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 כ"ד באלול תשע"ז / Friday, Sep. 15 '17 Subscribe to this Daily Israel Report -http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Subscribe Headlines
1. 22 injured in London train bombingby David Rosenberg [youtube:2032882] An explosion has been reported on a District Line train of the London underground system at Parsons Green in a suspected terror bombing in southwest London Friday morning. Emergency response teams and security forces have been deployed to the scene. At least 22 people were treated for injuries related to the explosion. The local transportation authority, Transport for London, tweeted that the agency was “investigating an incident” at Parsons Green, but did not provide any details. Witnesses said that the explosion left “quite a few people injured”, and that there was an “extremely heavy police presence” at the scene, The Independent reported. Some described the explosion as a “fireball” blasting through the train, leaving a number of passengers with facial injuries, the Daily Mail reported. As those onboard the train rushed to escape, several passengers were thrown to the floor and trampled, The Telegraph reported. “There was panic as people rushed from the train, hearing what appeared to be an explosion," the BBC’s Riz Lateef reported. "People were left with cuts and grazes from trying to flee the scene. There was lots of panic." Images of a flaming bucket found on the train with wires hanging out have been circulated on social media, though police have yet to confirm whether the explosion was caused by a bomb. According to a London Fire Brigade spokeswoman, the incident occurred just at around 8:21 a.m. local time. Police confirmed that the incident is being investigated as a terror attack. "Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, the senior national coordinator for CT policing, has declared it a terrorist incident,” Scotland Yard announced in a statement. "At present we are aware of a number of people who have suffered injuries. It is too early to confirm the cause of the fire, which will be subject to the investigation that is now underway by the Met's Counter Terrorism Command.” [twittervideo:2032884] 2. Pilot program for female combat soldiers in troubleby Kobi Finkler The pilot program for female soldiers in the IDF armored corps failed after two of the twelve female recruits dropped out during basic training. As part of the pilot program, the IDF sought to have three female soldiers serve in a tank and work together with one male soldier. Following the dropouts, the IDF plans to examine whether the tanks can be manned by an all-female crew. The army claims that the drive to recruit women into combat service stems from a shortage of manpower, and plans to launch a new pilot program in which only women serve in the tanks. Following the Supreme Court's decision to strike down the exemptions to military service received by haredi yeshiva students this week, the IDF would also happy to establish another haredi battalion despite the financial and logistical implications involved, in the hope that this would ease the burden on several reserve battalions each year. The Iranian threat on the northern border The Iranian goal of establishing a Shi'ite crescent from Iran to Lebanon continues to gain momentum. Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah combined have 16,000 fighters in Syria. which could be turned against Israel. The IDF has retaliated dozens of times over the past year to mortar attacks from Syria. The IDF maintains a policy of zero tolerance for spillover from the Syrian civil war. Hezbollah is changing Hezbollah currently does not possess precision weapons, despite its numerous attempts to procure weapons capable of striking a target with an accuracy of within ten meters. The terrorist organization has changed greatly over the last three years, and is currently focused on intelligence gathering, procuring unmanned aerial vehicles, and more. The organization has lost 2,000 fighters in Syria and has seen aid from its Syrian patron shrink. Hezbollah's struggle today is mainly internal.The death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah's chief of security is not connected to Israel, and Nasrallah's speeches in which he threatens Israel are directed primarily at the Lebanese people and strengthening the morale of Hezbollah's fighters. A false quiet in Judea and Samaria The security coordination with the Palestinian Authority has diminished since the murderous terrorist attack at the Temple Mount in July, and the IDF believes that the likelihood of a deterioration in Judea and Samaria is great. 387 attacks have been prevented in the last year, and the IDF is making every possible effort to maintain quiet in the region. The campaign between the wars Israel is constantly working to prevent the strengthening of its enemies, including Iran, Syria and the terrorist organizations Hezbollah and Hamas. The IDF's ultimate goal is to thwart offensive terrorist activity. Every year, hundreds of actions are carried out that are not revealed to the public. And according to foreign media reports, Israel has carried out numerous strikes in Syria to prevent the smuggling of weapons to Hezbollah. 3. Ivanka: I'm part of 'team Trump' - even when I disagree with himby David Rosenberg Since her father’s election in November 2016, Ivanka Trump has played a special role in the 45th presidency, serving alongside her husband, Jared Kushner, as an Advisor to the President, while also enjoying privileged access to the president as First Daughter. While Ivanka has, on occasion, stepped into the spot light as a surrogate for her father – most famously when she sat in for the president during the G-20 Summit in July – the first Orthodox Jewish First Daughter says most of her influence is exerted privately. Speaking with the Financial Times in an interview publicized on Thursday, Ivanka acknowledged that she and her father do not always see eye to eye politically, but added that her role as a member of her father’s “team” obliged her to express dissent behind closed doors. “To voice dissent publicly would mean I’m not part of the team,” said Ivanka. “When you’re part of a team, you’re part of a team.” “That doesn’t mean everyone in the White House has homogeneous views – we don’t, and I think that’s good and healthy – but that doesn’t mean we’re publicly undermining [each other] and this administration." In stark contrast to the caricature often drawn of the Trump administration as a bastion of the Alt-Right led by an impulsive chief executive, Ivanka said President Trump seeks a wide array of input from those closest to him before deciding on policy. “I think it benefits the president to be able to hear from people who both agree and disagree with him on any given issue,” said Ivanka. “And then, ultimately, the president makes his own decision.” While Ivanka has faced criticism from both the left – who decry her involvement in a Trump administration they believe to be irredeemable – and the right – some of whom accuse her of attempting to push the president away from positions he espoused during the campaign, the First Daughter says she is taking it in stride. “Whether my contribution ultimately lives up to the expectations of some of the harshest critics? Only time will tell. But I will not be distracted by the noise.” One of the rare occasions where Ivanka stepped out from her role as advisor and spoke publicly – and independently – of the White House came following the deadly Charlottesville rally in August, when neo-Nazi demonstrators clashed with counter-demonstrators. Verbal attacks by white supremacists in Charlottesville against President Trump condemning him for allowing his daughter to marry Kushner affected Ivanka, and made her feel personally tied to the events of that day, a source close to Ivanka told the Financial Times. In the days following the rally, Ivanka watched a documentary of the neo-Nazi rally, which included footage of demonstrators decrying Trump for “[giving] his daughter to a Jew”, the source said. “Seeing those images and hearing [Ivanka’s] name invoked later on obviously made it very personal,” the source told FT. 4. Tragedy at Israeli music festivalby David Rosenberg Tragedy struck a music festival in northern Israel Friday, when a 20-year-old man died after sustaining serious injuries in a fall. The death occurred at the Rising Spirit Festival, currently underway at the Hamat Gader park along the border with Syria in northern Israel. The man fell from a fence at the park, falling from a height of 17 feet. MDA emergency first responders were called to the scene and provided first aid before airlifting him to Rambam Hospital in Haifa. MDA officials say the man was in critical condition during the evacuation, after suffering multiple injuries from the fall. Officials at Rambam Hospital were forced to declare the man dead shortly after his arrival. Police have opened an investigation into the incident. “When we got there, we saw a young man in his 20s, unconscious, who had sustained a head injury and multi-system trauma,” said MDA paramedics Meir Ashraf and Vicki Kleng. “People who were present at the scene provided first aid,” the MDA paramedics continued. “Once we arrived, we provided life-saving medical treatment…then transferred him to an MDA helicopter which had landed nearby and evacuated him to the hospital while continuing to treat him. He was in critical, unstable condition.” 5. Jewish women mistaken for Muslims assaulted in NYCby JTA JTA - A Jewish woman and her mother were beaten up at a Queens subway station by a man who mistook them for Muslims, police said. The women, 37 and 57, had just gotten off the M train and were walking toward the exit of the 67th Av. station in Forest Hills when they heard the man lob an insult at them around 2 p.m. Wednesday, according to a report on the incident by the New York Post Thursday. When the younger woman told the man to repeat what he had just said, he spit in her face and “Get out of my country you dirty Muslim,” according to a police report on the incident based on the testimonies of the alleged victims. He then began punching both women in the face and body. The report did not say what made the man target the women. The man, identified as Dimitrios Zias, 40 was arrested at the scene and charged with multiple counts of assault as a hate crime, officials said. The two women, who were not named in the report, were not seriously injured and refused medical attention. Zias was arrested in 2015 for aiming his cell phone camera up a woman’s skirt at a Manhattan department store, officials said. 6. $600,000 to protect Orthodox Jewish speaker at Berkeley campusby Gary Willig Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro spoke at the University of California at Berkeley Thursday night amid threats of violence from the radical Antifa group. Berkeley spent approximately $600,000 to protect Shapiro and students who wished to hear him speak. Leftist activists slammed Shapiro, an Orthodox Jew, as a "neo-Nazi" and a "white supremacist." The campus was placed on virtual lockdown as metal detectors, concrete barriers and police barricades were set up to keep the peace. Shapiro slammed Antifa for making the expensive measures necessary. "Free speech isn't free. It costs over $600,000 thanks to Antifa."
“Conservatives here have done something amazing. They’ve achieved something incredible,” Shapiro said during his speech. “If you look outside, there’s K-bar everywhere. They’ve built basically these structures to keep Antifa from invading the premises. "So that means Berkeley has achieved building a wall before Donald Trump did,” he added. Local police were permitted to use pepper spray on individual protesters if the expected violence got out of hand. The extensive security measures scared off the majority of the protesters, and the event was held without the feared violence. Three protesters were arrested for possessing weapons prior to the event. “No violence, no nothing. And now we are spending well into six figures so that I can say many of the same things. It's utterly absurd,” Shapiro said in his speech. Several protesters shouted outside the auditorium: “Speech is violent, we will not be silent!” “Thanks to Antifa and the supposed anti-fascist brigade for exposing what the radical left truly is,” Shapiro told the large audience. “All of America is watching because you guys are so stupid. It's horrifying, I am grateful, and you can all go to hell, you pathetic, lying, stupid jackasses." Shapiro praised the police for preventing violence at the event. These are the folks that stand between civilization and lawlessness," adding that “the only people who are standing between those ATMs and the Antifa are the police, and all they get from the left is a bunch of crap.” Several scuffles occurred following the speech, when protesters clashed with police and counter-protesters. Two more people were arrested. 7. Homeless: Haredi family evicted over father's IDF serviceby David Rosenberg A haredi family in the capital is searching for a new home after they were evicted this week over the father’s recent service in the IDF, in the backlash over the Supreme Court's decision to cancel legislation on haredi yeshiva draft deferments. In recent years, a growing number of haredi soldiers have suffered harassment and abuse at the hands of anti-draft radicals within the religious community. In some cases, radicals have targeted the homes of haredi soldiers and their families, vandalizing their front doors or other property. This week, however, one haredi family was singled out for even harsher treatment, when their landlord evicted them after learning that the father of the family had recently served in the IDF. According to a report by Kan, the father of the family in question was recently discharged from the IDF. Prior to his release from the army, the father was attacked by anti-draft radicals – an attack which was recorded and later publicized. After the identity of the soldier who had been attacked was revealed, the now former IDF soldier’s landlord demanded the family leave the apartment. “The landlord said ‘In a few days I’m going to bring some guys and remove you from the house’,” the former IDF soldier told Kan. “And that’s just what happened.” Early Sunday morning, the father continued, the landlord came to the apartment and forced the family out. “Overnight between Saturday and Sunday [the landlord] opened the front door and came in. I tried to stop him.” Since then, the family has been homeless, relying on friends for help after being turned down by relatives. “We’ve been on the streets for five days already, almost a week, and Rosh Hashanah is coming up. What will we do? I have no options, I need someone to give me a hand and pull me up.” Social activist and veteran of the Netzah Yehuda Battalion (Nahal Haredi) Meir Liush has taken up the family's case and is working to find temporary housing for them ahead of the holidays. 8. Matan: Women's Torah education in the land of Israelby Yoni Kempenski [youtube:2032872] Arutz Sheva visited the Matan Women's Institute for Torah Studies and met with inspired and inspiring educators and students at Matan’s main center in Jerusalem. Rabbanit Malka Bina, the Chancellor and Directot of Matan, said: "Matan is an outstanding Torah institution where all women can come from all walks of life, from all ages, and learn Torah." Rabbanit Yael Leibowitz, a Matan teacher, said: "Matan has completely changed the landspace or women's learning in Israel and abroad." Rabbanit Shani Taragin, Eshkolot Educational Director, said that Matan "enables and empowers women to continue to learn beyond their years of high school and seminary." Women studying at Matan Gilad Mor Although there is an emphasis on sources and classes in Hebrew, Matan also puts a great deal of effort into the English speaking community with a wide range of learning programs taught in English. "We have special learning classes and days for the Anglos here in Jerusalem, also in Ra'anana and other centers in Israel. Anglos want to have shiurim (lectures) in English. Obviously the language makes it easier," Rabbanit Bina said. Women studying at Matan Gilad Mor Torah, Mishna, and Talmud are studied worldwide, but there is no doubt that, on so many levels, there is something unique and powerful about learning Jewish texts and Judaism in the Jewish land. Matan student Tamar Benovitz said: "There's an element of spirituality everywhere in the country, but especially in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem), so learning Torah in Yerushayalim is really a gift." "Tanach comes to life here," said Rabbanit Taragin. "It's very difficult to understand certain narratives in Tanach unless one goes out to the places to which they refer." Mothers and daughters studying at Matan Gilad Mor In addition to many different classes, lectures and intensive study sessions, Matan created and runs unique programs like the international Bat Mitzvah program, the Advanced Halakha Institute, the Matan Educators Institute, the Advanced Talmud Beit Midrash and the Morot L’Halakha program. "The Matan Bat Mitzvah program began about 20 years ago. It's ten sessions that mothers and daughters learn together about Jewish women throughout the ages," Rabbait Bina said. "The Eshkolot program is a program where we bring educators from North America and train them here in Israel, both by getting to know the land and by immersion in the Hebrew language - which is how one should be learning Tanach - developing both skills and scope and love for Tanach so that they can then infuse their students when they return to chutz la'aretz (the Diaspora)," Rabbanit Taragin said. "Matan also has a program, Morot L’Halakha, in Ra'anana, in which I teach young women how to answer questions that are going to be very relevant for their community lives when they serve as leaders in their communities," Rabbanit Taragin added. And so, since 1988, when Matan was founded by Rabbanit Malke Bina, it has been dedicated to empowering women, who are passionate about the Torah and sensitive towards the needs of individuals and the communit. The goal? To learn...and to lead. (Look for Matan's Rosh Chodesh essays at the start of the new Hebrew month in Arutz Sheva's Judaism section.) Subscribe to this Daily Israel Report - http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Subscribe | |
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