two stabbing incidents in Hizma and two stabbing incidents at the Temple Mount gates – may be a trailer for another bloody month, such as the months of Ramadan that we have known here for the past two decades."
More like two centuries.
After the unification of Jerusalem under Israeli rule following the Six-Day War in 1967, visitors of all faiths were allowed to enter the Temple Mount. With the outbreak of riots on the Temple Mount in late 2000, later known as the "Second Intifada," non-Muslim visitors were barred from entering the compound––because by being non-Muslim they apparently provoked faithful Muslims into rioting. The compound was reopened to visitors only in 2003, on the orders of then-Minister of Internal Security, Tzachi Hanegbi.
Year-round, the most sensitive time on the Temple Mount is Fridays at noon, at the end of Friday prayers in the compound's mosques. And so, during sensitive periods, Israeli police restrict the entry of Muslim worshipers to the Temple Mount, to reduce the chance of violent demonstrations. But not this year.
This year, with the country's internal security deposited in the hands of Peace Now founder Omer Barlev, on the most sensitive time, his police will encourage Muslims of all ages, young and old, including those residing in the Palestinian Authority, to come in their hordes and practice their bloody religious zeal.
Surfside, Florida Elects its First Orthodox Jewish Mayor
Shlomo Danziger was elected on Tuesday to be the first Orthodox Jewish mayor of Surfside, Florida.
Danziger, 42, beat two incumbents—Mayor Charles Burkett by 33 votes and Vice Mayor Tina Paul by 23 votes—and garnered about 35 percent of the total votes in the mayoral race, reported Local10.com.
The businessman, the father of five and native of Brooklyn, N.Y., moved to Surfside in 2010. He ran for a commission seat in 2020 but was unsuccessful.
In fact, seemed surprised by his election victory on Tuesday and told TheMiami Herald: "We got much higher than we thought we were going to get."
The swearing-in ceremony took place on Wednesday.
Last month, Surfside approved a resolution to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism.
It's not clear what it will take for critics of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to admit that it wasn't he who turned support for Israel into a "wedge issue" in the United States between Democrats and Republicans. The current government in Jerusalem, formed precisely to oust him, certainly won't acknowledge it, especially not while boasting of repairing the ostensible damage to "bipartisanship" wrought by its predecessor.
Given the increasing radicalization of the Democratic Party, embodied in but not exclusive to "The Squad," it's odd for anyone at home or abroad to believe the nonsense. Even the "anti-Israel is the new pro-Israel" camp knows that it's false.
In fact, members of this group have no desire to cross the literal and figurative aisle. It's the liberal Jews in America and Israel who don't grasp that the Jewish state itself—not one policy or another—has become a bone of contention, an issue to be debated.
If any skepticism remained about this situation, the Women's National Democratic Club (WNDC) dispelled it last week, when it hosted Amnesty International USA executive director Paul O'Brien and listened attentively while he said that Israel "shouldn't exist as a Jewish state."
Yes, the WNDC, a self-described "hub for civic engagement, learning and political action in the heart of the nation's capital … a meeting place for Democrats, Independents and Progressives to come together in order to protect and promote our democratic values … [and] advance shared political interests," invited O'Brien to address a ladies' lunch.
Thanks to Jewish Insider, which covered the March 9 event, O'Brien's remarks can't be brushed under the carpet. Not that the 20 attendees in person and another 30 via video would have considered his words outrageous enough to warrant keeping under wraps.
Let's not forget that his little lecture came mere weeks after the release on Feb. 1 of Amnesty International's lengthy report, "Israel's apartheid against Palestinians: a cruel system of domination and crime against humanity."
Hearing O'Brien, then, wasn't an oversight on the part of the WNDC; it was intentional. It's only a bit surprising that he was able to keep a straight face when claiming that "Amnesty takes no political views on any question, including the right of the State of Israel to survive."
In the first place, Amnesty spends all its time and money "taking political views," often on Israel. Secondly, referring to the "right of the State of Israel to survive" as a political issue with "views" on both sides of the question is itself a blatant ideological position. And an anti-Semitic one, to boot, based on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) working definition.
But one need not interpret the "apartheid" report to grasp the depth of its Israel-hatred. The day after its release—following a media "embargo" aimed at generating pre-publication buzz—Amnesty USA, the branch that O'Brien heads, called on Capitol Hill to punish Israel for its "discriminatory laws and policies" relating to Palestinians.
"We encourage all members of Congress to use the full power of their office to advance human rights for all by calling for a thorough review of U.S. security aid to Israeli forces to determine whether such aid has been used in the commission of violations, and by conditioning security aid appropriated to Israel on an end to violations of international humanitarian law and improvements in respect for human rights," it stated on its website on Feb. 2.
To counter the outcry surrounding the report, which was so damning that even many Democrats protested it, Amnesty insisted that its "research, campaigns, advocacy and statements pertaining to Israel are focused on the actions of the Israeli government—they are not, and never will be, a condemnation of Judaism or the Jewish people."
Furthermore, its statement continued, "we condemn anyone who would cynically cite our research as justification for committing anti-Semitic acts of hatred and violence. Amnesty International condemns anti-Semitism in the strongest possible terms."
Sure, as long as the anti-Semitism and accompanying physical attacks on Jews don't emanate from left-wing and pro-Palestinian sources (which, of course, they do). Indeed, during "Operation Guardian of the Walls" last May, while Israel defended itself from barrages of Hamas and Islamic Jihad rockets from Gaza, as well as from bloody riots in eastern Jerusalem and Arab-populated cities elsewhere in the country, Jews around the United States and Europe were being pummeled in broad daylight.
The disingenuousness on display during O'Brien's talk was in tough competition with his organization's lies. His assertion that one of the goals of the Amnesty report was to "collectively change the conversation" on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which "needs to start, first and foremost, with the Jewish community," is a perfect example.
As Jewish Insider revealed, he cast aspersions on a 2020 Ruderman Family Foundation survey showing that "eight in 10 Jewish Americans identify as 'pro-Israel,' and two-thirds feel emotionally 'attached' or 'very attached' to the Jewish state."
He had the nerve to say, "I actually don't believe that to be true. I believe my gut tell[ing] me that what Jewish people in this country want is to know that there's a sanctuary that is a safe and sustainable place that the Jews, the Jewish people, can call home."
Where this so-called "safe Jewish space" is concerned, he said, "I think they can be convinced over time that the key to sustainability is to adhere to what I see as core Jewish values, which are to be principled and fair and just in creating that space."
Finally, the anti-Zionist educating Jews about "core Jewish values" insisted that "the right of the people to self-determination and to be protected is without a doubt something that we believe in, and I personally believe that. [But] we are opposed to the idea—and this, I think, is an existential part of the debate—that Israel should be preserved as a state for the Jewish people."
It's not surprising that O'Brien exhibited the very anti-Semitism that he was denying. Amnesty International does that on a regular basis.
But his audience, made up of "enlightened" Democrats, welcomed him as a speaker. The point is that nothing Israel can do—other than totally succumb to its own progressives and Palestinian lobbyists—will remove the "wedge" that the left inserted with gusto.
Sierra Club Reverses Course, Decides to Reinstate Israel Trips after Talk with Rabbi
After canceling its trips to Israel due to pressure from anti-Israel groups, the California-based Sierra Club will reportedly reinstate those trips in response to backlash from Israel supporters.
The news came after a call on Tuesday between Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean and director of global social action agenda for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and Ross Macfarlane, vice president for conservation at the Sierra Club. During their discussion, Macfarlane assured Cooper that the trips will be back.
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"We appreciate that the Sierra Club acted quickly to reverse the announced cancelations of trips to Israel which placed the famed American conservation organization directly into the crosshairs of BDS, anti-Israel and anti-piece zealots," stated the rabbi. "The Jewish community needs to awaken to the fact that extremist anti-Israel and anti-Semitic organizations will continue to try to insert their anti-peace poison pill into the mainstream of American corporate culture as they have already done on American campuses."
On Tuesday, Cooper had sent the Sierra Club a letter that said, in part: "It is deeply disappointing that we even have to write this protest on behalf of our 400,000 members, some of whom are also longtime supports of the work and goals of your important organization. The Sierra Club, historically a pioneer in promoting an environmentally clean world, has suddenly become an anti-Semitic polluter by caving to extremist anti-peace groups who seek to demonize, delegitimize and eliminate the democratic Jewish state."
The J. The Jewish News of Northern California reported late last week that planned trips to Israel, including one scheduled for earlier this month, were canceled after anti-Israel groups and activists said the Sierra Club was engaging in "greenwashing," giving Israel "legitimacy" by ignoring the Palestinians and only focusing on Israel's environmental work.
