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Wednesday, Jun. 22 '16, Sivan 16, 5776
HEADLINES:
1. HEROISM IN THE FACE OF TERROR
2. 'NETANYAHU, DON'T FORGET OUR CAPTIVE BROTHER IN GAZA'
3. ISRAEL TO RECEIVE FIRST F-35 FIGHTER JET TODAY
4. 'ANTI-SEMITIC' RHETORIC IN NY CONGRESSIONAL RACE
5. RABBINATE TO ALLOW MIKVEH IMMERSION WITHOUT ATTENDANT
6. TRAGEDY: TWO CHILDREN DIE AFTER BEING LEFT IN HOT CAR
7. BENNETT: IF WE STAND OUR GROUND, THE WORLD WILL STAND WITH US
8. SURVIVOR CONFRONTS FORMER LONDON MAYOR ABOUT HIS HITLER CLAIMS
1. HEROISM IN THE FACE OF TERROR
by Shai Landesman
In an emotional ceremony yesterday (Tuesday), "shield of Israel" citations were awarded to 13 ordinary citizens who put their lives on the line to fight against terror on the streets of Israel.
The citation was given by "Shurat Hadin" CEO Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner and Res. Brig. Gen. Avigdor Kahalani, during the organizations' international conference in Jerusalem.
"This was a very moving event which gave us the opportunity to come into contact with those who have protected terror victims," Kahalani said, "they prevented murder with their bare hands, all from a sense of a national mission. We held this ceremony in order to give them strength and thank them."
Here are the heroes and their stories:
Mickey Rehavi
On the morning of the 13th of October, 2015, Rehavi arrived at his office on Ra'anana's Ahuza street only to hear screams coming from the street below. He looked out and saw a terrorist stabbing someone at a bus stop. Without a moments' hesitation, Mickey grabbed an umbrella from the office and ran down to confront the terrorist. He managed to neutralize the stabber using the umbrella and, with the help of passersby, wrestled him to the ground.
Leora Dennis
On February 7th, there was an attack near the kindergarten where Leora works, as a terrorist stabbed a soldier and started fleeing. Many shots were fired as security forces ran in pursuit, and Leora showed great poise in herding the children in her charge into an area where they would not be harmed.
Daniel Elah
On the evening of the 28th of January a terrorist arrived at a gas station in Giv'at Ze'ev and started stabbing everyone in sight. Daniel identified the terrorist from his vantage point inside a restaurant he owns and pursued him for several hundred feet, eventually catching up to him. Daniel managed to disarm the terrorist and neutralize him with the help of others arriving at the scene.
Hillel Hager
During the same attack on the 28th of January in Giv'at Ze'ev Hillel also heard screams while working in the bakery he manages. He sprinted after the terrorist, caught up, and helped fight him, getting stabbed in the leg twice in the process.
Hananel Even-Hen
Hananel was shopping at the "Rami Levi" branch in Sha'ar Binyamin, when two 14 year old terrorists entered and started stabbing shoppers. Hananel fought one of the attackers and managed to shoot him dead, preventing a much higher victim count. This was the attack in which IDF Sgt. Yanai Weisseman was murdered as he bravely attempted to fight off the terrorists with his bare hands.
Ariel Limania
During the same attack at the "Rami Levy", Ariel was also shopping when terrorist started their stabbing spree. He identified the attackers quickly and helped neutralize them. He then gave aid to the wounded.
Benayahu Arazi
In the evening of October 12th, 2015, a terrorist ran over two soldiers near Kibbutz Gan Shmuel, subsequently leaving the car and stabbing people standing at a nearby bus stop. Benayahu was passing by and heard the screams of the wounded. He bravely pursued the terrorist and, with the help of others, neutralized him. He then went back to give aid to those injured.
Gershon Mesika
On the 22nd of November, 2015, Mesika - former head of the Samaria Regional Council - was driving near an army base in Samaria, when he saw a female terrorist running after five girls who had been waiting at a hitchhiking post, trying to stab them. He understood the situation immediately, and, at great danger to himself, managed to ram the attacker with his car while driving into a ditch. Arriving soldiers then eliminated her.
Ro'i Harel
On the morning of March 2nd Ro'i left his house in Eli, Samaria, on his way to report for army reserve duty when he was assailed by two 17 year old terrorists. He fought them off bravely and managed to repel them, with his wife and 5 children in the house. The assailants fled after wounding Ro'i and were subsequently killed by soldiers.
Rabbi Shlomo Gangata
On the 8th of October, 2015, Shlomo was on the bus passing by the Jerusalem light rail station at ammunition hill, when he spotted a terrorist stabbing a Yeshiva student and then trying to grab a firearm from security personnel. Shlomo left the bus in the middle of the road and ran straight at the attacker, managing to keep him occupied until security forces arrived.
Motti Shalem
On the 26th of January two armed terrorists stabbed two women in the town of Beit Horon. They then tried to go into the local grocery store where they ran into Motti who fought them off with a shopping cart and managed to push them out of the store, where they were shot by a security guard. This was the attack in which Shlomit Krigman was murdered.
Liam Yutko
On the evening of the 22nd of November, 2015, a 16 year old terrorist attacked and stabbed passersby on a street in Kiryat Gat. Though she sustained 3 stab wounds in her back and stomach, Liam, 13, managed to keep her cool, call the police, and direct them to the scene. This enabled security forces to locate and kill the terrorist.
Yishai Montgomery
On the evening of the 8th of March Yishai was sitting and playing his guitar on the Jaffa promenade, when he suddenly spotted a terrorist stabbing people who'd been walking along the promenade. Yishai opened pursuit armed with only his guitar, and confronted the terrorist, striking him in the head. He continued fighting while the terrorist attempted to stab him, occupying his attention until security forces arrived and shot the attacker dead. US citizen and army veteran Taylor Force was murdered in that attack.
2. 'NETANYAHU, DON'T FORGET OUR CAPTIVE BROTHER IN GAZA'
by Orli Harari
The family of Avera Mengistu is asking Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu not to sign the reconciliation agreement with Turkey unless he receives information about Avera and proof that he is still alive.
Mengistu is a mentally ill Israeli man who crossed the border fence into Gaza in September 2014. Hamas admits that they captured and interrogated him, but officially claims to have let him go. Israeli does not believe this assertion and insists that the terror group is still holding him - not least because Hamas still continues to boast of holding him in its propaganda.
Yoel Marshak, the head of the campaign to release Mengistu, says: "We understand that the agreement with Turkey includes numerous concessions and agreements dealing with Hamas. It's not reasonable that a Jew, an Israeli who is being held prisoner by this murderous terror organization should be forgotten in the process.
"Prime Minister, you have the power to demand that Turkey put pressure on Hamas to end this miserable affair. Have we forgotten our brothers? We demand that the Prime Minister announce he will not sign the agreement with Turkey unless they deal with the issue of prisoners held in Gaza."
Avera's brother, Ilan Mengistu, also said, "My sick and mentally disabled brother is being held by Hamas against all international conventions. Avera is still alive. He is my brother, and a brother to each and every one of us. Have we forgotten him? Prime Minister - help my imprisoned brother."
3. ISRAEL TO RECEIVE FIRST F-35 FIGHTER JET TODAY
by Kobi Finkler
The IDF will become the first country outside of the United States to possess the groundbreaking F-35 Lightning II fighter jet, which it will call the Adir.
The first two planes will reach Israel in about six months, with another 17 arriving by the end of 2017. At that point, the IDF's F-35 squadron will begin operations.
The jet is so innovative that a senior Air Force officer was quoted as saying that it could even serve as a first-rate intelligence plane due to its information processing systems and sensors. It can decrypt any enemy radar signal long before it is recognized, allowing it to operate far from Israeli territory without fear of discovery.
A senior official in the Air Force noted that all classified communications systems used in the jets will be produced in Israel. The United States has even given a special exception allowing the IDF to use its own electronic warfare systems.
Israel will take possession of the first jet at 6:00 p.m. (Israel time) today. Arutz Sheva will provide live coverage of the event.
4. 'ANTI-SEMITIC' RHETORIC IN NY CONGRESSIONAL RACE
by Matt Wanderman
Accusations of anti-Semitism have arisen in the congressional race for New York's 13th district.
Last week Assemblyman Keith Wright shared an article accusing an opponent of not helping his district because the opponent is Jewish. Councilman Mark Levine accused Wright of using anti-Jewish hatred in an effort to appeal to Dominican voters.
Levine's office translated part of the article, which was in Spanish, as: "In 2013 he did not support the community leader Luis Tejada for a seat on the City Council for District 7 and supported the Jew Mark Levine, among other slights the Dominicans remember."
At first a spokesperson for Wright countered that charges of anti-Semitism are "absurd" because Wright did not write the article himself. Later, however, the assemblyman said that the staffer responsible the tweet "violated protocol." It has since been taken down.
"I've come to expect this kind of ugly rhetoric from the gutters of New York politics. Shame on Assemblyman Wright for peddling it" Levine told Jewish Insider.
By contrast, he pointed to Espaillat's support of the Jewish community after a yeshiva student was threatened for wearing a kippah.
The 13th district covers upper Manhattan and part of the western Bronx, including the neighborhoods of Harlem, Spanish Harlem, Washington Heights and the Upper West Side. Only five percent of the district's population is Jewish, but it covers Yeshiva University and other significant Jewish areas.
The election will take place on June 28.
5. RABBINATE TO ALLOW MIKVEH IMMERSION WITHOUT ATTENDANT
by Shai Landesman
A long dispute about the right of women to immerse in a mikveh alone, without the presence of an official attendant, appears to have been resolved, or at least nearly so.
Here's the sequence of events:
It has been the official policy of the Rabbinate that all women must be accompanied by an attendant (always female) when immersing in the mikveh. The purpose of the attendant is to supervise the immersion so as make sure that it's done properly according to halakhic standards. The necessity for an attendant is a matter of some dispute in the classical halakhic sources, with some authorities claiming that the presence of an attendant is not required in order to make the immersion valid. As such, it has been claimed that the Rabbinate's policy should be changed as the presence of attendants is an invasion of the woman's privacy, and discourages many less religious women from visiting the mikveh.
In July of 2015, Itim, an organization dedicated to making religious services more accessible to ordinary Israelis, filed a petition with the Supreme Court in the name of 13 women. The petitioners demanded that the court order the Religious Services Ministry to instruct local religious councils to uphold the "policy for protecting the privacy rights of female mikveh-goers" as outlined in the demands published by Itim in April 2014, and to allow for women to immerse in the mikveh without an attendant, if they so desire.
An official document responding to the petition in the name of the Attorney General's office, the Chief Rabbinate's office, and the Religious Services Ministry, has now been sent to the Supreme Court. In the document it is stated that, during deliberations involving all of the relevant parties, it was understood that it is quite difficult to legally justify not allowing women to immerse in the mikveh without an attendant present. Therefore it was decided that "the woman herself will be allowed to decide whether to comply with this halakhic requirement (the presence of an attendant) or not, and the Religious Councils and their employees will not make immersion in the mikveh dependent upon the presence of an attendant." This means that the Rabbinate is essentially agreeing to the demands made in the petition, and thus asking the Supreme Court to dismiss it as superfluous.
Itim Chairman Rabbi Dr. Shaul Farber praised the Rabbinate's decision. "There are no losers here, both the women and Judaism are winners in this case. I want to thank the Rabbinate for showing sensitivity to the feelings of many women and thus bringing them closer to this important mitzvah. In this case the Rabbinate has followed our long tradition of giving greater power to leniency over stringency. This tradition has kept Jewish society united over the years and we believe it is the key for bringing about a renewed connection between Israeli society and Judaism."
There may be another twist in the tale still to come, however, as the Supreme Court does have another meeting scheduled tomorrow (Thursday) to discuss the petition, in light of the position taken by the Jerusalem Religious Council. The Council is opposed to any change in policy on the grounds that "The mikvehs are not bathhouses. Their entire purpose is to facilitate valid ritual immersion in accordance with halakhah. This can only be done with an attendant present."
6. TRAGEDY: TWO CHILDREN DIE AFTER BEING LEFT IN HOT CAR
by Ari Soffer
Two young children have died Wednesday afternoon, after being left in a car in Israel's southern Negev region.
Magen David Adom (MDA) paramedics rushed to the scene in the Bedouin village of Al-Sayyid near Hura, and found two children aged around five years unconscious and unresponsive after spending several hours trapped in the searing heat. The paramedics were forced to pronounce their deaths shortly after arrival.
Investigators are currently looking into the possibility that the children had climbed into the vehicle as part of a game, only to become trapped.
The children were initially extracted from the car by police, who responded to a call by concerned members of the public. The pair were transferred to a nearby house, where paramedics who arrived soon after tried in vain to save them.
It is the latest tragic incident of its kind this summer. Last month, an 18-month-old boy died after he was accidentally left in his father's car in Ashdod.
Despite repeated warnings to parents and caregivers by authorities not to leave children in cars during the summer months in particular, each year sees a number of similarly fatal incidents.
7. BENNETT: IF WE STAND OUR GROUND, THE WORLD WILL STAND WITH US
by Shai Landesman
Israel needs to stand up for its rights more forcefully in the international arena, according to Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who said that continued talk of a "two-state solution" actually harmed Israel's standing abroad.
The Jewish Home party leader spoke today (Tuesday) at a conference entitled "Towards A New Law of War", held in Jerusalem by "Shurat Hadin", a human rights organization dedicated to taking legal action against terrorist groups and those who fund them, and called for the establishment of an official government body for combating delegitimization.
"We can't win the battle if we don't fight it. This is a struggle for our survival and we don't allocate enough resources to it like we do for planes, tanks and guns," Bennett said.
The Education Minister asked the audience to "imagine that only 30% of our tanks worked because we hadn't invested enough in this area. Imagine that out of every 10 weapons we acquired only 3 would fire smoothly, because of delegitimization.
"This country already has the Shin Bet, the Mossad, and the IDF. It's time to establish an official body to do battle in the legal, economic, and academic spheres, an institution that will act in an organized fashion - with adequate resources - against delegitimization. Maybe we should allocate some of our resources to this fight? Why should start up nation fight like a dinosaur?"
Regarding the two-state solution, Bennett said, "We need to shift the battlefield. The current front, the two-state solution, is a bad place to be in and fight from."
"Some people thought the Bar-Ilan speech was good. I disagree," Bennett continued, referring to Prime Minister Netanyahu's famous 2013 speech.
"We need to stop talking about insoluble issues and focus on our strengths. We need to move the fight to a sphere that is good for Israel," claimed the Education Minister.
Bennett added,"Israel is the most threatened country in the world, surrounded on all sides by enemies and terrorist organizations, and we've still found a way to live well. Something is working. We strike a good balance between fighting terrorism and respecting human and citizens' rights. Despite our national pastime of pessimistic whining, we are succeeding."
"How can we expect the world to speak in our favor and win for us if we don't do so ourselves? If we stand up for ourselves, the world will respect that. The world respects nations that respect themselves."
8. SURVIVOR CONFRONTS FORMER LONDON MAYOR ABOUT HIS HITLER CLAIMS
by Matt Wanderman
[youtube:2016430]
A Holocaust survivor has publicly called out former London Mayor Ken Livingstone, saying his claim that Hitler supported Zionism is "offensive and hurtful."
During an J-TV interview on Monday, host Alan Mendoza was not even able to finish his introduction before Livingstone showed his ignorance of German history. Mendoza corrected him on several points, finally saying: "What's disturbing about the certainty with which you state things is that, as we've just identified, you're just not that sure about the facts. You've got a broad thesis in your mind but you're a bit hazy on your facts."
Mendoza then played a video message from Mala Tribich, who was imprisoned in Bergen-Belsen. "I find them very offensive and hurtful when people belittle the Holocaust. When they use the Holocaust to score a political point," she said.
"I really can't see it. They are usually people in high places. I take them as being intelligent and educated. Yet they can stoop so low to use the Holocaust to better their positions. What really bothers me is that they do it whilst there are some survivors still around. What will they do when we're all gone?"
J-TV founder Oliver Anisfeld later noted, "This is the first time Ken Livingstone has been challenged face to face on TV by an historian and expert. Livingstone was revealed to have an unhealthy fascination with Nazis and was clearly exposed as making false inferences from a selective reading of history the results of which suit his prejudice. I am delighted that J-TV has laid bare Livingstone's bigotry."
The Labour party suspended Livingstone in April, though Livingstone continued to deny that he is anti-Semitic and has even suggested that he may be Jewish himself.
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