Yeshiva World News

It was April 2013, four months after the horrific Sandy Hook school shooting in which twenty-six people were gunned to death in an incident that shook the country. Two Senators, Patrick Toomey (R) and Joe Manchin (D), rallied together enough bipartisan support to pass a modest compromise bill requiring background checks on commercial gun sales. The lead mover-and-shaker of the bill was Christopher Gahan, Senator Toomey’s Chief of Staff. Gahan worked feverishly for weeks until he had gathered the sixty votes necessary to pass the bill.

But the bill never passed. Four democratic Senators changed their votes at the last minute and voted against the bill.

What caused the bill to derail at the last moment? This is the question my colleagues and I asked Mr. Gahan, when he addressed us at a Georgetown Public Policy Scholars Meeting.

The answer, in his opinion? Phone calls. The NRA rallied their constituents, who proceeded to bombard their Senators with phone calls and emails. The Senate office phone lines were relentlessly flooded. Extra staff had to be brought in to handle all the calls. Staff members reported to their bosses that they had never before experienced that degree of unremitting, passionate, and crusade-like advocacy from their constituency. Ultimately, four Senators with pro-gun constituencies caved to the pressure.

To which I asked the Chief-of-Staff: “Phone Calls?” Senators who believe that a bill is in the best interest of the country would change their vote based on nothing more than phone calls from people who don’t understand the complexity of the issue and don’t sufficiently appreciate the need for modest reform?

Yes, said Gahan. Phone calls by constituents make a big difference. The bottom line, he said, is that sitting Congressman are elected by their constituents and need their constituents’ votes to get reelected. They understand that their job is to represent the interest of the constituency. A few phone calls on an issue is par for the course. And phone calls by non-constituents are irrelevant. But if their constituency is so fired-up, incessant, and passionate to the extent that phone lines are tied up for days on end, many Congressmen simply will not vote otherwise.

I write these words as the U.S. Congress is deliberating over an Iran deal that threatens the safety, security, and yes, the very lives of acheinu b’nei yisroel in eretz hakedosha. Observers and experts from across the Israeli political spectrum agree that the purported deal represents a catastrophe for the Israeli population. An American rejection of this deal is crucial, for although such a rejection would not necessarily prevent a general implementation of the deal, it can potentially provide Israel with the implicit support it needs to adequately defend its people. An American approval of the deal, however, would leave Israel and its people in a vastly more precarious situation.

We must daven to avert this g’zeira raa’h. But, alongside the tefillah must come the milchama. We must passionately, outspokenly, respectfully, and incessantly make our Congressional representatives aware of our stance regarding this bill.

Remarkably, many of the Congressmen whose votes are most crucial and who have the capacity to influence other members of their party to override a presidential veto have large frum constituencies. Charles Schumer (D-NY) has been described as the most influential Democratic member of the Senate; Ben Cardin (D-Md.) is a ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Robert Menendez (D-NJ) is the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and is one of the architects of the Iranian Congressional oversight bill; and Steve Israel (D-NY) is the highest ranking Jewish Democrat in the House. These four Congressmen, along with dozens of others, are as of yet undecided about how they will vote on the deal. And they are our representatives.

Now is the time to pick up the phone and call your Senators and members of the House of Representative. Call them today. Call them next week. Call them the following week. Tell your siblings to call. Tell your friends to call. Tell your children and parents to call. It is our Israeli cousins who will feel the effect of the outcome of this bill. But it is we who, b’ezras hashem, can influence its outcome.

We can make a difference. We must make a difference. And, yes, phone calls do make a difference.

Yosef Wiener is a musmach of Yeshivas Ner Yisroel and a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center.

Sample text for calls to congressional offices:

Hello.   My name is Moshe Greenberg and I live in Lakewood, NJ. I am calling to express my profound concern regarding the Iran nuclear deal.  It troubles me greatly that the United States is granting a path to a nuclear bomb and sanctions relief to a nation that has threatened and continues to threaten the safety and security of the world. The inspection regime that the accord provides for will, I fear, prove to be entirely insufficient to prevent Iran, a terrorist and jihadist state, from building a nuclear weapon in the near future. I urge you to use your important voice in Congress to oppose this dangerous deal.  Thank you for your leadership.

SENATORS

NY:

• Senator Charles E. (Chuck) Schumer (D- NY): phone: 202-224-6542; fax: 202-228-3027         http://www.schumer.senate.gov/contact/email-chuck
• Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D- NY): phone: 202-224-4451; fax: 202-228-0282            http://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/contact/

NJ

• Senator Robert Menendez (D- NJ): phone: 202-224-4744; fax: 202-228-2197            http://www.menendez.senate.gov/contact/?i=OTH
• Senator Cory A. Booker (D- NJ): phone: 202-224-3224;     fax: 202-224-8378            http://www.booker.senate.gov/?p=contact

MD:

• Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D- MD): phone: 202-224-4524; fax: 202-224-1651    http://www.cardin.senate.gov/contact/
• Senator Barbara Mikulski (D- MD): phone: 202-224-4654; fax: 202-224-8858            http://www.mikulski.senate.gov/contact

You can find your House Representative and his phone number at this page: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/

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NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of YWN

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Looking for inspiration this Tisha B’Av? The Yeshiva World wants to help infuse your fast day with meaning and contemplation:

Many of us can relate – The later hours of the fast, you’re exhausted, the summer sun is relentless. Perhaps you’ve said kinnos, heard shiurim, but as you grow weaker and your mind loses its sharpness many turn to Tisha B’Av-related videos for inspiration. Your energy is sapped and going to a venue outside of home is just plain uncomfortable and difficult.

However, where to begin? Surely there is what to see, but better not to search, and potentially become distracted by dvarim batelim.

If only you knew you could find everything you needed for a meaningful and thought-provoking fast on one site that you know and trust.

Well, this year you will. The Yeshiva World is teaming up with Project Inspire and others to bring you a variety of videos that will help you immerse yourself in the history of the suffering of Klal Yisroel and the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash.

Just one click and you’re here, all the materials you need to connect to this deeply meaningful day. Also there is no need to pack into sweaty gyms or sit in uncomfortable seating or to even leave the confines of your home, all thats needed is to visit TheYeshivaWorld.com and begin watching presentations from various worldwide Torah institutions.

Project Inspire, Ohr Somayach, Brooklyn Jewish Experience, Ohr Naava and the Tishah B’av Flatbush program will each feature videos this upcoming Tishabav on YWN.

Here are the recaps of the upcoming presentations:

PROJECT INSPIRE: THE TENTH MAN

This Tisha B’Av 5775 Project Inspire brings us an inspirational film, the story of a “regular” baal habayis in our community who changed someone’s life forever by the most simple of acts. The film presentation also takes a much deeper introspection into our communities to follow the story through the eyes of Felix (Chaim) who is the recipient of this beautiful gesture from Mr. Dovid Weiss. The film’s portrayal of Ahavas Yisroel is profoundly brought out through this inspirational film presentation.

OHR SOMAYACH:

This film will feature Ohr Somayach luminaries, Rosh Hayeshiva of Ohr Somayach Rabbi Nota Schiller, Rov of Kehillos Ohr Somayach Rabbi Dr. Yitzchak Breitowitz and Senior Lecturer Rabbi Dr. Dovid Gottlieb. Be inspired, moved and uplifted as three world renowned lecturers infuse meaning, inspiration and understanding into this day of mourning. Connect to the spirit of this day with topics such as ‘Rebuilding the Temple Within Our Souls’, ‘Finding the Tears’ and ‘The Irony and Paradox of Tisha B’Av.’ For more information, please contact buildingwithtears@ohr.edu

BROOKLYN JEWISH XPERIENCE (BJX): 

Tisha B’Av is a day of mourning but also a day for reflection and growth. Brooklyn Jewish Xperience (BJX) Torah Center has offered inspiration, guidance and intellectual stimulation to thousands of people and they invite you to join them on Tisha B’Av for an unparalleled experience. On Motzei Shabbos at 9:15pm, there will be a live program for Eicha at 2915 Avenue K. On Sunday, an incredible video presentation on “The Secret to Bringing Moshiach” will be available on Yeshiva World News featuring world-renowned speakers, Rabbis Mordechai Becher and Yitzchok Fingerer. It’s a program you won’t forget.

OHR NAAVA: 

Following Kinnos at 1:00 p.m. EDT, a series of eight lectures will be presented by renowned and highly acclaimed Rabbanim and speakers:  Rabbi Shmuel Dishon, Rabbi Shmuel Yaakov Klein, Rabbi Moshe Tuvia Lieff, Rabbi Baruch Rabinowitz, Rabbi Jonathan Rietti, Rabbi Y. Y. Rubinstein, Rabbi Fischel Schachter, and Rabbi Yosef Viener. For those who have attended these classic, emotionally charged and inspiring Tisha B’Av programs, perhaps the most heartening aspect is the broad spectrum and diversity of the Flatbush, Kensington, Borough Park and other communities in attendance.  All are united by a mutual desire to mourn for the churban in a meaningful way and yearn that this Tisha B’Av will be our last.  Lessons, insights and inspiration from the program reverberate in the hearts and minds of the participants throughout the year.

—

To submit your inspirational video for Tishabav 2015
email:  Ads@theyeshivaworld.com

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has pulled a classic adolescent prank on a rival who dared to criticize him, a bit of payback reminiscent of writing the phone number of a nemesis on a wall with the message “Call me.”

After Sen. Lindsey Graham called Trump “the world’s biggest (expletive removed)” during a television interview, the billionaire developer read Graham’s personal cellphone number and showed it to TV cameras at a campaign event.

In the Capitol on Wednesday, Graham was chatting on his flip phone as he rode the elevator. Asked if he would be getting a new one, he laughed and said yes. He later said he would be changing his number.

Later, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., came up behind him, clapped a hand on his back and said, “I’ve been trying to call you, but I haven’t been able to get through!”

The back-and-forth is the latest chapter in an ongoing feud between Trump and those who criticize him. He is now at odds with much of the Republican establishment after a series of incendiary comments, topped by his weekend mocking of Arizona Sen. John McCain’s experience as a tortured prisoner of war in Vietnam.

Since then Trump has intensified his criticism of McCain and his record on veterans issues in the Senate, even as politicians from both parties and veterans groups have rushed to McCain’s defense.

In a speech Tuesday to hundreds of supporters in Bluffton, South Carolina, Trump kept on McCain, accusing him of being soft on illegal immigration.

“He’s totally about open borders and all this stuff,” Trump said.

The real estate developer also went after others who have criticized him in recent weeks, implying that former Texas Gov. Rick Perry was unintelligent and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush weak.

McCain sparked Trump’s temper last week when the senator said the businessman’s inflammatory remarks about Mexican immigrants had brought out the “crazies.” McCain said Tuesday he would no longer respond to Trump’s comments.

Graham, a McCain friend and one of the 16 notable Republicans running for the presidential nomination, betrayed the growing exasperation and anger of many in the party when he appeared earlier on “CBS This Morning.”

“Don’t be a jackass,” Graham said. “Run for president. But don’t be the world’s biggest (expletive removed).”

He said Trump had “crossed the line with the American people” and predicted this would be “the beginning of the end with Donald Trump.”

Trump responded during his speech by calling Graham an “idiot” and a “total lightweight,” then held up a piece of paper and read out the senator’s cellphone number to the capacity crowd of 540 people and the TV audience. He said Graham had given him the number several years ago when he’d asked him to put in a good word with a morning news show.

“Give it a shot,” Trump encouraged. “He won’t fix anything, but at least he’ll talk to you.”

Graham’s voice mailbox was full Tuesday afternoon. Spokeswoman Brittany Brammell confirmed the number was his. Graham tweeted later: “Probably getting a new phone. iPhone or Android?”

Trump also ordered the American flags on his U.S. properties to be lowered, an act he said was to honor the five service members killed in last week’s shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The symbolism served, too, to underscore his claim that he has been a stronger supporter of veterans than McCain, despite the senator’s central work in passing laws that overhauled the Department of Veterans Affairs and strengthened programs against suicide by service members.

Elsewhere in South Carolina on Tuesday, one of Trump’s rivals, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, walked a fine line, criticizing his fellow candidate’s rhetoric on immigration and McCain but saying Trump’s supporters are “good people” with “legitimate concerns.”

“I respect the sentiments people feel when they hear Trump talk. The problem with Mr. Trump’s language is that it’s divisive, it’s ugly, it’s mean-spirited,” Bush told a gathering of Republican women in Spartanburg. “We have to separate him from the people that have legitimate concerns about the country.”

Another GOP rival, Rand Paul, was more dismissive. “People have to decide what’s more important in trying to fix the country — real solutions or bombast,” said the Kentucky senator. He predicted the GOP campaign will “get beyond the novelty of a reality TV star.”

The back-and-forth is the latest in a series of showdowns between Trump and fellow GOP candidates frustrated by Trump’s brash campaign, which has often overshadowed their own in recent weeks.

In his speech, Trump brushed off the criticism he’s faced, both from political rivals and others angered by his comments. He said he’s had business success even with countries he’s criticized, such as China, and negativity doesn’t affect him. He also said his wealth insulates him because he’s not beholden to donors who might not like what he says.

While his sharp tone has been criticized by Republicans and Democrats, including Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, he said, “We need enthusiasm. We need tone.”

(AP)

Firefighters are letting a large warehouse fire in North Brunswick, New Jersey, burn itself out.

The fire broke out early Wednesday in the rear of the complex that is used by several businesses. The cause remains unknown.

Fire Chief Donald Salzmann says the fire burned from one end of the building to the other, consuming such things as plastics, cars and carpeting.

Salzmann says it could continue to burn into the evening.

Residents of a nearby apartment building were evacuated after heat from the blaze set the siding on fire. Others were moved as a precaution.

Mayor Francis Womack III says officials are monitoring the air quality and have not detected any dangerous levels of toxins.

A firefighter was treated at the scene for a hand injury.

Sources tell YWN that at least one business in the warehouse - Achim Importing Co., Inc. - is owned by a Frum person.

(AP)

Florida’s presidential primary is nine months away, but the state’s influential donors are already speaking with their wallets. So far the news is better for Jeb Bush than for Marco Rubio in the Republican money race between home-state heavyweights — but it’s even better for Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Former Gov. Bush’s campaign drew nearly $1 million more than Sen. Rubio’s — and in two months’ less time — according to an Associated Press analysis of Federal Election Commission records that most presidential candidates filed last week. They cover fundraising activity from April through the end of June, but Bush didn’t join the race until June 15.

In all, Florida donors wrote checks totaling more than $8.6 million to the major Democratic and Republican presidential candidates, according to the AP review of all donors who listed addresses in Florida and gave more than $200. That represents more than 10 percent of the nationwide total of donations over $200 reported last week by presidential candidates, and offers one window into which candidates have an early advantage in the high-profile swing state.

Clinton —one of 16 candidates included in the analysis— grabbed more than one-third of all Florida cash, about $3 million. Bush’s campaign raked in at least $2.6 million; Rubio’s collected almost $1.8 million.

The numbers may be dry, but their impact can be large.

Florida is coveted by presidential candidates because of the sheer number of billionaires and millionaires who call it home — or have second and third homes here. The Sunshine State is consistently one of the country’s presidential fundraising hubs.

Former Gov. Bush, campaigning last week in Nevada, seemed almost apologetic for bringing in more money than his fellow Floridian.

“It’s a big state,” Bush said. “I’m sure Marco will get support. I don’t view it as a zero sum game.”

“Money alone, though, doesn’t matter,” he said. “You’ve gotta go campaign hard and that’s what I’m doing.”

Florida is likely to play an outsized role in both the Republican presidential primary and the general election.

GOP operatives believe that between Bush and Rubio, the loser in the state’s March 15 Republican primary will be eliminated from the 2016 election altogether. And the money race suggests that Bush has a clear early edge.

“Marco Rubio is an excellent senator and has a great future in politics, but I’m a longtime friend of Jeb Bush,” said Remedios Diaz-Oliver, a Cuban-American businesswoman from Miami and longtime GOP donor. “He’s an extraordinary man and was a great Florida governor.”

Diaz-Oliver gave Bush the $2,700 maximum donation to his primary campaign.

“What you see is what you get with Jeb Bush,” said Diaz-Oliver, who said she first met Bush in the late 1980s when he was the state’s secretary of commerce.

But he’s not the only Floridian in the race. Herminio Orizondo, a retired doctor, has donated $300 to Rubio and plans to send more.

“Marco Rubio is his own man,” said Orizondo, who hosted Rubio at his Orlando home in 2010 when the candidate was a longshot U.S. Senate contender.

“I was told I was wasting my time supporting Rubio,” Orizondo said. “I kept telling them that Republicans need new blood in the party and that Marco represents the future of our country.”

The FEC reports filed last week tell only part of the story.

They don’t account for hundreds of millions of dollars flowing into separate super political action committees not directly controlled by the candidates.

Donors can give a maximum of $2,700 to each candidate’s primary campaign, but they face no limits when it comes to writing checks for the super PACs specially tailored to boost candidates’ election chances.

Bush’s allied super PAC, Right to Rise, has said it raised $103 million through the first half of the year. Like many other super PACs, the group must file its initial fundraising report by the end of the month. Outside groups dedicated to Rubio’s bid, meanwhile, reported raising around $29 million.

As for individual Florida donors in the April-June period, other Republicans they contributed to included former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, $11,775; businessman Donald Trump, $8,150 and former New York Gov. George Pataki, $4,050.

Among Democrats, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders got $113,357 and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, $80,850.

(AP)

A report released by The Movement for Freedom of Information addresses spending in the President’s Residence in 2014, the year that was started with President Shimon Peres and then he stepped down and President Reuven Rivlin took office.

In 2014, the year began with Mr. Peres, who stepped down in July. During his final two months in office. Mr. Peres held 16 working meets, and official travel visits around Israel. The cost for these including security was NIS 30,000.

Since entering office, President Rivlin has taken part in two official travel visits, once in a Beersheva hotel and the second in a Jerusalem hotel because the latter could not be hosted in the official President’s Residence. The total cost was NIS 4,200.

The report addresses the cost of ceremonies and events hosted in the President’s Residence. During the first part of 2014, President Peres spent NIS 2,378,300 while during the second portion of the year, President Rivlin spent NIS 224,550.

Another significant spending gap is for maintenance of the official residence. During Rivlin’s tenure a total of NIS 1.2 million was spent and during Peres’ tenure in 2014, the cost was over NIS 4 million.

It is pointed out there were one-time expenses associated with Rivlin’s entering office. The decision had been made to replace some outdated furniture and household items including drapes, kitchen appliances, and electric appliances, totaling NIS 130,000.

The organization praised the President’s Residence for releasing the information, with the organization’s CEO, attorney Einat Hurwitz, expressing a hope that President Rivlin will continue operating with total transparency in the future.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

Israel Police has been cooperating with American law enforcement agencies in the case of a cyber-attack against JP Morgan Chase & Co along with a number of other financial institutions including Bloomberg. According to reports, at least four people have already been taken into custody in Florida and in Israel.

Last year JP Morgan reported a large data breach, in which personal information pertaining to 83 million clients was compromised.

In a statement to the media, Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld stated “Three Israeli citizens were arrested on Thursday and have been remanded in custody, appearing in court in Rishon L’tzion, near Tel Aviv”. Authorities are still searching for a fifth suspect, Bloomberg reports. Rosenfeld explained that while he is not familiar with the details in the case, he did confirm the arrests.

The indictment was unsealed on Tuesday, reporting two persons have been charged with security fraud as they planned to pump up the price of low-volume stocks. A number of stocks were manipulated in 2011 and 2012 as those responsible used mass emails to get people to drive up the prices of the stocks involved. A Bloomberg report refers to this as a ‘pump and dump’ operation.

Israel Police’s Lahav 443 Unit made two arrests, with both suspects being Israeli residents.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

Jerusalem Chief Rabbi HaGaon HaRav Aryeh Stern Shlita is the first chief rabbi in the capital for over a decade. Since assuming office, Rabbi Stern has championed the battle to clean up what appears to be widespread corruption in the city’s local religious council and its related kashrus services. Working at the rav’s side is a longtime talmid from his kollel, Avinoam Kushner, who serves as the rav’s bureau chief. Those in the know credit Kushner with bringing the rav to the forefront during the elections for the city’s rabbonim.

Suspecting that Kushner is directing Rabbi Stern’s corruption investigation against local religious council officials, the latter instructed Kushner to report for a pre-dismissal hearing, meeting with council head Rabbi Yehoshua Yishai, a major suspect in the corruption case being the rabbi is building.

Rabbi Stern has been reviewing records and following the reported actions of mashgichim responsible for the Jerusalem Rabbinate kashrus and he has learned there are no shows on the payroll and mashgichim who seem to do little else other than collecting their salaries. Rabbi Stern and his assistant have followed mashgichim and documented their actions as they continue to build their case.

In response to Yishai summoning Kushner for a pre-dismissal hearing, Rabbi Stern told the press “I am shocked and astounded by his intentions to fire my aide who has been visiting stores and checking on the kashrus. To the contrary, I expect to see support and backing for his actions”.

The rabbi adds that just as he is entitled to check the level of kashrus in stores, the same holds true for his assistant. Rabbi Stern plans to call on additional rabbonim to begin doing the same, entering restaurants and conducting inspections towards elevating the level of kashrus around the city so that everyone will be able to dine out without kashrus concerns regarding stores displaying a Jerusalem Rabbinate kashrus certificate.

Yishai accuses Kushner of assaulting an employee, making threats and leaking information to the media.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

A federal appeals court Tuesday overturned some of the most sensational convictions that sent former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich off to a lengthy stint in prison, ruling that the Democrat did not break the law when he sought to secure a Cabinet position in President Barack Obama’s administration in exchange for appointing an Obama adviser to the president’s former U.S. Senate seat.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago also ordered the resentencing of Blagojevich, offering the 58-year-old a ray of hope that he could end up serving less than his original 14-year term.

The three appellate judges dismissed five of 18 corruption counts against Blagojevich, while affirming 13 counts. In a blow to the defense, the panelists also suggested the original sentence wasn’t necessarily extreme, even when factoring in the newly tossed convictions.

Speaking outside the Blagojevich family home in Chicago, his wife, Patti, told reporters her husband had expressed disappointment the court didn’t hand him a clear legal victory.

“He’s disappointed, of course,” she said, the couple’s 18-year-old daughter at her side. She added more optimistically, “Possibly this is a step in the right direction of getting Rod home to his family.”

Several onlookers stood nearby, including a small child holding up a sign that read, “Free Blagojevich.”

The court’s unanimous ruling addressed a key question: Where is the line between legal and illegal political wheeling and dealing? The panel’s answer: When it came to Blagojevich’s attempt to land a Cabinet seat, he did not cross the line. His attempts to trade the Senate seat for campaign cash, however, were illegal, the court concluded.

Blagojevich floated the idea of a Cabinet job in exchange for appointing Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett to Obama’s vacant Senate seat. After Blagojevich’s arrest, the seat went to Roland Burris, who served less than two years before a successor was elected.

In its ruling, the appeals court pointed to allegations that President Dwight Eisenhower named Earl Warren to the U.S. Supreme Court after Warren offered Eisenhower key political support during the 1952 campaign. The judges said that under the logic used to charge Blagojevich, Eisenhower and Warren might have been convicted.

“If the prosecutor is right, and a swap of political favors involving a job for one of the politicians is a felony, then … both the President of the United States and the Chief Justice of the United States should have gone to prison,” the ruling says.

Still, the ruling was by no means a resounding win for Blagojevich.

The appellate judges upheld allegations that he sought to sell the Senate seat, saying the evidence against him was strong. Blagojevich had argued he didn’t break the law because he never stated explicitly that he was willing to trade an appointment for campaign cash. The panel balked at the notion that crimes are crimes only if they are overtly stated.

“Few politicians say, on or off the record, ‘I will exchange official act X for payment Y,’” the opinion says. “Similarly persons who conspire to rob banks or distribute drugs do not propose or sign contracts in the statutory language.”

Defense attorney Leonard Goodman sharply criticized the court for not quashing more counts. He said he would urge his client to challenge the panel’s finding, possibly by asking the full appeals court to rehear the case.

“My advice to him is that we fight on,” he said. “It is not justice in my view.”

As for prosecutors, they could choose to retry Blagojevich on the dropped counts, though prosecutors often decline to retry a case if most counts are upheld. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment on the ruling.

The two-term governor proclaimed his innocence for years — on television and on the stand at his decisive retrial in 2011, where a sometimes-tearful Blagojevich said he was a flawed man but no criminal.

Eleven of the counts jurors convicted him on dealt with allegations that he tried to swap an appointment to the Senate seat for campaign cash or a job. Other pay-to-play schemes he was convicted of included the attempted shakedown of the Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago for a campaign contribution.

After his December 2008 arrest, Blagojevich became the butt of jokes on late-night TV, including for his well-coiffed hair and his foul-mouthed rants on FBI wiretaps. The most notorious excerpt was one where he crows about the Senate seat: “I’ve got this thing and it’s f—— golden. And I’m just not giving it up for f—— nothing.”

Blagojevich began serving his sentence at a prison near Denver on March 15, 2012, and has served more than three years so far. Before the appeal, his estimated release date was 2024; he would be 67.

(AP)

A prominent rosh yeshiva from Modi’in Illit has been arrested on suspicion of tax evasion amounting to NIS 5.5 million, income he received from an apartments he owns. Authorities told the Rishon L’tzion Magistrate Court that the rabbi failed to report income received from five apartments during the past 15 years. The apartments are located in Beit Shemesh and Modi’in Illit. Tax Authority officials decided to release the rav on bail as the investigation against him continues.

A Tel Aviv bureau tax inspection revealed a Herzliya couple was also arrested on suspicion of evading tax payments in the amount of NIS 2.5 million. They rented out five expensive properties they own since 2000 while not reporting to tax authorities. The first report they filed to tax authorities was in 2014, and this was only in response to a request from tax officials. The couple has admitted they failed to report their income, with officials adding they are expressing remorse for their actions, which will now be costly.

Investigators learned that tenants gave checks up front and at the end of each quarter the checks were returned and the landlord received cash. The couple was arraigned in the Rishon L’tzion Magistrate Court too and released on bail.

Israel Tax Authority officials in the past year sent over 100,000 letters to citizens, instructing them to submit a report documenting their income and assets.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

Following the intervention of the Prime Minister’s Bureau, MK Moshe Gafne agreed to remove his candidacy for a slot on the committee that appoints dayanim. There was a growing conflict between Gafne and MK Yisrael Eichler, with the coalition preferring Eichler. Just this week Gafne met with Maran HaGaon HaRav Aaron Yehuda Leib Shteinman Shlita, who instructed Degel Hatorah to remain firm in its demand for the slot for Gafne.

Complicating matters, on Monday, 4 Menachem Av, the Moetzas Gedolei Hatorah of Agudas Yisrael backed Eichler’s candidacy.

The solution came from the prime minister’s staff, offering Gafne an acceptable compensation package, leading to him dropping out of the race. The agreement reached was approved by Rav Shteinman, clearing the way for Gafne to back out of the race and permit Eichler to run unopposed. Gafne sent a letter to the Yahadut Hatorah faction head, MK Menachem Eliezer Moses, officially informing him of his decision and the reason behind it. Gafne added he will work towards Eichler’s election to the committee as well.

Agudas Yisrael is now expected to announce it is no longer opposed the passing of the Norwegian Law, which would clear the way for one of the Agudas Yisrael deputy ministers to resign from Knesset to permit Degel Hatorah’s Yaakov Asher to enter Knesset.

It remains to be seen however if either Yaakov Litzman or Meir Porush will resign from Knesset towards permitting Asher to enter Knesset.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

A Lufthansa plane approaching Warsaw’s international airport nearly collided with what appeared to be a drone, the first ever such incident for the German airline, officials said Tuesday.

Przemyslaw Przybylski, the spokesman for Warsaw’s airport, said the incident occurred Monday afternoon around 4 p.m. when a drone passed within 100 meters (300 feet) of the plane arriving from Munich.

He said the near-collision did not occur at the airport itself, but 5 kilometers (3 miles) away near Piaseczno, a town south of Warsaw.

Police are investigating the incident to determine who operated the drone, which should not have been where it was.

A spokeswoman for Lufthansa, Bettina Rittberger, was more hesitant about declaring the object a drone. She said that “a black object appeared on the right side of the plane” at an altitude of 2,500 feet (760 meters) and that the crew “supposed that this object could be a drone.” She said she couldn’t give more details until the investigation produces more results.

“Lufthansa had not encountered a similar situation before,” she told The Associated Press in an email.

Mikolaj Karpinski, with the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency, told the TVN24 broadcaster that the pilots immediately reported the drone to air traffic controllers, who redirected the plane’s path. Karpinski said he considered the incident serious.

The agency said that after the incident it redirected 20 other arriving planes. It said helicopters and an air force plane flew over the area where the drone appeared but did not find it.

(AP)

Earlier in the week, the Ichud Leumi Council convened to discuss issues pertaining to government policy and decisions made by Prime Minister Binyamin NEtanyahu, primarily the announced construction freeze in Yehuda and Shomron. The council decided that sanctions are in order.

Ichud Leumi faction leader Minister of Agriculture (Bayit Yehudi) Uri Ariel on Sunday walked out of the plenum during votes on government bills in an act of protest, Walla News reports.

Ariel’s absence placed the coalition’s majority in the plenum in jeopardy and the prime minister sent his people to bring Ariel back. Ariel’s aide explained that the minister went for an ice cream break.

What really elicited Ariel’s ire was the fact that the transfer of Sheirut Leumi from the Minister of Senior Citizen Affairs to Ariel’s Ministry of Agriculture was removed from the agenda as Minister of Tourism (Likud) Yariv Levin forgot to bring the required documents.

However the bottom line is that after there were pleas from Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein for Ariel to return, the minister complied and the session continued.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eizenkott on Monday 5 Menachem Av revealed his 5-year plan, the Gideon Plan, promising a more streamlined and efficient military by 2020. The plan was designed by a number of teams headed by members of the General Staff, involving team leaders of the rank of brigadier-general and major general. The plan will require government approval.

The commander is working to create a smaller and more professional combat army to the exclusion of many of the combatants serving today. In addition, support corps and other units will shrink as well as the IDF in 2020 will be more efficient and smaller in size.

Some of the highlights of the plan include:

· The dismissal of 2,500 professional soldiers.

· Dismissing 100,000 soldiers from reserve duty including the closure of the reservists in the Homefront Command and artillery units.

· Lowering the age of commanders in the field. While a battalion commander today may be 35 or older, in the new younger army he will be 32-years-old. Brigade commanders will drop to 40-42-years-old from today’s 45-years-old.

· Cutting commands by 6%.

· Cutting down non-essential units including the Education Corps, IDF censor, Galei Tzahal (Army Radio), IDF Rabbinate, and the advisor on women’s affairs.

· Establishing the Cyber Unit.

· Purchase of state-of-the-art drones and the advanced F-35.

· Purchase of submarines.

In a related matter, the first induction of the shortened service for men from 36 top 30 months reported for duty this week.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

Screaming through the air along southern Virginia’s coast, the Air Force’s F-22 Raptor routinely puts on a dazzling show of loops, dives and combat maneuvers designed to bedevil and defeat opponents before they ever know it’s there.

But in its first months of combat in the skies above Iraq and Syria, the stealthy jet’s contribution has been more of an escort role, using its high-tech sensors and communications to guide and protect other fighters that are actually dropping the bombs.

In the nearly 10 months the Raptor has been flying combat missions against Islamic State militants, the F-22 fighters have flown just 204 sorties. Of those, the Raptors launched airstrikes in about 60 locations, and dropped 270 bombs, as of July 9. In contrast, the U.S. and coalition aircraft have flown nearly 44,000 sorties since last August, including refueling and surveillance flights, and have conducted airstrikes in close to 7,900 locations.

Air Force leaders and the pilots who fly the F-22 say, however, that the Iraq and Syria deployments have given them greater insights into how well it can sweep up information about enemies beyond the horizon and spread that intelligence to the fighters moving in to strike targets on the ground.

“The F-22s make other U.S. aircraft more survivable. It really is enabling all the rest of the team,” Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James told The Associated Press. “Perhaps this is a good model to think about for the future.”

Officials acknowledge that the counterinsurgency fight against IS isn’t the main type of combat the F-22 was built to wage. The high-performance fighter is designed to excel in more challenging combat situations, with its abilities to evade sophisticated air defense systems and be nearly invisible to other highly capable aircraft. Its advanced engines allow it to fly at faster-than-sound speeds without using afterburners that consume more fuel.

“Flying it where we are now, I would not say is a very dense or a very high threat environment,” said Maj. Gen. J.D. Harris, Jr., vice commander of Air Combat Command at Joint Base Langley-Eustis. In Iraq and Syria he said, “its primary role is to make sure that it dominates the sky, so it keeps other air forces down on the ground, keeps them away from our airplanes that are not as good in the air-to-air role.”

He said the flights in Iraq and Syria have reinforced what the aircraft can do as a commander and coordinator on the battlefield — capabilities that will become increasingly important as more countries beef up their air defenses.

“This isn’t the sort of combat for which the F-22 was conceived,” said Loren Thompson, head of the Arlington, Virginia-based Lexington Institute, a think tank. “I don’t think the war against ISIS is sufficiently challenging to teach F-22 pilots big lessons about the plane.”

He added that using the F-22 in Syria, including to escort and provide surveillance and protection for other strike aircraft, makes sense because the U.S. may have been unsure what the Syrian regime might do. Syria has fairly sophisticated air defenses and the U.S. would want to reduce the risk of any fighters being shot down.

Maj. Cameron, a pilot who deployed to Iraq earlier this year to fly the F-22, is with the Virginia Air National Guard’s 192nd Fighter Wing. He flew one combat mission in Iraq, doing a six-hour sortie escorting and guiding other fighters. His last name is being withheld at the request of the Air Force, in order to protect the identity of pilots who fly missions against IS.

His job, he said, was to help the F-16s and other fighter jets do their strikes.

“Their mission is getting the bombs on target, on time, finding the right target and minimizing collateral damage,” said Cameron. “The more time they have to focus on that part of the mission, the more successful we’re going to be in the long run. So, the F-22 … it’s another eye in the sky, if you will, to help them focus on the mission.”

Conceived decades ago, the F-22 program has had a bumpy history, from massive cost overruns and design troubles to safety concerns in 2011 when the jets were grounded for four months after pilots complained of dizziness and lack of oxygen. The Air Force later blamed a faulty valve in the pilots’ pressure vests. The part was replaced and air flow to pilots was increased.

The aircraft cost an average of $190 million each, and the total program has exceeded $67 billion. The Air Force initially sought to buy more than 400 F-22s, but that plan was sharply cut back in 2009 by then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates and production was capped at 187.

Never flown during the initial Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the fighter made its combat debut last September during the second wave of airstrikes over Syria, when the battle against IS in Iraq was expanded. During that mission, the F-22 dropped bombs on an IS command-and-control building in Raqqa, destroying it.

Out on the flight line at Langley, F-22s are lined up, waiting for pilots to take their training missions over the ocean. Under a blistering sun last week, four pilots strode out to their fighters and climbed into the cockpits, while crews went through long final checks of its avionics and other systems. As the hatch on one closed and the crew chief saluted, one of the pilots pumped both fists into the air as he moved his F-22 into line and out onto the runway.

Moments later, they shot into the air, followed by a number of T-38 Talons, the supersonic jet trainers who were playing the role of enemy fighters in the air-to-air exercise.

“When you’re flying, it’s like doing any other job. You get focused on the job, the mission. But every so often there’s that lull,” said Cameron. “So whether you’re going to or from the airspace and it’s just kind of that quiet part of whatever you might be doing, whether you’re sitting at the end of the runway getting ready to take off, you always have those moments … ‘I’m sitting in an F-22. I’m pretty darn lucky.’”

(AP)

[PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

The multi-day Jerusalem disaster preparedness drill continued on Tuesday, 5 Menachem Av. Among the scenarios being drilled is a simulated missile attack striking a residential building. The drill will continue on Wednesday, 6 Menachem Av, and a siren will be heard in Jerusalem at 10:05 in the morning.

Ichud Hatzalah volunteers from Givat Ze’ev, headed by Aron Pomb, took part in extricating victims from the rubble and treating them, working side-by-side with IDF Homefront personnel.

Ichud Hatzalah Safety & Security Coordinator Shmulik Avraham said “I would like to thank those who gave of their time to participate in the drill which was coordinated by the community security officer and Ichud volunteer, Eyal Beck. There is no doubt these training exercises assist in raising the level of proficiency of volunteers responding to real situations”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem / Photos: Shraga Gruenbaum, Ichud Spokesman’s Office)

The White House has created a new Twitter account to promote the international agreement to rein in Iran’s nuclear program.

@TheIranDeal urges people to tweet their questions and promises to “set the record straight.”

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday the account also would serve as a forum for those who were involved in negotiating the agreement.

The White House also set up an online resource page at Whitehouse.gov/irandeal offering facts, graphics and videos.

Congress has 60 days to review the agreement, which has attracted heavy opposition from Republican legislators.

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(AP)