Yeshiva World News

Following the arrest of an avreich, a Tzfat resident who played music over speakers shortly before candle light as is customary in many frum areas in Eretz Yisrael, Yahadut HaTorah MK Yisrael Eichler turned to Minister of Public Security Yitzchak Aharonovich for answers. He questioned how police would react if a chareidi complained about music in Tel Aviv. (Aharonovich’s office maintains ministerial responsibility for Israel Police).

Last week, YWN-ISRAEL reported avreich Avraham S. was brutality arrested because he was playing music and failed to comply with a demand by a policeman to shut it off to the officer’s satisfaction.

According to the avreich’s wife, the policeman violently assaulted her husband without provocation in front of their hysterical children. He then spent Shabbos in lockup and was compelled to travel on Shabbos from one facility to another.

In a Knesset query to the minister, Eichler asked that if and when a chareidi complains over the music heard in Tel Aviv on Shabbos if a policeman would be dispatched to act in a similar fashion, beating and arresting the offender.

Eichler explains he has gathered eyewitness testimony backing the statements of the wife – who stated the policeman acted inappropriately and illegally, all without provocation. Eichler goes on questioning why it was necessary to compel him to travel on Shabbos, to move him to another detention cell. “When the music is Shabbos tunes of chareidi Jews then it disturbs those who hate Shabbos and no one gets up and shouts anti-Semitism”.

The minister gave the version police have reported, that chassidic music was blaring over loudspeakers and it was a disturbance. “The officer requested they shut it off but the avreich refused to comply with instructions to identify himself. He even knocked the officer to the ground”.

(A complaint has been filed against the policeman with the Justice Ministry Police Investigations Unit).

Eichler stated “we oppose any attacks against police. I call upon you to clarify if the officer was attacked as he claims was the case. According to eyewitness reports, there was no such occurrence”. Eichler added that he will rely upon the outcome of the investigation by the Justice Committee officials.

“We must clarify the relationship between the media frenzy against the chareidim and the police’s violent reaction against the chareidi tzibur. There is no justification to recruit police officers to serve the enemies of Shabbos Kodesh to operate against the Shomer Shabbos for the crime of playing music. ”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

The following is an article from the Montreal Gazette:

It used to be that only my wife knew how unusual I was. I now hear it from others all the time. But I guess that’s what happens when you convert to Judaism from Catholicism, from Bloc Québécois MP to Jewish community activist.

My journey has been an unlikely one – but no more unlikely than the story of the Jewish people. For a nation that survived thousands of years of persecution and endless flight, the establishment of the modern state of Israel in the ancestral land of the Jewish people less than 70 years ago is nothing less than extraordinary.

In many ways, my own spiritual journey began in Israel.

I first visited it in 2000, expecting to see little more than war, religion and tension. What I ended up discovering was something very different: a country defined not by conflict, but by cohesion, openness and liberalism. In the same streets where I saw the occasional soldier or Orthodox Israeli stood gay bars and peace activists. In short, I had discovered a vibrant, pluralistic democracy that, despite being in one of the world’s most dangerous regions, upholds the same values that Canadians and Quebecers cherish.

Returning home, I quickly discerned the gap between impression and reality among mainstream Quebec society when it comes to the Middle East. Few knew the story of Israel, the sacrifices its people had made for peace, and the inspiring example of national self-determination that it set for all peoples. Perhaps this is only natural, given that 98 per cent of Quebec’s Jewish community lives on the island of Montreal. For the majority of Quebecers who live elsewhere, interaction with Jews is limited or non-existent.

Where information is lacking, misinformation abounds. Many Quebecers see Quebec Jews as rich, unilingual anglophones – even as immigrants disconnected from the Quebec nation. Most Quebecers aren’t aware that 20 per cent of the Quebec Jewish community lives below the poverty line, that French is the mother tongue of 25 per cent of Quebec Jews, and that two-thirds are fluent in French. And most would be surprised to hear that the Montreal Jewish community turns 250 years old in 2012, and that it has made (and continues to make) a very significant contribution to Quebec’s development. Of course, that contribution would never be possible had Quebec not been an open, tolerant and welcoming place for Jews to live and prosper.

If Jews are largely abstract to most Quebecers, Israel is even more distant – and thus generalizations, half-truths and distortions are inevitable when it comes to the Middle East. I came home from Israel a committed Zionist, and decided to work in my own modest capacity to increase knowledge and understanding of Israel in Quebec. I have since strived to challenge the absolutist mentality that influences many observers of the conflict, and reject attempts to look at it as a zerosum game. Instead, I prefer to emphasize solutions that will secure a future for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

As someone who has always been committed to peace, I am entirely comfortable calling myself a pro-Palestinian Zionist. For me, being supportive of Israel doesn’t come at the expense of support for the Palestinians’ legitimate national aspirations.

Activism aside, I soon discovered that Israel had opened the door to much more than just a political awakening. Though raised in a practising Catholic family in the middleclass suburbs of Quebec City, I found that my faith had essentially lapsed. My need for purpose and spirituality, however, was very much alive. My wife, Lori, who is not particularly religious, is a proud Jew by birth. My trip to Israel, combined with her commitment to the Jewish people, connected me to a people, a nation and a faith that I grew to love.

I began exploring Judaism, and what I found – a faith that insisted on reason, debate, universal moral principles and peoplehood – led me to a new passion. In 2004, I converted through the Reform movement (and later through the Orthodox movement). Coming from a pure laine Quebec background, I knew I had bridged two worlds in joining the Jewish people. But I see no contradiction in the two. In fact, as a committed Jew, I am proud to contribute to Quebec society just as Quebec Jews have done for generations.

This is one of the reasons I wrote my recent book, A Quebec Jew: From Bloc Québécois MP to Jewish Activist – my own contribution on behalf of Jewry to Quebec (and broader Canadian) society. In so doing, I hope to provide a window into the extraordinary world of Israel and the Jewish people, through the lens of my own unusual journey.

If the book is a fraction as fascinating, moving and downright exciting as the experience itself was, it should make for a great read.

Richard Marceau is a lawyer who served as the Bloc Québécois MP for Charlesbourg from 1997 to 2006. He is currently senior counsel for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs in Ottawa.

(Source: The Montreal Gazette)

Eida Chareidis Vaad Tznius member Shmuel Weissfish headed to prison almost two months ago after being convicted of illegal activities, including acts of violence against a local business operating in the Meah Shearim area, a business which he found objectionable because as he explained, it compromised the community’s tznius standards.

On Friday night Parshas Truma his wife gave birth to a baby girl in a Jerusalem Hospital, Baruch Hashem. Shmuel was notified of the good news on motzei Shabbos by phone.

The family also recently celebrated a marriage and sheva brachos, which Shmuel was not permitted to attend. His request for a leave was denied by prison officials.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

Gilad Shalit is visiting the United States to spend time with friends, family members report. The former Hamas prisoner will be attending an NBA All Star game being played in Orlando and he will most likely be meeting with a number of elected officials in Washington, DC.

It appears he wishes to thank a number of politicians that worked towards securing his release from Hamas custody, where he was held for five years. Earlier in the month, Shalit, who holds French citizenship, traveled to Paris to personally thank French President Nicolas Sarkozy for his role in securing his release.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

According to doctors at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, the situation surrounding the condition of Maran Posek HaDor HaGaon HaRav Yosef Sholom Elyashiv Shlita is nothing short of a “medical miracle”. They are now talking about a timetable surrounding the rav’s possible return home.

Yehuda Schlesinger of Yisrael HaYom reports the rav has returned to speaking with those around him and all assisted breathing adjuncts have been removed. One must remember that the posek hador, who is almost 102, davened korbanos on erev Shabbos by heart, not to himself but audible, for others to hear, to the astonishment of all those around him. He is very weak, but speaking with those around him and the rav is questioning what is planned for a Purim seuda.

The doctors report “no one expected the rav to return home but now, this appears to be a realistic possibility”.

The rav was in cardiac arrest, revived, and has undergone a number of life-saving procedures. Doctors are simply astounded, including the frum members of the medical team who understand the power of tefilla and the unique stature of the patient as a gadol b’torah.

The tzibur is urged to continue davening for R’ Yosef Sholom ben Chaya Musha b’soch kol cholei am yisrael.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

The pilot said “mom on board.”

Some passengers heard “bomb on board.”

The misunderstanding led to a minor scare Friday aboard a Southwest Airlines flight traveling from Baltimore to Long Island’s MacArthur Airport.

An airline spokeswoman tells Newsday that a pilot had made a “fun announcement” to passengers on the flight that one of their fellow travelers was the mother of an air traffic controller. He also wished her a happy birthday.

But at least a few heard the word “mom” as “bomb” and became alarmed.

Flight attendants tried to explain that nothing was wrong, but after the plane landed two passengers were disgruntled enough to complain to security officials.

The Federal Aviation Administration is looking into the matter.

(Source: NBC New York)

A U.S. drone crashed on Saturday in North Waziristan, not far from the Afghan border, Pakistan intelligence officials said, while Taliban militants said they had shot it down.

Taliban militants led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur said they had collected wreckage of the destroyed drone and would provide its pictures to the media on Sunday.

“The drone today in Machikhel was flying at low altitude and our fighters fired at and shot it down,” a local commander of the Taliban said. “We have trained people for such type of job.”

It is impossible to verify the militants’ account and a U.S. official in Washington denied the Taliban had shot down the drone and declined further comment. The CIA, which runs the drone campaign, also declined to comment.

Pakistani security officials said they did not know what caused the drone to crash.

“A drone aircraft was seen going down in Machikhel and flames were seen,” a Pakistani intelligence official said.

“We don’t know what caused it to go down. We are investigating.”

Another official said the drone had gone down in an area controlled by militants, about 30 km (20 miles) from the Afghan border.

“The local Taliban have the wreckage,” he said.

The local Taliban commander said his men had been collecting the wreckage when the Pakistani army showed up and chased them off.

“We got hold of half of the wreckage and were looking for the remaining parts when the Pakistan army troops arrived there and then we decided to leave. The troops fired heavy search lights and are looking for wreckage of the drone,” he said.

A security official near the site of the wreck said two of the drone’s missiles exploded when it crashed, but no one was injured.

He said the Pakistanis stopped the search operation because U.S. drones were still in the area and they feared they would be attacked.

READ MORE: REUTERS

The New York State Attorney General’s office says legal and investigative obstacles will not allow a review of the NYPD’s surveillance of Muslim communities.

A coalition of about two dozen Arab and Muslim groups asked Eric Schneiderman’s office to conduct a review.

They say new information about the NYPD’s intelligence gathering warrants an investigation, and is asking Schneiderman’s office to reconsider.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly is defending the department’s actions in and out of the state, as is Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who stresses the terror threat requires persistence.

“It’d be naive to think we should stop following threats when we got to the border, and the courts say you can follow them,” Bloomberg said. “The NYPD is trying to stop terrorism in the entire region. We don’t stop. If we knew of a threat in Newark, we wouldn’t say, that’s yours, you worry about it.”

An internal NYPD document obtained by the Associated Press earlier this month shows that the police department targeted specific mosques and Muslims for surveillance in the years following the 9/11 attacks, contradicting the department’s claim that it does not conduct religious profiling.

(Source: NY1)

The Pakistani authorities moved on Saturday to demolish the house where Osama bin Laden died at the hands of Navy SEALs last May, erasing a three-story building that had acquired a painful symbolism for Pakistan’s powerful military, which was badly embarrassed by the American raid.

Working by floodlight, heavy machinery operators broke through the tall perimeter wall of the 3,000 square-meter compound in Abbottabad, 35 miles north of Islamabad, after dark on Saturday. Hours later, they started to knock down the main house where Bin Laden had lived with his family and three smaller buildings.

A local official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the military handed control of the house to the district administration on Saturday afternoon and the demolition began soon after that.

The operation was swathed in considerable secrecy. Military personnel sealed off the area around the compound, keeping reporters away. Initially a macabre tourist attraction, Bin Laden’s house has been under strict intelligence surveillance in recent months; several foreigners who attempted to visit it, including French and British journalists and the Danish ambassador, were detained before being sent back to Islamabad.

A BBC reporter who slipped through the security cordon estimated that about three quarters of the house had been destroyed by 1:30 a.m. on Sunday.

The operation comes as a Pakistani government commission charged with investigating the circumstances surrounding Bin Laden’s stay in Pakistan prepares to release its report. The military is also still fending off questions about what it knew of the Al Qaeda leader’s presence in Pakistan.

The military faced unprecedented criticism at home and abroad after the May 2 raid, when the SEALs flew undetected into Pakistan, stormed the house and shot the Qaeda leader in the head. The Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, in particular, faced sharp scrutiny when it emerged that the world’s most wanted man had been hiding within a few hundred yards of the Pakistan Military Academy, the country’s version of West Point, probably since the house was built in 2005.

Last October, the ISI chief, Lt. Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha, told the official inquiry team that his spies had been unaware of Bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad.

In Washington, American officials said they had been caught off guard by the overnight demolition effort.

“The Pakistanis have been saying for a while that they wanted to do this, but the timing came as a complete surprise,” said one administration official who follows Pakistan closely, and who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

With the anniversary of the raid that killed Bin Laden coming up in early May, he added, “the Pakistanis really don’t want to have all this attention around it.”

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, predicted that the house’s destruction would not affect efforts to rekindle relations between the United States and Pakistan, which have been virtually frozen since an American airstrike killed 24 Pakistani troops near the Afghan border in November.

Described as an “extraordinarily unique” house worth $1 million by a senior Obama administration official in the hours after the May 2 raid, the house turned out to be a more modest and cramped building. Pakistani investigators counted 27 people, including 16 children and Bin Laden’s three wives, living in the 10-room main house and the 3-room guesthouse. Bin Laden, who had a $25 million American bounty on his head, moved into the house after it was completed in 2005 under the supervision of two Pakistani brothers who appeared to have been in charge of his security. One of the men, Arshad Khan, known to United States intelligence as “the courier,” purchased the property from a local doctor between 2004 and 2005 for $48,000, property records showed.

The Qaeda leader was eventually joined there by his three wives, the youngest of whom, Amal Ahmed al-Sadah of Yemen, gave birth to two children while living in the compound, a former Pakistani military official said. The three women are currently in the custody of Pakistani intelligence, and have been interviewed by American officials.

The Central Intelligence Agency director, Leon E. Panetta, publicly raised questions recently about why the Pakistani authorities had failed to detect the presence of the Qaeda leader. “It was the largest compound in the area,” he told the CBS News program “60 Minutes” in an interview broadcast last month. “So, you would have thought that somebody would have asked the question, ‘What the hell’s going on there?’ ”

Accounts of how United States intelligence came to locate Bin Laden at the house remain incomplete. Officials say they started to believe he was living there in March 2011. In an effort to confirm his presence, the C.I.A. hired a Pakistani doctor to organize a bogus vaccination scheme in Abbottabad in order to try to gain DNA samples from the house.

The doctor, Shakil Afridi, has been arrested by the ISI, and the authorities say he may be charged with treason. Mr. Panetta said Dr. Afridi provided “very helpful” information to the C.I.A. and said Pakistani actions against him were “a real mistake” since the doctor was helping to fight terrorism.

Some Western aid agencies criticized the bogus vaccination scheme, saying it would harm their work. The 17 health workers employed by Dr. Afridi, who were apparently unaware of the C.I.A. link, have since lost their jobs, McClatchy Newspapers reported last week.

(Source: NY Times)

Motorists continue to see higher prices at the pumps in New Jersey.

AAA Mid-Atlantic says the average price of regular gasoline in New Jersey on Friday was $3.55, up 5 cents from last week. That’s also much higher than it was a year ago, when motorists were paying $3.09.

Meanwhile, the national average price rose 12 cents and is now $3.65. That’s also much higher than the national average from a year ago, which was $3.23.

The price boost marks the twelfth straight week that gas prices have risen in New Jersey. Analysts say the rising prices are mostly due to tensions in the Middle East, rising crude oil prices and market speculation.

(Source: NBC New York)