Yeshiva World News

A former teacher at the prestigious Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan is being held Wednesday on charges he tried to send assault weapons to terror groups in the Mideast. Investigators say he also talked about killing cops and Jews.

Theophilus Burroughs, 49, pleaded not guilty in Bronx Supreme Court to a multiple-count indictment Wednesday, officials said.

According to prosecutors, they have video and audio surveillance showing him inside a Bronx warehouse, trying to negotiate the sale of weapons to confidential informants who were working with state investigators.

One investigator who worked on the case told PIX 11 News Burroughs talked about throwing hand grenades into a Jewish Center at 74th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. He also was caught talking about bombing a police precinct and of his support for the terror group, Hamas.

In court, Bronx prosecutors told the judge Burroughs “was under the impression the weapons were being shipped, by container, to numerous groups in the Middle East.”

Prosecutors said he had a weapons supplier in South Carolina and also dealt in untaxed cigarettes. In the past, PIX 11 has reported extensively on investigations into cigarette smuggling and its connection to the funding of terrorism.

Burroughs was busted in the Bronx warehouse Tuesday night, at 2605 Halperin Avenue. Investigators say he was expecting to collect thousands of dollars for providing counterfeit cigarette stamps, night-vision goggles and bulletproof vests.

His court-appointed lawyer called the charges “trumped up.”

“If this was really such a big case, we wouldn’t be in state court, we’d be in federal court,” attorney Michael D’Ambrosio told reporters.

Burroughs was on medical leave from the NYC Department of Education since last year. Back in 2002 and 2003, he was a music teacher at Stuyvesant High School. He currenlty lives in Newark, New Jersey and his house was raided by investigators who say they found weapons, narcotics, and thousands of dollars in cash.

More than a dozen more people have been arrested in the case. Burroughs is being held without bail.

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(Source: WPIX)

Knesset Member Moshe Gafni lashed out at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, saying it kept on ruling against Israel’s Charedi residents.

“You know what we will do? We’ll stop paying taxes,” he said in an interview to Kol Chai Radio.

In the interview, conducted after the High Court approved the opening of a separate school for Emmanuel’s Ashkenazi girls which will not be funded by the State, the chairman of the Knesset’s Finance Committee compared the Supreme Court today to past Supreme Court panels.

“If we thought the Supreme Court, led by Aharon Barak, was the worst – it turns out the current court is seven times worse. A place where, like in history with the Russian czar, who would decide whatever he wanted, hurt whoever he wanted and did not have to answer to anyone. He didn’t hold a dialogue with anyone. This is the way they behave.”

According to Gafni, “The court rules against us constantly.” He warned that “if it fails to restrain itself and thinks it can really do whatever it wants like a haggler from the market… we will win, you’ll see. What will we do? We’ll stop paying taxes.”

He added, “We will win because we have been here since Maamad Har Sinai. They (the High Court) are only here now.”

He went on to address High Court discussions on the core subjects issue in school, mentioning the refusal to pay taxes again.

“We will stop paying taxes. What will happen? They’ll throw us in jail. The money is ours, but if, God forbid, they try to hurt our children’s education and stop the budgeting, there will be war. There are many ways to conduct a struggle. I suggest that no one test us.”

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(Source: Ynet)

The brother of murdered Australian Yankel Rosenbaum has expressed no surprise that his killer is lying in a coma after being stabbed in the head with an ice pick.

“He is a violent criminal, a dangerous person, a bad guy. It doesn’t surprise me that he would get himself into this situation,” said Melbourne lawyer Norman Rosenbaum, speaking for the first time about the attack.

Lemrick Nelson, who killed 29-year-old Yankel Rosenbaum in race riots in New York in 1991, is in an induced coma in a Manhattan hospital after being stabbed in a possible road rage incident.

“Am I going to wish him all the best? Certainly not,” said Norman Rosenbaum.

“But my family’s pursuit has always been one of justice, not of revenge. We have never indicated in any way a liking for vigilante justice or anything like that.”

Nelson, a member of a gang shouting “Get the Jew!” stabbed Rosenbaum, who was visiting from Australia.

Three trials followed, by the end of which Nelson served only one of 10 years for which he was ultimately sentenced, because of the time already spent in prison. He was released in 2004 and has been living in New Jersey.

Norman Rosenbaum said: “I have as much feeling for him as he had for my brother.

“But his being attacked doesn’t bring my brother back. I don’t condone or advocate violence.”

He said that Nelson “never expressed sincere remorse” for stabbing his brother. “Maybe he will now appreciate the suffering he has caused others. He was also charged with attacking a black man in Georgia with a box cutter.

“That he is now seen as a victim is not going to cause me to revise my thoughts in any way.

“Are there ironies? Yes.”

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(Source: The Australian)

A three-member team of FDNY Emergency Service first-responders won a worldwide life-saving competition this month in Poland, defeating more than 40 teams from 16 foreign countries, the FDNY has announced.

The FDNY team – comprised of Paramedics Joe Hudak and Eddy Perez and EMT Joe Fortis – beat all comers, even teams with physicians competing in three different drills.

Those exercises included mock incidents designed to severely test the competitors’ capabilities under life-and-death situations — pulling a man out of the river and immobilizing him; treating two victims of cardiac arrest simultaneously and assisting 10 victims of a four-vehicle accident.

(Source: NY Post)

A homeowner in Brooklyn shot and seriously wounded a would-be burglar early this morning, police said.

Larry Goldstein, 62, of Mill Basin was awoken shortly before 2 a.m. when he and his wife heard noise downstairs.

He grabbed his licensed revolver and went to investigate when he saw two intruders brandishing guns, sources told The Post.

Goldstein opened fire hitting one intruder three times while his accomplice fled.

The wounded man, identified, as Alexander Manigat, of 371 E. 35th Street in Brooklyn, was taken to Brookdale Hospital in critical condition with two gunshot wounds to his torso and one time in the arm.

Manigat was placed under arrest.

Goldstein, a retired schoolteacher, has not been charged.

Neighbors praised Goldstein’s actions.

“If somebody were to break into my house and try to harm my family, there’s very little that’s gonna come between me and my family” local resident Mike Reinhardt told WPIX. “I hope the perpetrator is hurting [and] he learns his lesson so he can share his story with other people about breaking into other people’s houses.”

Police said there had been several break-ins and home invasions in the neighborhood in recent months.

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(Source: NY Post)

The Tel Aviv District Court has sentenced Benzion Miller to three years behind bars, for his involvement in the drug smuggling story which landed three Bnei Brak Yeshiva Bochrim to Jail in Japan.

The decision was made after the families of the three Bochrim testified against him. In an interview with Kikar Shabbat, family members said that the punishment imposed on him is not enough.

Miller was arrested in February 2008, and was believed to have been the mastermind in the case, sending innocent bochrim on a mission, planting drugs in their bags without their knowledge. As a result, they were incarcerated in Japan, under extremely harsh conditions.

In regards to the sentence of the Bochrim: The Japanese court sentenced Yosef Banda to 5 years imprisonment and a $40,000. He was transferred to Israel to complete his sentence in March of 2010. After calculating time served, he still has a bit over 14 months that will be completed in the Nitzan Prison in Israel. (Yosef Bondo testified in the case against Miller, and placed the blame solely on his shoulders.)

Yakov Yosef ben Reizel was sentenced to 6 years with no drug charges, only for being negligent. His appeal tril is scheduled for November 1.

Yoel Zev ben Mirel Reesa Chava is in middle of trial, and will resume on October 20th.

The tzibur is requested to continue including Yosef ben Ita Rivka, Yoel Zev ben Mirel Reesa Chava and Yaakov Yosef ben Raizel in tefillos.

IMPORTANT NOTE: CLICK HERE TO BE MEKAYEM PIDYON SHIVUYIM IN ASSISTING THE BOCHRIM STILL IN JAPAN PRISON!!

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(Yehuda Drudgestein – YWN)

A Long Island man is scheduled to appear in court today on charges he unwittingly funded the failed attempt earlier this year to set off car bomb in Times Square.

The U.S. attorney’s office is accusing Mohammad Younis of operating an unlicensed money transfer business between the United States and Pakistan.

Prosecutors say Younis provided thousands of dollars in cash which was used to facilitated the May 1st attempt by Faisal Shahzad to detonate an explosives-packed SUV in the area.

Shahzad has already pleaded guilty to 10 counts related to the incident.

Officials do not believe Younis was aware of the intended use of the money. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of five years for each of the two charges against him.

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(Source: NY1)

The BBC reports:

West Ham boss Avram Grant will miss the Hammers’ league game at Stoke on Saturday to observe Yom Kippur.

The Day of Atonement is a key date in the Jewish calender and requires Jews to fast and pray over the course of Friday night and Saturday.

“West Ham fully respect and understand the situation,” said the Hammers in a statement. “It’s very unusual for the day to clash with the fixture list.”

Grant’s assistant manager Zeljko Petrovic will take charge of the team.

Grant will pick West Ham’s team for Saturday’s game, while Petrovic will be helped by senior coach Paul Groves and first-team coach Kevin Keen.

Three years ago, Grant observed Yom Kippur prior to his first match as Chelsea manager before flying by helicopter to Old Trafford for the game against Manchester United.

Defender Tal Ben Haim will, reportedly, also be given permission to miss the Stoke game to allow the Israeli to observe Yom Kippur.

West Ham, who have lost all four of their league games this season, are bottom of the table.

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(Source: BBC)

Israeli Police have arrested 400 passengers returning to Israel from Uman, Ukraine. Of them, 91 are suspected of evading mandatory army service and others of debt-related offenses.

Two days ago, on another flight from Uman, two people were arrested for attacking flight attendants who refused to serve them alcohol.

This year more than 25,000 people travelled to Uman for Rosh Hashanah from around the globe.

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(Source: Ynet)

The protester who burned pages from the Koran outside a planned mosque near Ground Zero has been fired from NJTransit, sources and authorities said Tuesday.

Derek Fenton’s 11-year career at the agency came to an abrupt halt Monday after photographs of him ripping pages from the Muslim holy book and setting them ablaze appeared in newspapers.

Fenton, 39, of Bloomingdale, N.J., burned the book during a protest on the ninth anniversary of Sept. 11 outside Park51, the controversial mosque slated to be built near Ground Zero.

He was apparently inspired by Pastor Terry Jones, the Florida clergyman who threatened to burn the Koran that day but later changed his mind.

NJ Transit said Fenton was fired but wouldn’t give specifics.

“Mr. Fenton’s public actions violated New Jersey Transit’s code of ethics,” an agency statement said.

“NJ Transit concluded that Mr. Fenton violated his trust as a state employee and therefore [he] was dismissed.”

Fenton was ushered from the protests by police on Saturday and questioned, but he was released without charges.

“He said, ‘This is America,’ and he wanted to stand up for it, in a Tea Party kind of way,” a police source said.

Another police source said Fenton described himself as a “loyal American” exercising his “right to protest.”

But the source said Fenton looked like he was having second thoughts as he was released.

“He looked nervous, like he was starting to think it wasn’t such a good idea,” the police source said.

Described by neighbors as a likable family guy with two children, Fenton was an assistant train-consist coordinator, sources said – a job that entails ensuring there are enough train cars positioned to be put into service. He previously worked as an NJ Transit conductor.

Several neighbors in Fenton’s town stood up for his right to express himself with flames.

“Good for him for burning the Koran,” neighbor Jacqui Marquez, 40, said.

“Everybody’s entitled to their opinion … by firing him, they’re sending a message that there’s no freedom of speech. They’re completely wrong for doing this.”

“He’s a family man,” neighbor Randy McConnell, 43, said.

“He loves his kids and he loves trains. I don’t agree with what he did, but he shouldn’t lose his job over it. That’s his right.”

If Fenton was fired for burning the Koran while off-duty, his First Amendment rights probably were violated, Chris Dunn of the New York Civil Liberties Union said.

“The Supreme Court has recognized a constitutional right to burn the flag. As reprehensible as it may be, burning the Koran would be protected as well.”

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(Source: NY Daily News)

After considering the issue for months, Mayor Michael Bloomberg today is expected to announce the expansion of the city’s Smoke Free Air Act.

The legislation will snuff out smoking at city beaches and parks.

The city has 14 miles of beaches and about 1,700 parks, playgrounds, and recreation facilities.

Bloomberg sparked controversy when he successfully lobbied the City Council in 2003 to ban smoking in bars in restaurants, but the measure has since gained widespread acceptance.

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(Source: NY1)

Queens, NY – At approximately 1:30am on September 15, 2010, two dark males knocked on the door to the YZA dormitory on Mott Avenue claiming that they needed to use the phone. They were having “car trouble”, they said.

One of the bochurim answered the door, and the two males forced their way in to the house. They ordered everyone upstairs to the bedrooms and frisked everyone at gunpoint. Those who were sleeping were awoken by the crooks and forced to stand with the others while they went through pockets and dresser drawers. Another bochur went unnoticed by the duo because he was in the bathroom at the time.

A car, a laptop, a number of cellphones and miscellaneous electronics were stolen. They stuffed pairs of earbuds into their pockets. About three hundred dollars cash was also taken.

The police were called soon after the burglars drove off in a grey Nissan Sentra [NY Plate #EKT3436] which belongs to a bochur from the yeshiva. The eight bochurim who were in the dorm at the time spoke with investigators. If anyone sees the car, call 911.

At the time of this writing the dorm is closed off as police await the evidence collection team. Nobody is allowed in. Tefilin were removed so that they could be used for shachris. The victims, who wish to remain anonymous, are sleeping in other houses for the night.

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(Yehuda Drudgestein – YWN)

Boro Park, BY – A Brooklyn man said the ASPCA all but forced him to stop the controversial tradition at his feather-strewn business yesterday.

“[The ASPCA workers] were ready to call the Health Department,” said the man, who runs the seasonal “Satmar Kapparos Center” out of a parking lot at 12th Avenue and 48th Street in Borough Park.

“They asked me what I was feeding [the birds]. I said challah and water,” said the man, who refused to reveal his name. “They said, ‘No, you have to feed them grain.’ “

According to Jewish tradition, people wave a bird over their head to “transfer” their sins to it. It’s then killed.

An ASPCA rep said the agency “visited the center . . . to investigate a cruelty complaint and found no violation of . . . laws. The man decided to remove the chickens on his own.”

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(Source: NY Post)