Communicated: TefillaChillul Tefila Bifarhesia, as well as halachicly challenged verbiage and dress, are external manifestations of a critical lack of personal yiras shomayim which has lethal consequences.
The Obama administration refused on Monday to participate in a U.N. Human Rights Council meeting on Israeli settlements and slammed the body for its “disproportionate” focus on Israel.
The council, based in Geneva, debated on Monday a January special report on the settlements that called for Israel to immediately withdraw from the West Bank and suggested that Israel may be liable for war crimes if it does not.
U.S. delegates would not speak during the debate, according to DPA, the German news agency, and in separate comments Eileen Donahoe, the U.S. ambassador to the body, said that “the United States remains extremely troubled by this council’s continued biased and disproportionate focus on Israel.”
Israel no longer associates with the Human Rights Council, in part because of last year’s so-called fact-finding mission on Israeli settlements that culminated in the report. Israel did not cooperate with the council on the settlements report because of the anticipated built-in anti-Israel bias.
The council repeatedly singles out Israel for criticism and has ignored major human rights abusers, some of which are members of the council.
The Obama administration reversed its predecessor’s policy of not participating in the council, and has noted some progress in getting it to address abuses in countries like Iran.
B’nai B’rith International’s representative at the United Nations in Geneva, Klaus Netter, said in a statement to the council that the report was counterproductive.
“Far from advancing the peace process between the two main parties, the fact-finding mission report has only reinforced Israel’s doubts about returning to active participation in this council and produced yet another source of conflict that may occupy this council’s attention for months or years to come,” he said.
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For the second time in just over a week, Arabs have poured oil on the main road connecting Highway 60 to Beitar (near Efrat), in the middle of the night. A little over a week ago, Arabs poured oil on the same road causing a car to spin out of control and crash. The fire [...]

The officer said that the road is not being built because we are afraid, but because the IDF is unable to contain the attacks.

A Jewish young man waving an Israeli flag as part of a Judea-wide protest on an intersection of Route 60, near the Arab village of Al-Khader (Beitar Junction) , May 24, 2013. The organizers had possibly envisioned thousands of fellow Jewish residents showing up to protest the stone and firebomb throwing by local Arabs. But [...]

On Friday I described the reactions I’ve witnessed of babies tasting ice cream for the first time. Their eyes light up and it’s as if they are reassessing all the possibilities presented by the planet where they’ve just landed. For comparison, here’s a Russian girl tasting her first falafel. Do you see the light in [...]
“Syria is the backbone of the resistance and we will not sit with our hands crossed.”
A bid by the Israeli government to legalize four Judea and Samaria settlement outposts is neither “appropriate” nor “constructive” but should not prevent the resumption of peace talks, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said. “Our position on settlements and outposts and on the legalization is that we are opposed to it,” Kerry said Friday [...]
Public health officials discovered a case of measles at a kosher grocery store in the Orthodox community of Spring Valley, N.Y. The Rockland County Health Department advised anybody who was at the Hatzlacha Grocery Store, located at 80 West Spring St., between 1:30 and 4:30 PM on Wednesday to contact their doctor. High-risk groups for [...]
There is no doubt that the David Arenberg who will emerge from prison in approximately five months is a different, a better and a more spiritual human being than the one who went in more than 12 years ago. But the losses and the pain have been profound.
Israelis protested and held vigils in locations around Judea and Samaria on Friday. The locations where the vigils were held were selected based on locations on the road where Jews have been recently attacked by Arabs. Some of the locations included the roads near Beit El, the Beitar Junction on Road 60, El Arub near [...]
Readers are already asking us if newly appointed acting commissioner of the IRS, Daniel Werfel is a Jew.
With the deal Facebook and Waze not yet closed, Google has reportedly jumped into the fray, making a play for the Israeli start-up company, who’s opening bid is at $1 billion dollars. There’s another alternative also on the table now, Waze turns down both giants, keeps its independence, and raises money with another round of venture [...]
He actually uttered those words: “I sincerely offer my apologies.”
Chelsea Clinton, who has said her marriage fueled her interest in interfaith relations, will head a multi-faith institute at New York University. Clinton, 33, the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, will co-chair the university’s Of Many Institute, which will “develop multi-faith dialogue and train multi-faith leaders,” [...]
Casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, donated another $40 million to the Birthright Israel Foundation. Their latest gift brings the couple’s overall donations to the program to $180 million. “Sheldon and I are committed to improving the world through cultural exchange and educational opportunity,” said Miriam Adelson in a statement released Wednesday by [...]
Iran is “advancing its enrichment program in blatant violation of its international obligations.”
This Toldos Aharon Chassid is carrying his 3-year-old son in the streets of Meah Shearim, Jerusalem. The boy is about to start attending Cheder, and so he is brought to the Rebbe for a blessing. But to keep the little one from being exposed to forbidden sights, he is wrapped, head to toe, in a [...]
A bid by the Israeli government to legalize four Judea and Samaria settlement outposts is neither “appropriate” nor “constructive” but should not prevent the resumption of peace talks, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said. “Our position on settlements and outposts and on the legalization is that we are opposed to it,” Kerry said Friday [...]
Public health officials discovered a case of measles at a kosher grocery store in the Orthodox community of Spring Valley, N.Y. The Rockland County Health Department advised anybody who was at the Hatzlacha Grocery Store, located at 80 West Spring St., between 1:30 and 4:30 PM on Wednesday to contact their doctor. High-risk groups for [...]
Chelsea Clinton, who has said her marriage fueled her interest in interfaith relations, will head a multi-faith institute at New York University. Clinton, 33, the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, will co-chair the university’s Of Many Institute, which will “develop multi-faith dialogue and train multi-faith leaders,” [...]
Casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, donated another $40 million to the Birthright Israel Foundation. Their latest gift brings the couple’s overall donations to the program to $180 million. “Sheldon and I are committed to improving the world through cultural exchange and educational opportunity,” said Miriam Adelson in a statement released Wednesday by [...]
A number of bills targeting Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program have advanced in the U.S. Congress. The U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday approved and sent to the full House a bill backed by Reps. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), the chairman of the committee, and Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), its senior Democrat, that would [...]
Former Minister of Science and Technology, Professor Rabbi Daniel Hershkowitz was appointed the new president of Bar-Ilan University. Hershkowitz’s appointment was approved unanimously on Monday during a meeting of the university’s board of trustees. He will begin serving in October, at the start of the 2013-14 academic year. The Haifa native succeeds Moshe Kaveh, who [...]
Two New Jersey men, indicted in March for arson and attempted murder and terrorism, pleaded not guilt in a New Jersey court this week. Anthony Graziano of Lodi and Aakash Dalal of New Brunswick, both 21, were arrested after the northern New Jersey’s Bergen County bombings, one of which injured Beth El Congregation Rabbi Nosson [...]
An Israeli soldier was killed in a mine explosion in the southern Golan Heights. The soldier was taking part Tuesday in a minefield-clearing operation, according to the Israel Defense Forces, and was killed when an old anti-tank mine exploded. Two other soldiers were injured. The mine reportedly was cleared and marked before it exploded. The [...]
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