Dear Family & Friends,

The Kotel (Western Wall of the Temple Mount’s remaining retaining wall) was packed & glowing with men raising their talliesim over their heads & their sons while the Priestly Blessing was given on the Kotel’s loud speakers. Some of my family members were there today. I’ve been there before (a long time ago) in person & it was also inspiring & uplifting to view it on live camera feeds this morning.

So, tonight as the waning moon shines into my roof window during the intermediate days of Pesach, I send it to you. If any of my listed sites don’t work, Google it.

Have a sweet night, a swell day. All the very best, Gail/Geula/Savta/Savta Raba x 2/Mom

1.WATCH: Thousands attend Priestly blessing ceremony at Western Wall

2.French toast- Another pointless ‘peace’ initiative By Ruthie Blum

3.Israel should silence those who incite terrorist murders by David Bedein

4.Sorry to tell you, the facts are hard to swallow, but they are the truth by Mordecai Kedar

5.The Jewish World may actually be 5-10 million people bigger

6.Israeli victims of Brussels bombing leave hospital in time for Passover

7.Belgian Jew who lost leg in Brussels attack to move to Israel

8.French Jewish leader calls for closure of main BDS bank account

9.Passion, Vision, Hebron & Eretz Yisrael By David Wilder

1.WATCH: Thousands attend Priestly blessing ceremony at Western Wall By JPOST.COM STAFF 04/25/2016 09:25 [GailSez: I watched the live Wall camera feed from 9:30 to 10:30 so I saw & heard the Priestly Blessing 2 times. However, I can’t get it to click on from my typed You-Tube command just below. Please try to log onto JPost.com for a 3 minute feed of today: or try:

http://www.israelvideonetwork.com/the-biblical-priestly-blessing-is-given-at-the-western-wall/

Had a better sound quality but the camera filming was moving too much & distracting. These log-ons work best if you cut & paste the links into your own computer….I think. Please advise if it works.

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The custom sees hundreds of Cohens (priests), descended from the biblical figure of Aaron & the Israelite tribe of Levi, raise their hands within their prayer shawls and bless the masses.

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WATCH: Thousands attend priestly blessing ceremony at Western Wall

2:59

Thousands of people flocked to the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City Monday for the traditional Birkat Kohanim ceremony, the priestly blessing, held annually on the intermediate days of Passover and Succot.
The custom sees hundreds of Cohens (priests), descended from the biblical figure of Aaron and the Israelite tribe of Levi, raise their hands within their prayer shawls and bless the masses.
Border Police, undercover units and special patrol units were mobilized throughout the Old City and Jerusalem to prevent any terrorist attacks during the large scale event.

Also on Monday, 584 people visited the Temple Mount including 453 tourists.
Jerusalem security forces removed two Jewish visitors to the contested stating that the two had violated the regulations on Jewish visitation to the contested holy site which include a ban on prayer in the Temple Mount complex.
Visits to the compound were due to routinely continue on the second intermediary day of Chol Hamoed on Passover.
Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report

2.French toast- Another pointless ‘peace’ initiative By Ruthie Blum

JPost.com 04/24/2016 21:26

Contrary to the claims of those who are either not paying attention or hate the Jewish state for their own reasons, Abbas’ ultimate goal is neither peace nor a “two-state solution.”

French President Francois Hollande (R) and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas meet on the occasion of the inauguration of a new Suez Canal waterway, in Ismailia, Egypt, August 6, 2015. (photo credit:REUTERS)

It comes as no surprise that the honchos in Ramallah are welcoming the French initiative to hold a summit of world foreign ministers to discuss and plan an international Israeli-Palestinian peace conference.
The Palestinian Authority knows full well that “peace” is a euphemism for complete Israeli capitulation to Palestinian demands, with nothing but bloodshed in return. Indeed, if PA President Mahmoud Abbas and his henchmen were actually interested in bringing about an end to conflict with Israel, they could do so in a split second – you know, by putting a stop to their own behavior. This includes, but is not restricted to, glorifying and funding the families of terrorists, particularly those who die for the cause while in the process of killing Jews.
Contrary to the claims of those who are either not paying attention or hate the Jewish state for their own reasons, Abbas’ ultimate goal is neither peace nor its companion misnomer, a “two-state solution.”

No, his aim is to retain an international stamp of legitimacy as a world leader – to protect him from assassination on the one hand and oblivion on the other, and also to keep the dollars and euros flowing.
Palestinian statehood is therefore not in his interest.
Pretending to strive for it while portraying himself and his people as victims of Israeli “occupation” & “brutality” is what he’s really after. Meanwhile, he benefits from the West’s ostrich syndrome – the very phenomenon responsible for the nuclear deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran, the greatest state sponsor of global terrorism, the one that keeps murder machines like Hezb’Allah in clover. And armed to the teeth.
This is all very old news, as is the fact that an ever-declining Europe and the United States under President Barack Obama would prefer to abdicate all political, moral and military superiority to Third World Islamist thugs than call the shots. It is this Western trait that is at the root of hostility to Israel, which – in spite of its all-too-Jewish inclination to follow suit – dares to defend and steel itself to the Cheshire Cat smiles of its sworn enemies and wagging fingers of its alleged friends.
The irony is Abbas, like the ayatollahs in Tehran, would be first to agree with this assessment.
Indeed, it is the one thing on which Israel and the Palestinians agree, though the latter would never admit it in any language other than Arabic.
Nor do PA apologists bother to believe the translations of such sentiments into English, French or German. They would rather spend their energy interpreting the forked-tongue dialect of parties with whom they insist on engaging in diplomacy.
Which brings us back to the Paris plan for renewed talks between Israel and the Palestinians. To avoid being left with scrambled egg on its face, France has decided that the only foreign ministers who will not be invited to next month’s pre-peace-conference summit are those of – you guessed it – Israel and the PA.
PA Foreign Minister Riyad Maliki was not too happy about this. But he did receive reassurance from the French that the initiative would not be hindered “in any way” by the Palestinian draft of a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements as the true obstacle to “peace.”
Never mind little details like Monday’s bus bombing in Jerusalem, perpetrated by a Palestinian terrorist from Bethlehem, who apparently botched up the bigger job he had in mind when the explosive device he was carrying went off before he reached his destination.
He, according to American officials, might not even have been a terrorist in the conventional sense, but rather one of those “lone wolves” – or, as US Vice President Joe Biden called them, “misguided cowards.”
Yes, across the ocean, Biden took to the podium at the left-wing J Street conference to chastise the Jewish state, which was still reeling from the 20 wounded victims of the latest act of bloody aggression against innocent people going about their business – in this case, Passover preparations.
“I firmly believe that the actions that Israel’s government has taken over the past several years – the steady and systematic expansion of settlements, the legalization of outposts, land seizures – they’re moving us, and more importantly they’re moving Israel, in the wrong direction,” Biden said, reiterating his administration’s “overwhelming frustration” with Israel and “profound questions” about [Israel’s] ability to remain both Jewish and democratic without further and more massive territorial withdrawals than it has already made. Biden failed to mention that all previous Israeli attempts to appease the Palestinians resulted in terrorism the likes of which European capitals haven’t even begun to experience – though it appears they are starting to get a taste of it.
Still, they tell themselves that Islamic State terrorism is a different kettle of fish from that of Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. And that Israel is ultimately a provocateur.
It is thus that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to reports of the upcoming “ministerial” summit and precursor to a wider peace conference with disdain.
“Can anyone explain what this initiative is about? Even the French don’t know,” he said.
The writer is managing editor of The Algemeiner (algemeiner.com) & columnist at Israel Hayom.

3.Israel should silence those who incite terrorist murders by David Bedein

Twenty years ago, the writer would not have written this article, because what it endorses was then self-evident. Remembering the Park Hotel. And what happened to Sheikh Yassin.

Arutz Sheva IsraelNationalNews.com Published: Friday, April 22, 2016 11:11 AM

David Bedein is the director of the Israel Resource News Agency & The Center for Near East Policy Research Ltd. His website is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com.

I run one of the few news agencies and research centers in Israel that regularly interviews officials of Hamas, Fatah and NGO’s, who openly endorse the murder of Jews.

Our films, which speak for themselves, show how matter of fact calls to murder Jews emanate from Israel’ s antagonists like clock work, very openly, and without hesitation.

Pay attention to our interviews with convicted murderers who express no regret for their actions:

Only yesterday, in preparation for our newest film, the administrator of an NGO, which helps descendants of Arab refugees in UNRWA facilities, gave our interviewed a taped interview in which this social worker endorsed acts of murder – in the context of promoting the ‘right of return’ (the demand to allow the millions of descendants of 800,000 Arabs who fled Israel in 1948 to move back to the country) by force of arms.)

Yet perpetrators of the call to kill Jews conform to charters of the Arab league, the PLO and Hamas, all of which state that their purpose in terms of their war aim, which has not changed since 1948; is to expunge the Jews from Palestine, not the so-called “right of return.”

What about the Declaration of Principles signed by Arafat and Abbas in Oslo and in Washington in 1993? Didn’t the Palestinian Liberation Organization led by Arafat (PLO) ratify, as did Israel’s Knesset, the Peace Accords renouncing the war against Israel?

Ah – there’s the rub. They didn’t.

Who revealed that the PLO did not ratify the DOP?

None other than Al Hamishmar, the now defunct daily newspaper of Mapam, the news anchor of the radical left pro-Oslo Accords political party, Meretz.

Al Hamishmar correspondent Pinchas Inbari covered the PLO-non-approval of the Oslo Accords.

And which academic revealed that the part of the PLO Charter calling for Israel’s annihilation was never cancelled by its Palestine National Council (PNC), the body that had the power to do so?

None other than Prof. Yehoshua Porat, who ran as no. 13 on the Meretz ticket in 1992, missing a seat in the Knesset by less than 500 votes.

Prof Porat viewed the protocols of the session where the PNC was supposed to cancel the PLO charter on April 24, 1996, where our agency had the only crew that filmed the non-event.

Here are the facts, simply put: The PLO never ratified the accord and never cancelled its PLO war covenant to destroy Israel.

In fact, what is unofficially termed the Oslo War followed several years later, with over a thousand Israeli civilians killed by terror, including the 2002 Park Hotel massacre in Netanya in which suicide bombers murdered 30 people at a Passover Seder.

I am often asked what would deter the PLO, Hamas and the Arab League from continued endorsement of acts of murder against any Jews.

The answer is clear: Knowing they would pay with their lives.

In a war, you kill your enemies until the enemy surrenders.

What deterred Sheikh Achmad Yassin, the paraplegic head of Hamas, from continuing his rants to murder Jews? Was it condemnation by Israel, or by the UN?

Hardly. What snuffed out Yassin was a carefully targeted missile, which blew Yassin, his blood-soaked hands and his wheel chair to kingdom come.

What price did Israel pay for killing Yassin? A very small one.

A case in point: On the morning that the news broke that Israel had missilled Yassin to death, I was visiting Mom, may she rest in peace, who lived in Philadelphia, located on the west bank of the Delaware River. I opened up the Philadelphia Inquirer, to see the press reaction of the newspaper of record in the City of Brotherly Love.

My eyes glanced at the headline: ATROCITY, as I prepared my nerves for yet another round of uneven-handed reporting.

However, when I read on, it turned out the article was referring to the popular response to the destruction of the Philadelphia sports arena, where the Phillies, Eagles, 76ers and Flyers all had played. Philadelphians described the implosion of their holy sports facility in terms of an ‘atrocity’,

Further down on the page, the Philadelphia Inquirer ran a smaller headline: Israel kills Terrorist, with no tendentious emotion or blame whatsoever attached to the piece.

Just the facts. Yassin endorsed the murder of Jews and paid the price for doing so.

12 years later, on the mornings before Passover 2016, in an item carried by all wire services, all Hamas leaders endorse the latest bus bombing in Jerusalem, while a dozen Jews of all ages are maimed for life from their wounds, as they prepare to spend the holiday in pain, the rest of their lives in pain. Instead of reciting the Haggadah at the Seder.

The Arab teenager who killed himself when he blew up the bus came from the UNRWA “refugee” facility at Al Aida, adjacent to the tomb of Rachel the Matriarch. UNRWA schools, by the way, teach that Rachel’s tomb is a shrine to a Moslem sheikh.

And what is the message, 12 years later? That calling to kill Jews is no big deal?

This is the time for those who seek justice in the Middle East to demand the government of Israel permanently deter anyone who endorses the attempt to murder Jews. The way to deter murder is to invoke the legacy of Sheikh Yassin as Israel defined it.

Israel’s current government is led by politicians who are sensitive to public pressure.

The time has come, on the eve of Passover, to let the government of Israel know that the death of those who endorse the murder of Jews would be a welcome moment in Jewish history.

In earlier generations, when Jews would read from their Haggadah that “in every generation there are those who rise up to obliterate the Jews…” the Jewish people would have no recourse but to pray to God & hope for the best. Now the Jews have an army, which awaits its order from above to fire.

This is the time for people around the world to remind the government of Israel that it will pay no price whatsoever if the Jewish state were to kill its enemies, at this stage of the war and silence those who endorse the wanton murder of Jews.

Sheikh Yassin was deterred. He can no longer rally his people to murder Jews.

Sheikh Yassin was a religious man who believed he would be rewarded in his world to come.

Perhaps he wants company.

Why should anyone who endorses murder not be silenced?

For those liberal minded folks who object to targeted killings, Israel can use liberal terminology and call it : The Movement for Post Natal Abortions of Israel’s Enemies or, better yet, All the Noose that’s Fit to Print.

4.Sorry to tell you, the facts are hard to swallow, but they are the truth.

By Dr. Mordechai Kedar Arutz Sheva IsraelNationalNews.com Published: Friday, April 22, 2016 11:14am

Dr. Mordechai Kedar is a senior lecturer in the Department of Arabic at Bar-Ilan University. He served in IDF Military Intelligence for 25 years, specializing in Arab political discourse, Arab mass media, Islamic groups and the Syrian domestic arena. Thoroughly familiar with Arab media in real time, he is frequently interviewed on the various news programs in Israel.

My dear friends, Jews in Israel and the Diaspora,

I am sorry to tell you that the terror attacks we from which we suffer today and yesterday, a week ago, a month, a year and a decade and century ago, are all part of the same war, the same struggle, the same Jihad waged against us by our neighbors for over a century. Sometimes it is a full scale war with tanks, noise, flames, planes and ships and sometimes it is a war on a slow burner known as “terror” with explosions, stabbings and shots. Each of these is Jihad in Arabic, each is aimed at Jews just for being Jewish.

I regret to remind you of the fact that this war began way before the establishment of the Jewish state declared in 1948. The riots and massacres of 1920, 1921, 1929, 1936-39 ‘et al’, were not due to a Jewish state or what our enemies call the “occupation” of 1948, and certainly not because of the 1967 “occupation”. The bloody and cruel massacre of the Jews of Hevron in 1929 was carried out against Jews who were not part of the Zionist movement, quite the contrary. The Palestine Liberation Movement (Fatah) was founded, may I remind you, in 1959 and The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1964, years before the 1967 “occupation” that was a result of Israel winning the Six Day War.

I hate to point out to you that the shouts we heard, mainly in the 1948 War of Independence, were “Itbach al Yahud” – “Butcher the Jews” – and not the “Israelis” or the “Zionists,” because their problem is with the Jews who refuse to be dependent on the mercy of Islam, refuse to live as dhimmi, protected ones, the way Islam mandates for Jews and Christians. In the Arab world, children still sing (in Arabic): “Palestine is our country and the Jews are our dogs.” The dog, in Islamic tradition, is an unclean animal. Sharia law stipulates that if a Muslim is praying & a dog, pig, woman, Jew or Christian walks in front of him, his prayers are worthless and he must begin the entire ritual once again.

It is not pleasant to tell you this, but Israel’s enemies’ most popular chant is (in Arabic) – “Kyber, Khyber O Jews, Mohammed’s army will yet return.” Khyber is an oasis in the Arabian Peninsula that was populated by Jews until Mohammed slaughtered them in 626 C.E. The chant commemorates that event and threatens a repeat performance. The Jews, according to the Koran (Sura 5, verse 82) are the most hostile enemies of the Moslems. Verse 60 states that Allah’s curse and fury upon them turned them into monkeys and pigs. Since when do monkeys and pigs have the right to a state? Since when are they entitled to sovereignty?

Despite what you think, peace with Egypt was achieved only after Sadat realized that despite Arab efforts to destroy Israel in the 1948 War of Independence, the 1956 Sinai Campaign, the 1967 Six Day War, 1970 War of Attrition, and even the 1973 Yom Kippur War that took Israel by surprise, the Jewish state managed to push back all the Arab armies and bring the war to their territory.

That is why Sadat understood that Israel is not conquerable and that there is no choice other than making peace, even if this peace is temporary and based on the precedent of the 628 C.E. Hudabaiya Peace in which Mohammed gave a 10 year hiatus to the infidels of Mecca, but broke it at the end of two years when they fell asleep on the watch.

[Gail Sez: Please read “Don’t Pretend. Read the Hudabaiya Treaty” by Emanuel Winston in our Website. Mohammed attacked the Jewish tribes in Mecca, beheaded 800 Jewish men, sold their women & children into slavery. This is the example Arafat gave –To follow Mohammed’s example!]

Yassir Arafat did not sign the Oslo Accords because he believed in peace, but because, calling it the “Hudabaiya peace,” he saw the agreements as a Trojan horse that would hoodwink the Jews.

The only objective of the Oslo Accords was to create a Palestinian entity with an army and weapons that would be used to destroy Israel when the time was ripe. He repeated this constantly, but our decision makers explained that he is only saying it for domestic consumption, and when suicide bombers set themselves off in our streets, the victims were called “victims of peace.” Since when does peace require victims? Why were the rifles we allowed them to obtain [or gave them] turned on us?

It saddens me to tell you that all of Israel’s efforts to please the Hamas Gazans failed. Hamas went on from being a terrorist organization to becoming a terrorist state. Deadly rockets, attack tunnels, suicide bombers – all are considered legitimate in the eyes of Gaza’s Jihadist government, so to hell with the lives of the men, women and children living there, and to hell with their welfare, health and assets. The Gazans are pawns in the hands of Hamas, the Jihad and the Salafists, all of whom appointed themselves the liaison between the residents of Gaza and Paradise, having already given them a taste of hell on earth.

You were wrong again – basing your policy on pipe dreams, delusions and hopes instead of on facts and figures
It pains me to tell all the soul-weary peace seekers in Israel and the world, that the concrete and iron that you forced us to give the Jihadists in Gaza in order to rebuild their destroyed homes, were used to build tunnels of death both to Gazans and Israelis. Instead of building hospitals, schools and infrastructure, the Jihadists built an infrastructure of death, suffering and disaster.

You were wrong again – basing your policy on pipe dreams, delusions and hopes instead of on facts and figures. Analysts, including me, are not entirely blameless: they said in wondrous harmony that when Hamas has to bear the responsibility for food, electricity and welfare in Gaza, its leaders will become more moderate, realistic and pragmatic.

We were wrong: Hamas, despite leaving the opposition in order to rule, has not ceased its Jihad against Israel and has not removed Israel from the top of its list of priorities, nor has it changed in the slightest its wholly negative view of the “Zionist entity.”

I hate to ruin the “two states for two peoples” party, but I must, because what is happening in Gaza today is exactly what will happen to the second Palestinian state you are trying to establish in Judea and Samaria. Hamas will be the winner of elections for the legislature, as they were in Gaza in January 2006, and will win the presidential elections as well. If they don’t they will take over all of Judea and Samaria in a violent putsch, just as they did in Gaza in 2007.

When that happens, what will you say? “Ooops…we didn’t know…we couldn’t imagine…?” So now you know and do not have to extrapolate. This should be your working hypothesis. If Gaza’s Hamas is digging tunnels of death in the sand today, it will be digging through rocks to build them from Judea and Samaria – and let’s see you find them and blow them up when that happens.

To anyone with a short memory, let me refresh it: In July 2014, Hamas managed to shut Ben Gurion Airport for a day by launching rockets from Gaza. If and when they gain control of Judea and Samaria, they will be able to shut Ben Gurion down with a slingshot, and will be able to overlook all the runways from the Beit Arye heights. Anyone who does not believe me should get into his car and drive to the top of the hills to the east of Ben Gurion Airport, located in “conquered, occupied territory” (conquered from whom, precisely?).

Due to Israel’s wind conditions, most of the planes that land in Ben Gurion approach from the east, cruising right over those very same hills. Will Hamastan allow planes headed for Israel to circle & approach landing from above its territory? Just what price will Israel have to pay after an RPG or machine gun shoots down one El Al plane, G-d forbid? Will we offer them Jerusalem so as to calm them down?

If we are already talking about Jerusalem, what will you do when the State of Hamas presents you with an ultimatum: Jerusalem or war? The Temple Mount or we shut down Ben Gurion Airport? And when the world supports their demand for Jerusalem, letting Israel pay the price of calming down radical Islam, what will you say? And when the snipers go back to shooting at passersby on Jerusalem streets from the walls of the Old City as their Jordanian brothers did until 1967, where will you hide? Behind concrete walls? A security fence? Or will you simply move Israel’s capital city to Tel Aviv?

I am sorry to disappoint you but the worst thing that ever happened to Israel’s hopes for peace was the rise of the peace movements, those calling for Israel to establish a terror state in Judea and Samaria and give up East Jerusalem for it. In the Middle East, he who expresses a desire for peace, talks about his yearning for peace and offers his land and country as bribery in exchange for a paper which has the word “peace” on it, is looked upon as someone who lost a war & is begging for his life.

The peace movements turned Israel’s image into that of a weak and soft defeatist country, the exact opposite of the kind of country that achieves peace in the Middle East. In the violent and radical region where Israel is trying to survive, anyone considered weak gets kicked, you know exactly where, and is sent to hell in the best case, or butchered and beheaded as a matter of course.

In the Middle East, peace means that your enemies leave you alone because you are too strong, threatening and dangerous to start up with. In the Middle East only the unvanquished obtain peace.

Anyone who does not accept these facts, who is not ready for “blood, sweat and tears,” he who impatiently demands “Peace Now” does not belong in the Middle East. Here, we have room only for the brave, the strong, the steadfast and those who believe in the justice of their cause: “Peace Forever”. Anyone who lacks those traits can find a suitable home somewhere else, where life is peaceful, quiet, prosperous and blooming. May we suggest Paris, Brussels, Madrid, Boston or San Bernardino.

Kosher and happy Passover wishes to all the Children of Israel!

Written for Arutz Sheva, translated from Hebrew by Rochel Sylvetsky, Arutz Sheva Op-ed and Judaism editor

5.The Jewish World may actually be 5-10 million people bigger Finding lost Jews has been one of the most tantalizing mysteries of Jewish history. Now the ‘crypto-Jews’ are beginning to reemerge. Arutz Sheva By Raphael Poch 12/7/15  A group of Portuguese Bnei Anousim visit the Kotel on a trip organized by Shavei Israel One of the tantalizing mysteries of Jewish history is the possibility of the discovery of lost Jews.

Since the time of Sennacherib in the 7th century BCE, the question of lost Jews has been one that has received a lot of attention. Today, with the return of Jews from all over the world to the State of Israel, the subject has never been more relevant.

According to various genetic/DNA studies conducted over the past decade, 20% of men in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) have Jewish genetic ancestry. In Brazil, estimates are that 5-10 million people are descendants of so-called Bnei Anousim – descendants of Jews who were forcibly converted to Christianity. This phenomenon spans the world, potentially reaching millions more.

Two organizations have dedicated themselves to the discovery of lost Jews from the Iberian Peninsula, Shavei Israel and Reconectar.

Arutz Sheva spoke to both organizations about the work that they are doing to reconnect Jews of Spanish and Portuguese descent to their Jewish roots.

Shavei Israel, a Jerusalem-based nonprofit, has launched a new initiative to help Spanish and Portuguese descendants of Bnei Anousim reconnect with their Jewish Heritage, while Reconectar, which has an Israeli base but is mainly located in South and Central America, has an ongoing outreach liaison program with whom members of the community can contact in order to learn more about their heritage.

Michael Freund, Founder and Director of Shavei Israel, told Arutz Sheva about the challenges of discovering who is a descendant of the Bnei Anousim.

“More than five centuries after Portuguese Jewry was compelled to convert to Catholicism, there are of course many challenges to identifying people with a Bnei Anousim background. There are some who have family trees stretching back over the centuries which prove that their ancestors only married among themselves down through the generations, but in most cases it involves more detective work.”

“Clues to uncover”

Ashley Perry, the Director of Reconectar, likewise described the detective work needed.

“There are a lot of clues that we need to uncover. People may not have a heritage stating that they were Jewish, but their name may signify it, and some of the customs they keep may point to it. We do not have a 100% answer yes or no, which is why if people want to fully return to Judaism, they have to undergo a conversion, but according to a response published by Rabbi Soloveitchik, they do not need to say a blessing on the conversion.”

In an effort to help those who may think that they are descended from Jewish ancestry, Shavei Israel has published an online book that will help people who think they are descendants, identify some of the tell-tale signs. The unprecedented 109-page guide is aimed at assisting the millions of people in Brazil, Portugal and elsewhere who may have a long-lost Jewish lineage reconnect to their roots.

According to press release by Shavei Israel “the book covers all the major questions someone at the beginning of their process of Jewish discovery might have.” The book is published by Shavei Israel to help Portuguese Anousim reconnect with their Jewish roots. Courtesy: Shavei Israel

One of the primary aims of the book Freund said “is to provide people with the tools they need to begin assessing their roots by looking at family customs and family names.” These as well as DNA advances can help provide clues to one’s Jewish ancestry. “I want to get people to start asking questions and digging into their past in the hopes that this will encourage them to uncover their possible Jewish connection.”

“We are at the beginning of an historic turning point, one that will see millions of people throughout the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking world reconnecting with their Jewish roots,” Freund declared.

When asked why it is so important for the about the return of the Bnei Anousim to return to Judaism Freund responded by saying: “The Bnei Anousim are our brothers and sisters. Their ancestors were taken from us, they were essentially kidnapped from the Jewish people. And yet with remarkable courage and determination, many continued to practice Judaism in secret down through the generations, despite the persecution of the Inquisition. We owe it to them and their ancestors – and to ourselves! – to bring back as many of their descendants as possible.”

“The Bnei Anousim are unique because of the breadth and scope of the phenomenon, which can be found in just about every Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking country around the world. In addition, the story of the Bnei Anousim is one of heroism in the face of tragedy, and determination in the face of disaster, which is what makes it so inspiring and compelling.”

Both organizations are dedicated to helping the Bnei Anousim, and neither is interested in coercing anyone to learn more about their heritage. “Our goal is first and foremost to help the Bnei Anousim to reconnect with the Jewish people and Israel,” said Freund.

“I don’t believe in coercion of any sort. If there are Bnei Anousim who want to formally return to the Jewish people and make Aliya, then of course we help them. We leave it up to each individual to decide if and how they want to interact with their Jewish ancestry. The important thing is to ensure that the Jewish spark within them continues to burn brightly,” Freund explained.

Perry said that his organization is kind of a “matchmaking” organization, making the connection between the individual and their Jewish roots. “We don’t want to push someone who isn’t interested. We will simply help those who are. That is what we are about, helping people discover their Jewish roots and heritage if they are interested in doing so.”

Freund pointed out that the return of the Bnei Anousim to the Jewish people was foretold.

“Don Isaac Abarbanel, the great rabbi and financier who was himself expelled from Spain in 1492, writes in his commentary to the Books of Deuteronomy and Isaiah that a time will come when the Anousim will one day return to the Jewish people. We are witnessing the beginning of the fulfillment of his vision, and it behooves us to roll up our sleeves and do everything we can to help the Bnei Anousim to return to the Jewish people. Doing so will strengthen us qualitatively and quantitatively, spiritually and demographically.”

“The numbers of descendants of Bnei Anousim is vast. We believe that the total number exceeds tens of millions of people; their self-discovery as Jews can greatly impact and enrich the international Jewish community,” says Freund. “Our mission is to support anyone who is in search of their Jewish ancestry and we are thrilled with the outpouring of interest, especially at a time when we are witnessing a resurgence in European anti-Semitism.”

6.Israeli victims of Brussels bombing leave hospital in time for Passover By David Adler

JPost.com 04/24/2016 01:19

· Israel-bound traveler tells ‘Post’ how he missed Brussels explosion by minutes

Belgian Jew who lost leg in Brussels attack to move to Israel Chaim Winternitz will never forget the twin blasts that shook Brussels’s Zaventem Airport on March 22, leaving him paralyzed with 17 shrapnel wounds across his entire body.

CHAIM WINTERNITZ is wheeled out of Jerusalem’s Hadassah-University Medical Center in Ein Kerem. (photo credit:Hadassah)

&&&

7.Belgian Jew who lost leg in Brussels attack to move to Israel By JTA 03/29/2016 05:29

· Chief Rabbi of Brussels: There is no future for Jews in Europe

Belgian police ask Jewish community to avoid Purim masks, cancel festivities

Walter Benjamin plans to make aliyah when he recovers from the injury he sustained in the attack.

A man reacts at a street memorial following Tuesday’s bomb attacks in Brussels. (photo credit:Reuters)

A Belgian Jew whose leg was amputated in a suicide bombing at Brussels’ main airport said he would immigrate to Israel.
Walter Benjamin plans to make aliyah when he recovers from the injury he sustained in the March 22 attack he told Israel’s Channel 2 Sunday. The attack was part of a series of bombings in the Belgian capital that killed 35 people and wounded hundreds.
“I probably will pack my things, get on a plane and start looking for a small apartment in Israel,” he said, adding that he wants to be near his daughter, who lives, there until she enlists in the Israeli army. “That’s the most important thing in life for me.”

Benjamin said he was walking through the airport to check-in to a flight to Israel, where he planned to spend Purim with his daughter, when he heard a noise he thought was firecrackers.
Twenty seconds later, the second of two explosions at the airport blew off part of his leg. He was shielded from some of the shrapnel because he was holding a large suitcase, he said.
Benjamin recalled seeing a dead person next to him after the blast and realizing he had lost part of his right leg. A Belgian soldier helped stop the bleeding and evacuate him to receive medical treatment.
“I thought I was going to die,” Benjamin said.
Two students from an Antwerp yeshiva, or Jewish seminary, were also among the 300 people wounded in the bombings, the third of which struck a local subway station an hour later. The students were lightly to moderately hurt.

8.French Jewish leader calls for closure of main BDS bank account By Benjamin Weinthal JPost.com 04/24/2016 01:56 French Jewish leader calls for closure of main BDS bank account

· Berlin government allegedly supports Hezb’Allah activists through refugee project

German Bank defends neo-Nazi party and BDS bank accounts

‘The Jerusalem Post’ had uncovered the account with the bank of La Campagne BDS France, which targets Israel with economic warfare.

9.Passion, Vision, Hebron & Eretz Yisrael By David Wilder

Arutz Sheva IsraelNationalNews.com 4/22/2016, 3:04 PM

David Wilder was born in New Jersey in 1954, and graduated from Case Western Reserve University in 1976. He has been in Israel for forty years.

For over twenty years David Wilder worked with the Jewish Community of Hebron as English spokesman for the community, granting newspaper, television and radio interviews internationally. He has written hundreds of articles, appearing on Arutz Sheva, the Jerusalem Post and other publications. David is presently the Exec. Director of Eretz.Org. He conducts tours of Hebron’s Jewish Community and meets with diverse groups, lecturing and answering questions. He occasionally travels abroad, speaking at Hebron functions. He published, in English and Hebrew, Breaking the Lies, a booklet dealing with numerous issues concerning Hebron and Judea and Samaria. Additionally, David has published a number of ebooks of photographs and articles, available on Amazon or via www.davidwilder.org. David Wilder is married to Ora, a ‘Sabra,’ for 36 years. They lived in Kiryat Arba for 17 years and have resided at Beit Hadassah in Hebron for the past 17 years. They have seven children and many grandchildren.

Erev Pesach – Passover Eve. In a few hours we will begin the first holiday ever celebrated by Am Yisrael, the Jewish people. As it is known, freedom from the Exile in Egypt. Actually it only began 3328 years ago, and still hasn’t concluded.

Many reasons may be given: One – There’s a superficial exile and an inner exile – in reality both are still existent. For the main reason for freedom was to receive the Torah and then live that Torah in Eretz Yisrael. At present not all Jews are in Israel and not all fulfill various parts of Torah.

However, according to recent surveys, well over 90% of Jews living in Israel do celebrate the first night of Pesach, conducting some sort of Seder, that is, the reciting of the story of our exile and exodus. Different people may have different versions, but in the end, the nucleolus begins with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel. And later, Moses, Aharon and Miriyam. Beginning as a family and continuing as a People. With Eretz Yisrael as the center – where it began and to where it leads.

So, it can reasonably be said that the Jewish people are quite passionate about their existence, so much so, that many, many people change their whole lifestyle for a week, eating no bread or bread products, changing all our dishes, turning our lives upside down, in order to recall what was then and how it still affects us today. Only a passionate people can fulfill such ‘extreme’ commandments and living conditions.

I use the word passionate intentionally.

A little while ago I spoke by phone with Mrs. Ruth Pechman. Her husband, and my friend, Rabbi Yitzhak Pechman passed away just over a week ago. Rabbi Pechman was one of the founders and first president of the Hebron Fund, founded decades ago. Rabbi Pechman worked tirelessly on behalf of the Fund and the Hebron Jewish community for years and years.

Mrs. Pechman told me that when asked to describe her husband in one word, she said ‘Hebron.’ However the Rabbi was active for many important causes, so much so that another one word description of him, in her words, was passionate. Everything he did, he was passionate about.

Actually, after he died, thinking about him, my one word description was visionary. When he initiated the Hebron Fund there were few Jews living in the city and the future was still very much a question mark. It takes much vision to see forward, and work to enable a goal, as of then, still a dream.

But that’s what he did, and successful he was.

Later in life, with all of his family living in Israel, he and Ruth also made Aliyah, living his dream in Jerusalem, until his passing.

Rabbi Yizhak Pechman was a very humble man, but very great. His passion and vision lives on with his wife, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. And also with us, living in Hebron.

Only a few days after Rabbi Pechman’s passing, another great Jew also left us.

Honestly I didn’t see Joe Mermelstein for at least a decade. And my friend Dr. Joe Frager wrote a beautiful article depicting this wonderful man.

But I have to add a few words, as, along with all his other activities, Joe was also very close to Hebron.

Some stories:

Many years ago the Hebron Fund sponsored a concert in NYC. I recall spending a month there, working with then Hebron Fund executive director Judy Grossman, in the freezing November cold, trying to sell tickets to the event.

About a week or so before the concert almost no tickets had been sold. We were, to say the least, in panic mode. Joe Mermelstein, hearing about our plight, took out a full page advertisement in the Jewish Press, asking Jews how they could ignore Hebron.

The concert, as a result, was a sellout.

A few years later we conducted an evening for Hebron in the Five-Towns area of New York, After all the speeches and movies and songs (Mordechai ben David appeared for us), the time came to try and fund-raise. See little enthusiasm, Joe stood on the stage and declared, “I had a whole speech prepared, but everything I had to say boils down to a few words. So rather than read the speech, I’m going to tear it up, and in its place give this check to Hebron.” Which he did, quite generously.

Another time, before the Hebron dinner, we attended an event with Ariel Sharon. I really wanted to video him saying a few good words about Hebron. But he refused. Until Joe promised him a generous donation to whatever Sharon wanted. Then he agreed to speak in front of the camera.

And last, as Joe’s business was with watches, he manufactured a Hebron watch. I may still have one here at home.

We called him Papa Joe. He was a ‘Papa’ to many organizations, and his presence will too be missed.

Both of these men were passionate visionaries and Papas to Hebron and Eretz Yisrael. Their help and enthusiasm, vision and passion are among the reasons we are able to continue celebrating Pesach in Israel’s first Jewish city, Hebron.

Chag sameach!

Passion, Vision, Hebron and Eretz Yisrael By David Wilder

10.All the UNESCO lies by Nadav Shragai – April 22, 2016

Israel Resource Review 14 Nisan 5776 | Friday, April 22, 2016

Sometimes a nation needs those who hate it so it can look in the mirror and see its own true face. The UNESCO decision in response to a Palestinian Authority initiative to stop using the term “Temple Mount” and from now on refer to the holiest side in Judaism as “Al-Aqsa mosque” is such a reminder. UNESCO is forcing us to review what we’ve forgotten:

In 1967, the Jewish state made a colossal, almost unthinkable concession. It left its holiest place in the hands of a rival religion, Islam, for which it is only the third-holiest place in the world. The state forfeited the right of Jews to pray on the Mount.

The Muslims never knew how to thank the Jews for that pathetic concession. They attacked Jews who visited the Mount, damaged antiquities, and destroyed the Jewish relics that remained there. They built two underground mosques, and for years have been spreading the modern-day blood libel that “Al-Aqsa is in danger.”

Thanks to that fiction, tensions on the Mount have flared repeatedly. For years, terrorists have set out in the name of the libel to murder Jews. In the face of this Muslim offensive, Israel has retreated from the Temple Mount step by step, and UNESCO is blind to all of this.

The Jewish people’s connection to the Temple Mount cannot be proved, just as it cannot be proved that the sun shines in the day and not at night. Nevertheless, there are a few relevant facts that Israel can use to show how ridiculous the hypocritical UN body’s lies are: for hundreds of years, Muslim scholars themselves wrote in their own religious and historical texts that Solomon’s Temple — which Muslims today refer to as “Al-Mazoum” (the imagined or false) — was located on the Temple Mount.

The Muslim nonsense that holds that Al-Aqsa [the Temple Mount] was built by the first human being or was located in either Yemen or Nablus, contradict its identification as the site of King Solomon’s Temple made by figures such as Jerusalem-based Muslim historians like Al-Muqaddasi or Aref al-Aref, Iranian scholar Al-Mastoufi, the poet Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi and the Muslim preacher Abu Bakhar al-Wasati for hundreds of years.

What’s more, in the time of Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini, who was a partner of Adolf Hitler’s and who was responsible for the 1929 riots, the Waqf published a visitor’s guide to the Temple Mount that read, “The site’s identification with the Solomonic Temple is beyond all doubt.”

The Temple’s existence is supported by various archeological discoveries made at and around the Temple Mount, such as a fragment of a Second Temple-era Greek inscription found near the Lion’s Gate, or the corner where trumpets were blown to herald the start of Shabbat and holidays, unearthed at excavations at the compound’s southern wall. And, of course, there is the Bible, the Mishnah, the Talmud, and a wealth of Jewish and other historical sources that show that the Temple stood on the Temple Mount.

But UNESCO has never been interested in such minor matters. Anyone who is capable of turning Rachel’s Tomb into the “Balal Ibn Rabbah Mosque” can erase the Temple Mount from its language, too.

Maybe it’s time for us to delete the word UNESCO from our lexicon, recall our ambassador and stop hosting its “learned” researchers in our country.

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=15843

11.Palestinian Authority Schoolbooks By Brigadier General (Ret.) Amos Gilboa

14 Nisan 5776 | Friday, April 22, 2016

· Israel Resource Review – Palestinian Authority – Palestinian Authority Schoolbooks

By Brigadier General (Ret.) Amos Gilboa

Paul Antshel, a Holocaust survivor whose pseudonym is Paul Celan, is today considered one of Germany’s leading modern poets. He wrote a chilling poem called “Death Fugue” (Todesfuge) about life in a concentration camp, which begins, “Black milk of daybreak we drink it at evening/we drink it at midday and morning we drink it at night/we drink and we drink…” Every subsequent stanza begins, “Black milk of daybreak…” “Black milk” symbolizes the German character, which embodies both black and white. On the one hand, there is the height of German culture with its transcendent music, and on the other, the death industry and the abyss of its evil.

That is the ultimate nexus of opposites.

I was reminded of the opening lines of the poem when I read the report compiled by the Mideast Freedom Forum Berlin (MFFB), which, according to its website, has worked for years “to combat anti-Semitism, hostility towards Israel, Islamism and right-wing extremism.” The report, issued on March 12, 2016, was called “Educating the Next Generation. Changing Palestinian Textbooks as a Precondition for Mutual Understanding.” The main findings appear under the title “An Analysis of the Representation of Israel and Jews in Palestinian Textbooks” (see Appendix).

This report analyzes fifteen schoolbooks from the subjects of history and national education ranging from school Grades 1 to 9, including texts, charts, photographs, illustrations, and maps. It examines what is in the textbooks and what is not. The books were introduced into the Palestinian educational system between 2000 and 2005, and reprinted between 2011 and 2014. They were all still in use at the beginning of 2016 in Palestinian Authority (PA) and UNRWA schools in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip. All content was determined by the PA. The principles and guidelines of UNESCO‘s Education Strategy 2014–2021 were used as guiding criteria for the analysis.

The authors analyzed Palestinian textbooks because they considered them a significant indicator of the values a society desires to pass on to its next generation.

“They transmit ideals and knowledge, regarding their own culture and others, that have been accounted worthy to pass on to children. They orient children with regards to social and cultural relations, and help to form an approved, picture of the community into which children grow.”2 The particular concern of the report was the ability of educational texts to form and/or reduce prejudice, intolerance and biased perceptions.

What the report found was that PA textbooks presented a picture diametrically opposite to the guidelines. The State of Israel and the Jewish people were totally expunged from regional history in texts, maps and charts. Even on a British Mandate postage stamp the Hebrew inscription: “Palestina A-I” [Palestina Eretz Israel, i.e. the Land of Israel, the Hebrew name during the Mandate] has been erased, leaving only the Arabic “Filastin.”

Palestinian students learn nothing about the Jewish people, the Holocaust, the 1947 partition and establishment of Jewish and Arab states. They learn about the Jews in history twice: once as the enemies of the Prophet Muhammad, and once about the Jews as Zionist colonialists at the end of the 19th century. The Jews are represented as the incarnation of evil, violent and cruel.

In Grade 2 Palestinian children learn they must hate the Jews and use violence against them. The return of the refugees to their homes, from which they were expelled by a Zionist imperialist conspiracy, is one of its most important commandments. Not only the descendants of the original refugees, but every Palestinian child. The Jew is black, the Palestinian is white and as pure as the driven snow.

Read full report in PDF, click here.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB JPost.com 04/24/2016 12:05

State Attorney: Backing the Shin Bet’s interrogation tactics when they are under fire

Daniel Reisner headed the IDF’s International Law Division when it shifted its approach to Palestinian violence from a law-enforcement paradigm to an armed-conflict approach.

If Israel had a club for its top international law experts from the last few decades, lawyer Daniel Reisner would be one of its godfathers.

Reisner, who headed the IDF’s International Law Division from 1995 to 2004 and continues to be involved in various government initiatives behind the scenes, spoke to The Jerusalem Post recently about his IDF experience and his current challenges.

Israeli commandos complete military exercises in central Israel. (photo credit:IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)

He also spends at least around 80 percent of his time on private sector work relating to international law, defense and homeland security at the law firm Herzog Fox & Ne’eman.

He headed the IDF’s International Law Division when it shifted its approach to Palestinian violence from a law-enforcement paradigm to an armed-conflict approach.
The shift meant the IDF could be far more aggressive in responding to Palestinian violence, but it also meant that more Palestinians got hurt or killed and the IDF became more vulnerable to foreign prosecutions for alleged war crimes, just as the International Criminal Court was founded.
Despite his endorsing the IDF responding with greater force to Palestinian attacks, Reisner strongly defends the country’s commitment to comply with international law.
His explanation of why is complex.
Though Israel has decided to voluntarily comply with many major international conventions and protocols, even those it hasn’t signed, “we had every excuse in the world not to do so,” he said.
Hamas, Hezb’Allah and other Israeli adversaries “don’t play by these rules, because they don’t care,” he said, noting Israel could have argued that it does not need to grant international law protections to those who ignore and abuse the system.
But Reisner is firmly in favor of Israeli compliance with international law even when fighting terrorist groups that ignore it, because, “we can’t define legal and moral standards by our enemy, we need to be who we are, not who they are.”
Another crucial reason, said Reisner, was that compliance “strengthens our capability to look the world in the eye and ask: What do you want us to do? What would you have done differently?” Questioned about whether Israel’s efforts would be enough to save it from intervention from the ICC, he responded, “I think it places us in a much better position than if we had been following the rules less. I think we have a coherent position. We have very intelligent, capable and knowledgeable lawyers advising” the IDF.
Addressing the question of potential ICC war-crimes investigations of Israelis head-on, he stated, “Let’s make it clear, Israel has a mechanism which ensures compliance with the rules and investigates noncompliance, while the other side has a policy of violating the rules and giving violators a prize.”
It would be unconscionable if in such a situation only Israel would face ICC intervention and not Hamas, he said.
Considering a situation where the court proceeds with prosecutions against both Israeli soldiers and Hamas fighters, Reisner told the Post that “this is the type of compromise which the ICC may be looking for.
“It’s more complicated than that, it’s not necessarily a good idea, I’ve heard it justified on the Left. I don’t agree. We are in a better position to withstand such challenges than if we had acted differently.
“I am also very proud of my country for making these decisions, which were not trivial under the security threat. We hold the rule of law as paramount, despite everything you hear,” he continued.
Why and when did the shift to more aggressive rules of engagement with the Palestinians occur? Reisner tells a story of how he and other top legal officials had “lengthy discussions about the second intifada.
“We asked, ‘What is this and what law applies?’ We realized the world has changed. The question we needed to answer was: Did the law change as well?” He continued that in July 2000 he spoke to the head of IDF operations, working for then-deputy IDF chief of staff Maj.-Gen. Uzi Dayan. “I was [prime minister Ehud] Barak’s lawyer for the peace process. If it works, it works,” he said, explaining, however, that the IDF needed to be prepared for all eventualities. “The problem was if Camp David [II] failed, we were probably going to war.” This was four months before the second intifada broke out, he noted.
Reisner described an incident in [one of many] attacks on Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus, when Palestinian Authority policemen started firing on IDF soldiers. Under the rules of engagement at the time, the soldiers “didn’t know if they were allowed to shoot back.” [Gail Sez: As a result, one wounded IDF soldiers bled to death – as I recall.]
The deputy IDF chief of staff was convinced there was a problem, and new rules were drafted, explaining that they came about as a result of the situation being transformed into one of armed conflict, with a notation that they would go into effect only when the IDF chief of staff “decided that an armed conflict had erupted in the West Bank and Gaza.” He added that the attorney-general also signed off on the shift.
When the second intifada broke out full force, then-IDF chief of staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz signed the order, stating that an armed conflict now existed. “On that day we went to war with the Palestinians, and I think in retrospect, we were right,” said Reisner.
Regarding where international law should go from here and how equipped it is to deal with fighting asymmetric warfare, Reisner has some nuanced views.
On the one hand, he expressed frustrations with what he views as randomness in what does and does not get on the banned-weapons list once you go beyond biological and chemical weapons.
He also said that the law of proportionality, deciding what attacks are permissible, is far too vague to be useful, and leads to experts on different sides talking past each other.
On the other hand, he does not think it is realistic for Israel to make an open push to change the rules.
“Any idea Israel comes up with will be converted, subverted and diverted by other elements. It’s not that I don’t think that international law has problems. It has a lot of problems.
But because of Israel’s complex diplomatic position, I don’t think it’s realistic that Israel could lead a change in international law that would make sense.”

Legendary Borscht Belt comedian Jackie Mason has turned his acerbic humor to slamming critics of Israel. (photo credit:Courtesy)

Jewish funnyman Jackie Mason took US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders to task Sunday for recent comments the Vermont senator made about Israel.
Speaking in an interview with Aaron Klein Investigative Radio, set to air Sunday on New York’s AM 970 The Answer and NewsTalk 990 AM in Philadelphia, Mason took umbrage with Sanders’ contention that Israel had used “disproportionate” force during Operation Protective Edge in summer 2014, and with his inflation of the death toll in Gaza during the conflict.
“Here’s a Jew from Brooklyn who never even saw a gentile till he was 28. Obviously, this man has a very, very big sickness. There’s something about being Jewish that makes him self-conscious and nervous. And he has to prove to himself and to the country that he doesn’t favor Israel in any way,” Mason said.

Mason, a staunch Israel supporter, claimed that Sanders is “so determined that he’ll tell any lie about Israel that he can think of to say to you: ‘Do you see that? This is proof that I don’t pay for Israel. The fact that I want every Israeli to drop dead for me to prove a point doesn’t matter. If they all get wiped out, it’s not my business. The main thing is that I’m not favoring Israel.’”
The comic joked that for Sanders, who spent time on a kibbutz in Israel as a young man, climate change is a bigger issue than the Jewish state’s security.
“A schmuck like Bernie Sanders pops out who doesn’t even know what’s going on and doesn’t care. Because to him Israel getting wiped out is no problem. Climate change is the only problem. To him, the most important thing in the world is climate change. If Israel gave up their country but they fought for climate change, he would love Israel. In ten minutes, they would be his favorite country.”

By Eli Leon & News Agencies Photo credit: Corey Sipkin As U.S. President Barack Obama sparks outrage in Britain by urging British citizens to vote against leaving the EU, Jewish American jurist Alan Dershowitz notes Obama’s hypocritical fury at Netanyahu’s Iran warning before the U.S. Congress last year.

In an op-ed for Fox News, Dershowitz lamented Obama having defended his prior comments urging British voters to vote against leaving the European Union, following scathing criticism that he was meddling in British affairs.“I don’t believe the EU moderates British influence in the world, it magnifies it,”

Obama said at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday. He later warned British voters that it could take up to a decade to strike a trade deal with the U.S. once Britain leaves the union.

In his op-ed, Dershowitz pointed out Obama’s argument that “in a democracy, friends should be able to speak their minds, even when they are visiting another country,” and accused him of having a “short memory” recalling how “outraged the same President Obama was when the prime minister of a friendly country, Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke his mind about the Iran deal.”

In March 2015, Netanyahu accepted an invitation from the U.S. Congress to address American lawmakers and express Israel’s fears regarding what was then a budding nuclear agreement between world powers, led by the U.S., and Iran, which Israel views as a direct threat.

“The president owes the American people, and Benjamin Netanyahu, an explanation for his apparent hypocrisy and inconsistency,” Dershowitz wrote. “Let there be one rule that covers all friends — not one for those with whom you agree and another for those with whom you disagree.”

“He should have welcomed Prime Minister Netanyahu’s advocacy before Congress, instead of condemning it,” Dershowitz concluded.

Meanwhile, Elliott Abrams, a former adviser to President George W. Bush, also criticized Obama’s meddling, saying, “Not only did Obama express his opinion precisely the way Netanyahu did & not only did he fly to Britain to express this opinion, as Netanyahu did in Washington, he did something that Netanyahu did not do: He threatened Britain by saying that it would be ‘at the back of the queue’ [for a trade deal with America if it were to exit the union] & it was too small for a trade deal with the US”

Survey by the Rafi Smith Polling Institute finds only 38% of the public believes Kfir Brigade Sgt. Elor Azaria should stand trial for shooting a neutralized terrorist in Hebron • IDF chief: Military must take a moral stand even when it’s not popular. By Lilach Shoval, Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff

A new poll has found that over half of the Israeli public believes the case against the soldier who shot a neutralized Palestinian terrorist in Hebron last month, should be closed, Israel Radio reported over the weekend.

The survey, conducted by the Rafi Smith Polling Institute, presented 500 Jews and Israeli Arabs over the age of 18 with the question, “What is your position on the Hebron shooting case?”

Some 62% of respondent said they believe the allegations against Kfir Brigade Sgt. Elor Azaria should be dismissed and that the case should be closed. Thirty-eight percent said they think his trial should proceed as scheduled.

Israel Radio did not say what the survey’s statistical margin of error was.

Azaria faces manslaughter charges for shooting a Palestinian terrorist who was subdued, after he and another assailant failed to carry out a stabbing attack against Israeli troops patrolling one of Hebron’s neighborhoods.

The Military Prosecution alleges Azaria’s actions were unjustified, while the soldier’s defense attorneys claim their client took action because he feared the terrorist had a hidden bomb.

If convicted, Azaria faces up to 20 years in prison.

Azaria, who was remanded to detention on his base for the duration of the legal proceedings in his case, was granted a 48-hour leave on Friday, so he could be with his family for the Passover Seder. He was greeted by family and friends, who gathered outside the family’s Ramla home in a show of support. He was ordered to return to his base by 10 a.m. Sunday.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot addressed the controversial case in an interview with Army Radio Friday, saying, “It is the IDF’s duty to take a moral stand even when it’s not popular.”

He further noted that the heated public debate on the case confused the operational inquiry by the military, which determined Azaria had violated orders & should therefore be removed from combat duty, & the Military Police investigation into the shooting, which resulted in a manslaughter charge.

“The investigative-legal process is completely independent,” Eizenkot said. “I have no jurisdiction over it, and that is how it should be. A professional, clean, and fair process is taking place, and I hope this case bolsters the public’s faith in the military, instead of undermining it.”

The chief of staff said that despite the harsh criticism leveled at the military, “I don’t think the IDF, or I personally, are under attack, but some criticism cannot be ignored. The public’s faith in the IDF is a key element in its ability to realize its duty to protect Israel, ensure its existence, and win wars.

“Nevertheless, the IDF is not a democracy — it’s a democracy’s military. The IDF has rules, principles, and norms. We, as commanders, have an obligation to take clear position that illustrates the professional and moral norms expected [from soldiers].”

17.PMO to Jordan on Temple Mount: Jerusalem is acting responsibly & Amman knows that By DANIEL K. EISENBUD JPost.com 04/25/2016 23:36

· Police remove 13 Jews from Temple Mount for public prayer

PMO: There is absolutely no basis to Jordanian claims Israel is violating Temple Mount status quo.

Aerial view of Temple Mount. (photo credit:Israel Police)

One day after 13 Jews were removed from Jerusalem’s Temple Mount for illegally praying at the contested holy site, the Jordanian government on Monday warned Israel of “serious consequences” if the area’s delicate status quo is breached.
Sunday morning’s impasse was further exacerbated when a group of Muslims was also removed from the compound by police for chanting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is great”) at the nearly 1,000 Jewish and Christian visitors who ascended it for the holiday.
In a sharply worded statement issued Monday, Jordanian Media Affairs Minister Muhammad al-Momani accused “Israeli settlers and police” of flagrantly violating international laws and conventions by “storming al-Aksa Mosque,” which he said could lead to “serious consequences.”

The ongoing and wholly unsubstantiated allegations that the Israeli government surreptitiously intends to seize al-Aksa – Islam’s third holiest site – has led to the recent wave of deadly terrorism which has largely fueled what many are deeming a third intifada.
Indeed, Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and numerous other Palestinian organizations have aggressively taken to social media and other news outlets since October to claim that the mosque is “in danger” and must be defended.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly and categorically denied the inflammatory accusations, assuring the Muslim world that Israel has no intention of altering the status quo at the contested site, which allows unlimited Muslim prayer and limited Jewish visitation.
On Monday, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a brief statement emphasizing that “there is absolutely no basis to these claims,” adding “Israel is behaving responsibly & Jordan knows that.”
Still, former east Jerusalem portfolio head and Meretz City Councilman, Dr. Meir Margalit, warned that Jordan’s concerns should be taken seriously, or risk further escalation and violence.
“We have two choices now,” said Margalit by phone on Monday afternoon.
“One is to give the Jordanian government some kind of control of what is going on there, or the other choice is to let Hamas take control of the Temple Mount.”
“So, let the Israeli government decide what they prefer: either the Islamist Movement or the Jordanian government,” he continued. “If the Israeli government has a little bit of sense, they will invite King Abdullah to take some sort of control of the Temple Mount.”
Asked if all Jews should be forbidden from visiting Judaism’s holiest site to avoid more confrontations with Arabs, Margalit responded that strict limits must only be placed on Jewish radicals. “Right-wingers who enter for provocation should be forbidden,” he said. “I have no problem with Jews or Israelis going there, I have a problem with provocateurs.”
Meanwhile, Right-wing Temple Mount activist Yehudah Glick, who survived an assassination attempt in 2014 for his Jewish visitation advocacy, said Israel maintains “sovereignty” over the contested site and must not be intimidated by Jordan’s threats.
“The Temple Mount is the holiest place in the world for millions of Jews and non- Jews,” he said on Monday. “And according to Israeli law, the Temple Mount is under Israeli sovereignty, and Israel is the only one who can decide who has access and who does not.”
Noting the 13 Jews who were removed from the site on Sunday morning for “disturbing the public order” by openly praying, Glick emphasized that the government has nonetheless taken great pains to maintain the site’s status quo.
“Israel is very strict that all Jews ascend without conducting any religious activity,” he said. “But they do have access, and Jordan is aware of that, and therefore I refer to all these official statements as an effort to impress the Palestinian world, and nothing beyond that.”
Glick added that Monday’s warning has become somewhat customary. “We’ve heard pronouncements like this from Jordan from time to time,” he said.

Moreover, he said, his hope is that the Temple Mount “remains a house of prayer for all nations,” and a “world center for peace. That’s our goal, and one day we will achieve it.”
However, Margalit said he remains unmoved by such lofty sentiments from a man he has described as a “pyromaniac.”
“Guys like Yehudah Glick will bring us Hamas,” he warned. [Gail Sez: I think Margalit is the pyro-provocateur, calling other Jews names & literally offering the Temple Mount to Hamas!]