Yeshiva World News

Just days after a gag order was lifted on the arrest of a terror cell operating to abduct Israelis in Shomron, another gag order was lifted regarding another cell in the Hebron/Kiryat Arba area, also working to abduct Israelis to use them as negotiating pawns towards obtaining the release of Arab terrorists imprisoned in Israel.

This cell is made up of three Hamas terrorists who reside in the Hebron area. They planned to abduct and Israeli from nearby Kiryat Arba. One of the cell members, 21, was arrested and released in the past by Israel.

And yet another cell was apprehended by the ISA (Israel Security Agency – Shin Bet), also operating in the Hebron area and charged with placing explosive devices in the area of the Arab village Yatah. They placed explosive devices which they detonated against Israeli vehicle by cellular remote. Two cell members also admitted to involvement in a bomb attack from five years ago.

And a fourth cell was apprehended north of Hebron near Halhoul, south of Gush Etzion. The four cell members were involved in rock-throwing attacks against Israeli vehicles, similar to the fatal attack on erev Rosh Hashanah that claimed the lives of two members of the Palmer family HY”D.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

Deputy Health Minister (Yahadut HaTorah) was the target of criticism when he walked out of officials events that contained kol isha. At that time, he proudly explained that he did so quietly, not seeking to create a stir, adding that he proudly exercises his right to religious freedom, to practice his yiddishkheit as he must.

The deputy minister is in the news again, this time for not shaking the hand of a female diplomat at an event in Geneva on Wednesday, 2 Sivan 5772.

The minister was attending the annual World Health Organization conference, and during this event declined to meet the extended hand of the Belgian health minister.

The official Belgian Health Minister Facebook page quotes Minister Laurette Onkelinx saying she was “profoundly troubled” adding “My hands were clean. I don’t get it”.

“This is the second time a minister refuses to shake my hand because I am a woman. The first was Iranian. The second one was the Israeli health minister here in Geneva. This kind of fundamentalist attitude, connected to a certain perception of religion and women, profoundly troubles me.”

“The minister’s childish reaction demonstrates her ignorance,” said Michael Freilich, editor in chief of Joods Actueel, Belgium’s largest Jewish publication. In the paper’s report on the incident it said “Mr. Litzman’s refusal to shake Ms. Onkelinx’s hand had nothing to do with any view on women or impurity. Ultra-Orthodox women are also forbidden from touching members of the opposite sex. It’s the custom. A more seasoned politician would have been aware of this sensibility in advance.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

The NYPD is questioning a New Jersey man in connection with the disappearance of Etan Patz, the 6-year-old boy who vanished more than 30 years ago as he walked to the school bus from his SoHo home, NBC 4 New York first reported Thursday.

Police picked the man up sometime Wednesday evening and brought him to New York City for questioning, sources said.

The man is known to investigators and not anyone new in the case, law enforcement sources say. He worked and lived in Patz’s neighborhood when the boy disappeared.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said in a statement that the man “has made statements to NYPD detectives implicating himself in the disappearance and death of Etan Patz 33 years ago.”

It’s not clear why the police decided to question the man. His name has been known to investigators and he did live and work in the neighborhood at the time when Patz disappeared in 1979.

Kelly also said more details were expected to be released later Thursday.

An intensive search for Patz was renewed several weeks ago when police dug up the basement of a handyman’s workshop near where Patz disappeared. A new layer of concrete had been laid over the foundation of the basement shortly after the boy vanished.

That search yielded no new evidence.

The man in custody Thursday has made statements to police about the case but so far has not provided details that would lead them to Patz’s body, sources said.

Several sources have indicated some skepticism exists about the man’s story, but police are being thorough in their investigation of any possible leads.

One other man has remained a longtime possible suspect: Jose Ramos, a drifter and onetime boyfriend of Patz’s baby sitter. In the early 1980s, he was arrested on theft charges, and had photos of other young, blond boys in his backpack. But there was no hard evidence linking Ramos to the crime.

(Source: NBC New York)

The tzibur is requested to continue being mispallel for 8-year-old Rachel Efrat bat Yehudit, who is the only survivor of her family following the tragic vehicular accident in Tiveria earlier in the week. R”L her parents and siblings, eight in total, were killed in the crash.

Rachel today, Thursday, was released from Rambam Medical Center in Haifa and will be living with her aunt in Tzfat.

“It was a difficult night. Rachel did not sleep much. She cried a great deal. The next day, the morning after the crash is also quite difficult. She was very quiet and broke out in tears from time-to-time” explained Adi Pecter-Ellet, director of social services at Rambam.

For now, it is a day at a time and the family is quite concerned for Rachel’s emotional well being. The same may be true in Moshav Bar-Yochai, where neighbors and close friends of the Atias family painfully attempt to make sense of the new reality, the vacant home, the missing smiles of the children, the vacant seat in daily minyanim.

Close friends explain that they are all there, along with the family, seeking to support Rachel, but the young child simply cannot understand the blow, the personal Holocaust they has stricken her life. Today, they are all gone, those who were her world are no longer and little Rachel Efrat must now learn to get on without them, somehow learn to accept this new unwanted reality.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

The following update is provided by Dr. Eli Susheim in an interview he granted to Kaf HaChashifut regarding the condition of Maran Posek HaDor HaGaon HaRav Yosef Sholom Elyashiv Shlita.

In recent updates regarding the status of R’ Elyashiv, reports spoke of the gadol hador davening with a minyan on Shabbos, wearing a shtreimel and sitting in a lounge chair. According to Dr. Susheim, these reports are baseless unfortunately and simply inaccurate.

Dr. Susheim was asked to give a report on the gadol hador’s condition and if it is within the realm of reality to contemplate transferring the posek to his home.

An Overview of the Interview …

There is no improvement in the rav’s condition. It is out of the question. The rav cannot be transferred to his home and it is not possible to transfer all the medical equipment that would be necessary for such a move. The rav must remain in the Shaare Zedek Medical Center intensive care unit where is has been during recent weeks and months.

Q: We are told the rav’s condition has improved and he has even begun to speak

There is absolutely no basis for these reports. I have not merited seeing any special improvement. The fact that his condition remains stable, respirations, blood pressure, pulse and blood oxygenation are relatively stable due to the ongoing efforts by the hospital and this is good in its own right but to speak of a ‘significant improvement’ is far far off.

One must realize the rav is still on a respirator and usually completely anesthetized, non-responsive but there are hand movements, he opens his eyes but I haven’t merited hearing anything verbal communications during my visits.

We yearn and if only it were so, a drastic improvement, but this is not the case. I have not seen any such change. I was bothered to hear these reports when I know with absolute certainty that the reports are a far cry from reality and the facts concerning his case.

This has been the situation not for weeks or days, but for over two months, and we must realize his kidneys have ceased to function and the rav has dialysis three times weekly to cleanse his bloodstream of impurities.

Regarding his condition I would say that there is life, existence, but still requiring the full support of the medical staff which demands the intensive care unit environment.

There is no logic to speaking about bringing him home. This is simply unrealistic. He needs the ICU. This is simply not a possibility.

Q: Is the rav aware of his surroundings and the comings and goings around him?

I see him open his eyes but have not heard him speak or hear any verbal communication. It is possible that we would like to believe there is a level of internal awareness but this is not being manifest externally in the form of verbal communication or any other means signaling a conscious awareness.

Dr. Susheim emphasizes the need to continue tefilos for the posek hador, HaRav Yosef Sholom ben Chaya Musha b’soch kol cholei am yisrael.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

The State Department has launched a different sort of raid against Al Qaeda – hacking into its websites in Yemen.

In a rare public admission of the covert cyber war against extremists, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says U.S. cyber experts based at the State Department hacked tribal websites, replacing Al Qaeda propaganda that bragged about killing Americans.

“Within 48 hours, our team plastered the same sites with altered versions of the ads that showed the toll Al Qaeda attacks have taken on the Yemeni people,” Clinton said Wednesday. “Extremists are publicly venting their frustration and asking supporters not to believe everything they read on the Internet.”

Speaking alongside Adm. Bill McRaven, head of the U.S. Special Operations Command, Clinton said the effort is part of a multipronged attack on terrorism that goes beyond raids like the one that killed Osama bin Laden to include diplomats working alongside special operations forces to shore up local governments and economies and train local forces.

Clinton says the cyber attack was launched by an interagency group of specialists, including diplomats, special operators and intelligence analysts, housed at the State Department.

Called the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications, its experts patrol the Internet and social media to counter Al Qaeda’s attempts to recruit new followers.

“Together, they will work to preempt, discredit and outmaneuver extremist propaganda,” Clinton said.

READ MORE: POLITICO

The Los Angeles City Council has moved toward banning plastic bags at grocery stores in the nation’s second-largest city.

The council voted 13-1 Wednesday to approve a policy that would ban single-use plastic bags.

The ban would take effect later this year after an environmental impact report that is expected to take four months and the council adopts an ordinance.

The city’s program would be modeled after bag bans in 48 other California cities.

The city would allow large stores to phase out plastic bags over six months and then provide free paper bags for another six months. Small retailers would have a year to phase out plastic.

After a year, retailers would be allowed to charge 10 cents for paper bags.

(Source: NY Daily News)

Republicans are continuing to attack the Obama administration and call for more investigations into allegations that two filmmakers were provided classified information for a movie about the Navy SEAL Osama bin Laden raid.

House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King (R-N.Y.) said Wednesday that e-mails released this week showed the filmmakers of a movie on SEAL Team Six had a “potentially dangerous collaboration” with the White House and Obama administration.

King sent letters to Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Michael Vickers and Deputy CIA Director Michael Morell on Wednesday voicing his dismay that filmmakers Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal were given alleged access to classified information for the movie they are making on the SEAL raid.
“The email messages indicate that the filmmakers were allowed an unprecedented visit to a classified facility so secret that its name is redacted in the released email,” King said in a statement.

And Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) called on the Pentagon’s Inspector General to investigate whether national security had been compromised by information given to the filmmakers.

The Republicans are seizing on information obtained by Judicial Watch released this week that showed emails from CIA and Pentagon officials about the filmmakers’ access.

Judicial Watch, which obtained the documents through a Freedom of Information Act request, said they show that the filmmakers were given access to access to a “planner, operator and commander of SEAL Team Six.”

King has been pressing the Obama administration since last year about classified information and the movie, which he has labeled a “blockbuster, election-year story.”

The DoD Inspector General’s office said it was investigating the issue in a December 2011 letter to King.

(Source: The Hill)

Rabbi Yeshayahu Herzl, Rav of Nazareth Illit and known as a prominent in the Chabad community has removed the mehadrin kashrus status of the Lavi Hotel. Person close to the rav are quoted as saying “unfortunately, the standard of the hotel is not in line with a badatz that is relied upon by the chareidi community which seeks to visit there with a feeling of comfort”.

An official announcement appeared in the daily HaMevaser on Monday, 29 Iyar 5772, stating the rav removed the hotel’s mehadrin kashrus, adding “from here on in, I take no responsibility for the kashrus in the hotel in Kibbutz Lavi. Since there was erroneous information released regarding the hotel’s kashrus of late, the tzibur must be wary and not to blindly follow ads for this hotel [or any hotel for that matter. One must check out all kashrus claims by verifying it with the hashgacha]”.

There have been numerous kashrus “problems” over recent months, and efforts were made to reach an amicable solution but it appears this did not occur. The rav explains the hotel management is unwilling to correct the issues to the rav’s satisfaction.

Kashrus officials add that of late, requests regarding the hotel’s kashrus have been met with foot-dragging and refusal leading to “an intolerable situation” compelling the revocation of the kashrus certification.

Rav Yosef Chaim Rosenblatt, rav of the Lower Galil explains the hotel is under his jurisdiction. Rabbi Rosenblatt refused to comment on the incident, adding from his point of view the hotel remains under his mehadrin supervision only.

Hotel management declined to comment other than as far as it is concerned, the kashrus in the hotel remains unchanged, under the mehadrin supervision of the Lower Galil Rabbinate.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

Rudy is jumping on the Turner for US Senate bandwagon.

Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani today endorsed Rep. Bob Turner of Queens for the GOP nomination, saying Turner is the “only candidate” who can beat U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).

Referring to Turner as “the definition of a citizen legislator,” Giuliani said, “He is a proven winner and the only candidate who can defeat the nation’s most liberal senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, in November.”

Turner is battling Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos and Manhattan lawyer Wendy Long for the Republican nod.

Long has the key support of the state Conservative Party.

“Today’s endorsement doesn’t move the needle for team Turner – ask Mario Cuomo,” Long spokesman David Catalfamo said in a reference to Giuliani’s 1994 endorsement of Gov. Cuomo’s father – who was ousted as governor that year by Republican George Pataki.

Turner, a business executive, won the House seat of disgraced ex-Rep. Anthony Wiener in a special election last September.

READ MORE: NY POST

A day after the tragic car accident in Tiveria that claimed the lives of eight members of the Atias family HaRav Binayahu Shmueli Shlita warns of additional tragedy in Eretz Yisrael chas v’sholom.

The rav is rosh yeshiva of the Yeshivat Mekubalim Har Shalom. In a shiur to his talmidim, the rav warned “the tragic event that occurred was due to sinas chinam in Am Yisrael, and only achdus can prevent additional tragedies like this”.

The rav released a letter to his talmidim in which he writes “As a result of the many tragedies that have struck Am Yisrael, whether sickness, vehicular accidents, or different horrific deaths, we must enter the ark which saves us from the flood of tzoros”.

“In our day, the ark is the Zohar HaKadosh. Therefore, everyone must read portions of the Zohar 10 minutes daily. This should be done in all shuls, batei medrash and home.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

Rachel Efrat Atias, the lone survivor of the horrific accident that claimed the lives of her parents and six siblings z”l will remain in Haifa’s Rambam Medical Center an additional day. She was set to be released today, but the medical team decided to keep her an additional day to conduct “some orthopedic tests”.

Rachel was listed in moderate condition following the tragic accident. She was the only survivor, apparently due to the fact that she was not wearing her seat belt. The other R”L were burned to death after the family minivan flipped and burst into flames when it slammed down into a ravine.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

“Democracy in play” is the term some are using for the general election taking place in Egypt today and tomorrow. 51 million eligible voters will elect a new president. The democratic election is the nation’s first in decades, since the elections during the reign of President Hosni Mubarak were a far cry from a true democratic process. There are 13,596 voting stations around the country.

One of the first voters was Amr Moussa, a former foreign minister, who used the opportunity to meet with voters and shake hands. He told the press that he will accept the outcome of the election because it is the democratic process.

There are other candidates as well, including the Islamic Brotherhood’s candidate and an independent who was ousted from the Brotherhood and whose campaign focused in no small part around his anti-Israel rhetoric. Officials do not believe that any of the 13 candidates will receive more than 50% of the vote and a runoff election is set for June 16th and 17th.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)