Yeshiva World News

In light of the worrisome security situation, Housing Minister (Bayit Yehudi) Uri Ariel on Monday decided to cancel a planned visit to Har Habayis. When he informed the ISA (Israel Security Agency – Shin Bet) of his planned visit days before it was to take place, the security agency asked him to reconsider due to the security situation.

After contemplating the matter, Ariel agreed to accept the ISA’s recommendation to cancel the visit.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

The United States and Iran hope a new deadline in nuclear talks will allow them to finally reach a deal. But Tehran’s apparent reluctance to compromise may soon leave U.S. negotiators running out of ideas on how to reduce Iran’s capacity to make nuclear arms.

Western diplomats familiar with the talks said Tuesday they have agreed on little more than to keep talking until June 30, after failing to substantially narrow differences by Monday’s deadline in Vienna.

Based on information from the diplomats, progress made so far has mostly stemmed from the U.S. and its allies revising positions closer to the minimum of what they may be able to accept. Iran’s demands, in contrast, have changed less ? and the country may be digging in as the next round approaches.

While Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has backed the nuclear negotiations, he signaled on Tuesday that his country would stand firm, saying Washington and its European allies will be unable “to bring the Islamic Republic to its knees.”

Washington’s mantra has long been “no deal is better than a bad deal,” and extending the talks has put off a decision on whether to walk away from them rather than give up too much.

But while the U.S. administration may opt for more wiggle room on the size and capacity of Iran’s nuclear program, that may not be the case for powerful sceptics of too much U.S. compromise.

Members of the new Republican-controlled U.S. Congress to be sworn in early next year have threatened to impose additional sanctions on Iran and may well have enough votes to overturn an expected veto by President Barack Obama. That would almost surely push Tehran away from the table.

Shortly after the extension announcement, Sen. Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican whose work with Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey on oil sanctions helped drive Iran to the negotiating table, pledged to come forward with a new bipartisan sanctions package.

Menendez suggested similar action, saying he’d work “to ensure that Iran comprehends that we will not ever permit it to become a threshold nuclear state.”

Key to an agreement for the U.S. is capping Iran’s uranium enrichment program.

Iran denies any interest in atomic arms and says it needs to enrich to make reactor fuel and other peaceful uses. But the West fears that Tehran could ramp up the program and enrich to levels used for the fissile core of nuclear weapons.

Iran now has nearly 10,000 centrifuges enriching uranium.

Washington came to the negotiating table 10 months ago demanding that Tehran pare down that number to less than 2,000 in attempts to increase the time Iran would need to make enough weapons-grade uranium from a few months to a year or more.

The U.S. is now ready to accept just over 4,000, the diplomats said on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the confidential talks. Iran also has moved ? but not nearly as much. It is now floating around 8,000 centrifuges as acceptable.

Washington also has compromised on the time-line for the enrichment restrictions. Originally it wanted the caps in place for 20 years or more. Now, it may be ready to accept 15 years.

Iran, however, wants limits substantially below 10 years, while continuing to insist on expanding the program immediately after constraints are lifted. It is aiming for enriched uranium output at that point that would equal nearly 200 percent more than that the centrifuges it now has.

That is unacceptable to the Americans.

With centrifuge numbers in dispute, the U.S. and its six partners at the negotiating table, including Russia and China, have proposed other ways to push Iran’s “breakout” time for making enough weapons-grade uranium for a bomb to a year or more.

One way would be to persuade Tehran to ship out much of its stockpile of uranium gas, reducing it from about seven tons to no more than half a ton. Iran appeared interested at least until Wednesday, said the diplomats, negotiating with Russia as the possible recipient.

But in a potential complication last week, Iran’s nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi said: “There is no reason to send our fuel to Russia.”

(AP)

MK (Yahadut Hatorah) filed a query with Education Minister (Yesh Atid) Shai Prion who is responsible for Hebrew University regarding his discovery that boxes of human bones have simply been thrown into a basement on campus and left in an unacceptably dishonorable fashion.

He cites the bones originated in archeological sites and they were brought to the university campus where they are discarded in boxes without any effort to provide a measure of dignity for the departed. He calls the university’s actions “contrary to moral behavior and a total disregard for the law” for the law states that bones uncovered during digs must be taken to the Ministry of Religious Services for burial. He questions how a prominent university is permitted to trample the law as it wishes.

Maklev, a deputy Knesset speaker, laments the total disregard for ‘kovod hamess’. He calls the situation an affront to society at large, pointing out the law does not differentiate between Jewish or non-Jewish bones. He calls on the Education Ministry to take immediate and appropriate action.

He calls for immediate action to avoid a situation that will chas v’sholom mimic the former situation in the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute during the tenure of former Chief Pathologist Prof. Yehuda Hiss, who was found to have stored thousands of tissue, organ and body parts samples at that facility R”L.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

[VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

Rising tensions between Jews and Arabs has reached Knesset as Arab MKs Muhmad Baraka (Hadash) and Jamal Zahalka (Balad) left the Knesset plenum on Monday 2 Kislev after calling their Jewish colleagues “fascists” and yelling “go choke”.

It began with a heated argument between Baraka and MK (Yisrael Beitenu) David Rotem during which the former told the latter “go choke’. Baraka then turned to Deputy Speaker (Likud) Moshe Feiglin who was chairing the plenum session shouting “go choke too”. Feiglin ordered Knesset ushers to remove Baraka from the podium. Opposition MKs were angered by Feiglin’s decision and expressed their disapproval of the move to oust Baraka.

“What right do you have to oust him” shouted Labor MK Shelly Yacimovich. “When [MK/Likud] Miri Regev speaks from the podium in Arabic and calls MK Zoabi ‘a traitor’ that is ok” added Meretz MK Ilan Gilon. Feiglin tried explaining that when an MK shouts at another “go choke” s/he cannot partake in the plenum session.

Zahalka, who was at the podium, did not just leave but got into a verbal confrontation with Feiglin, calling him “a fascist” and “a racist”. Feiglin instructed ushers to escort Mr. Zahalka out of the plenum session.

Minister (Likud) Dr. Yuval Steinitz added that after Zahalka was removed from the podium he called Feiglin a “neo-Nazi”. The Arab MK denied saying it.

Opposition leader Yitzchak Herzog from the podium expressed criticism against Feiglin’s stifling of freedom of speech. The mayhem continued for some time.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

A 22-year-old Israeli man was the victim of another anti-Semitic attack in Europe, this time outside a Berlin Chabad house. The Islamic attackers saw him leave the Chabad house and they then attacked him. He was transported and treated in a local hospital. The attack occurred early Sunday evening in Berlin’s Wilmersdorf neighborhood.

According to the witness, he was attacked by four men who cursed him in German, pointing out that had an Arabic accent. He was punched and kicked. The victim states if not for the intervention of a passerby he fears the outcome would have been far more serious. He was treated for multiple finger fractures and soft tissue injuries.

Israel Consul General to Berlin Eyal Siso has urged the victim to file a formal complaint with police. Ironically, the victim explains he is looking into relocating to Europe due to the high cost of living in Israel. He had ruled out moving to France due to the anti-Semitism in that country and he was thinking about Berlin as an alternative.

CORRECTION: Thanks to a Chabad oficial in Berlin, we have learned the attack took place not around Chabad, but in the area of Fasanenstr, which is a different shul. 

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

As Iran gets closer than ever to becoming the world’s next nuclear power, Israel continues to insist it will not permit Tehran to reach the stage it can manufacture a nuclear bomb. Following is a statement released in Knesset by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday, 2 Kislev.

“We are anxiously monitoring the nuclear talks with Iran. We are also using our contacts and expressing our views, directly as well, in the international media, in my contacts with the American administration and other heads of government, in Minister Steinitz’s contacts with various security elements, in contacts with ministers in these governments and in the work of the National Security Council.

“I think that an important thing happened today. We have always said that no agreement is preferable to a bad agreement and the agreement that Iran signed is a very bad and dangerous agreement for Israel, for the region and in my opinion for the future of the entire world. It is very important that this agreement has been prevented as of now but a struggle is yet before us and we intend to continue this struggle in order to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear threshold state that would endanger us and others. Israel will always act on this matter and reserves its right to defend itself by itself.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

The weeks of anxious waiting and hours of deliberating ended Monday, but the grand jury’s decision not to indict a white Ferguson, Missouri, police officer in the fatal shooting of black 18-year-old Michael Brown will likely reverberate throughout the community and nation for days to come.

THE LATEST: Attorneys for Michael Brown’s family and the Rev. Al Sharpton criticized St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch’s decision to take the case in front of a grand jury and not to appoint a special prosecutor. They also took protesters who committed violence to task during Tuesday’s news conference.

THE BEGINNING: Officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Brown, who was unarmed, shortly after noon Aug. 9 in the middle of the street after a scuffle. Brown’s body lay there for hours as police investigated and an angry crowd of onlookers gathered. Several days of tense protests in the predominantly black community followed, prompting Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon to call in the National Guard. McCulloch decided to present the case to a grand jury.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT: Made up of nine white people and three black people, the grand jury met 25 days over three months, and heard more than 70 hours of testimony from 60 witnesses. McCulloch held a prime-time news conference Monday to reveal the decision, and described inconsistent witness accounts. He never mentioned that Brown was unarmed when he was killed.

THE PUBLIC RESPONSE: Thousands waited in the streets of Ferguson and in other major U.S. cities on Monday, and responded with shouts of anger. In Ferguson, some began throwing objects at police, and soon began to smash windows and set fire to businesses and cars. Authorities lobbed tear gas to disperse the crowd.

When daylight broke, about a dozen businesses had been severely damaged or destroyed along a stretch of West Florissant Avenue in the north St. Louis suburb. Sixty-one people were arrested in Ferguson and 21 were arrested in the Shaw neighborhood of St. Louis, while 14 people had protest-related injuries.

THE DOCUMENTS: More than 1,000 pages of grand jury documents were released Monday, including Wilson’s full testimony in which he described the scuffle in his patrol car and recognizing the cigars in Brown’s hand as possibly being connected to a report of a convenience store robbery. Wilson also said that Brown approached him: “And when he gets about … 8 to 10 feet away … all I see is his head and that’s what I shot.”

THE FINAL SAY? The U.S. Justice Department has its own investigation into possible civil rights violations that could result in federal charges for Wilson, but investigators would need to satisfy a rigorous standard of proof. The department also has launched a broad probe into the Ferguson Police Department.

WHAT’S NEXT: A protest is planned for Tuesday evening in downtown St. Louis, and St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson has scheduled a 5 p.m. Votive Mass for Peace and Justice.

(AP)

A St. Louis County grand jury met for 25 days over three months and heard more than 70 hours of testimony from about 60 witnesses — many of whom gave conflicting statements — before deciding not to indict Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, according to prosecutor Bob McCulloch.

Here are some of the highlights from the testimony, released by McCulloch’s office Monday night:

___

A PUNCH TO THE FACE

Wilson told the grand jury that he initially encountered Brown and a friend walking in a street and told them to move to the sidewalk, drawing an expletive from Brown. Wilson said he noticed that Brown had a handful of cigars, “and that’s when it clicked for me” that the men were suspects in a theft at a convenience store reported minutes earlier.

Wilson said he asked a dispatcher to send additional officers, then backed his vehicle in front of Brown and his friend. As he tried to open the door, Wilson said, Brown slammed it back shut. Wilson said he pushed Brown with the door and Brown hit him in the face. Wilson told grand jurors he was thinking: “What do I do not to get beaten inside my car?”

Wilson said he drew his gun and threatened to shoot if Brown didn’t move back, fearing another punch to the face could “knock me out or worse.”

“He immediately grabs my gun and says, ‘You are too much of a (expletive removed) to shoot me,’” Wilson said, saying he thought he would be shot when Brown dug the gun into the officer’s hip.

___

AN ANGRY LOOK

Wilson said he managed to pull the trigger, and the gun “clicked” twice without firing before a shot went through the window. Wilson said Brown stepped back and then looked at him with the “most intense, aggressive face.”

“The only way I can describe it, it looks like a demon, that’s how angry he looked. He comes back towards me again with his hands up.”

Wilson said he covered his face and fired the gun again. He told the grand jury that he fired two shots in the car before Brown took off running and he followed him.

Wilson said when Brown stopped, he told him to get on the ground. He said he squeezed a series of shots when Brown kept coming toward him and put his right hand under his shirt in the waistband of his pants.

He said he fired another round of shots as Brown continued to gain on him, approaching Wilson as if he was going to tackle him: “Just coming straight at me like he was going to run right through me. And when he gets about … 8 to 10 feet away … all I see is his head and that’s what I shot.”

___

A FRIEND’S SHOCK

Brown’s companion that day, Dorian Johnson, told the grand jury he was stunned when Brown stole cigarillos from the convenience store, and expected to be arrested while they were walking home. But Wilson drove on after originally telling them to get on the sidewalk, reversing his vehicle and coming back at the pair after they ignored his demand.

“After he pulled back, there was no more sidewalk talk, it was nothing, it was just anger,” Johnson told the grand jury.

He said Wilson opened his door suddenly, striking Brown, then closed the door and grabbed Brown by the neck. He said the two men engaged in a “tug of war” each holding on to the other’s shirt and arms.

As the two wrestled, he said he heard Wilson say, “I’ll shoot.” Johnson said he never saw Brown punch Wilson, and didn’t think he grabbed the officer’s gun.

Johnson described being in shock as he realized things were getting out of control.

“At the time I couldn’t open my mouth. I couldn’t speak. I wanted to say could someone calm down … I’m still standing there, more shocked than ever because I see it is escalating, I can see and hear the cuss words, I can see the frowns on their faces getting more intense.”

___

TRYING TO RUN

After the initial shots were fired, Johnson said he and Brown took off running. After Wilson shot again, he said Brown stopped running and turned to face the officer.

“At that time Big Mike’s hands was up, but not so much in the air because he had been struck … he said I don’t have a gun, but he’s still mad, he still has his angry face. I don’t have a gun. … And before he can say the second sentence or before he can even get it out, that’s when the several more shots came.”

Johnson was asked if Brown ran at the officer prior to the fatal volley. He insisted he did not.

___

OUTSIDE WITNESSES

The grand jury testimony includes the accounts of many witnesses whose names are not listed in the transcripts.

One testified that he was working in a nearby building and saw Brown leaning through the police vehicle window and “some sort of confrontation was taking place.” He said a shot rang out and Brown fled as the officer chased him with his gun drawn. The witness said Brown stopped and turned but never raised his hands. He said Brown “ran towards the officer full charge.” The officer then fired several shots, but Brown kept rushing toward him, the witness said.

Another witness said she and her husband were visiting a nearby apartment complex when they saw the shooting. She said after the first two shots were fired, Brown began running from Wilson’s vehicle but stopped, turned around and started heading toward Wilson, who shot at him. When asked if it appeared Brown was approaching Wilson in a threatening manner, the witness said, “No, he wasn’t … I think he was stunned, honestly.”

“He just kept walking toward the officer, he didn’t stop.”

(AP)

It was recently discovered that the candy company which made chocolate coins for the Streit’s company did not have proper OU supervision during production.

The Streit’s company is, therefore removing all of the imported chocolate coins from the marketplace. Consumers that have purchased any of these items can return them to the retailer for a refund.

(Studio B – YWN)

Rabbi Menachem Lubinsky, Chairman of the International Committee for Defense of Har HaZeisim visited in Israel and held meetings with lawmakers and others towards improving the untenable situation that exists in the Har HaZeisim area.

Lubinsky met with the Chairwoman of the Knesset Interior Committee, MK Miri Regev, as well as a number of chareidi MKs including David Azoulai and Yisrael Eichler, as well as with Cabinet Secretary Avichai Mandelblit and others. Discussions included stiffer laws and penalties to deter attacks in that area.

Rabbi Lubinsky is credit for his untiring efforts to improve the security situation in that area as well as playing a major role in the rehabilitation of the beis hachaim. The rabbi explained that Har HaZeisim belongs to Jews around the world as many have relative interred in the holy area. He cited there are over 150,000 kevarim from Jews throughout the generations and everything possible must be done to protect and preserve them.

Lubinsky wants to see a permanent police presence at the area substation and an increase in manpower. He also feel that the entire area must be closed off with a security fence towards preventing acts of vandalism.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

Thanksgiving could be the best day to shop all year.

An analysis of sales data and store circulars by two research firms contradicts conventional wisdom that Black Friday is when shoppers can get the most and biggest sales of the year.

Turns out, shoppers will find more discounted items in stores that are open on Thanksgiving. For example, there are a total of 86 laptops and tablets deeply discounted as door buster deals at Best Buy, Wal-Mart and others on the holiday compared with just nine on Black Friday, according to an analysis of promotions for The Associated Press by researcher Market Track.

And on the Web, discounts will be deeper on the holiday. Online prices on Thanksgiving are expected to be about 24 percent cheaper compared with 23 percent on Black Friday and 20 percent on Cyber Monday, according to Adobe, which tracks data on 4,500 retail web sites.

The data is the latest proof that retailers are slowly redefining the Black Friday tradition. It’s been the biggest shopping day of the year for decades, mostly because it’s traditionally when retailers pull out their best sales events. But in the last few years, retailers like the Gap, Target and Toys R Us have started opening their stores and offering holiday discounts on Thanksgiving to better compete with online rivals.

“I was surprised, but it really shifted one day,” said Tamara Gaffney, principal analyst at Adobe, which is based in San Jose, California.

Shoppers already are noticing the deals on Thanksgiving. Corey Grassell, 34, of Appleton, Wisconsin, said he plans to shop for deals on Thanksgiving and bypass Black Friday. That’s after he grabbed bargains last year on the holiday, including a washer-dryer combination at Sears for about $800, a 50 percent discount.

“I feel guilty for going out on Thanksgiving, but the deals are so much more attractive to me than on Black Friday,” he says.

But some industry watchers fear others won’t shop on Thanksgiving, choosing to keep the day sacred. Those who wait instead to shop on Black Friday could wind up being disappointed with the leftover deals, they say. In fact, according to Deloitte Research’s recent survey of shoppers, about two-thirds say they’re not motivated to go out to stores Thanksgiving because it’s important to be with family and friends.

“Shoppers could be disappointed and find that the hot items on their list are not in stock on Black Friday because of the early push by retailers,” says Traci Gregorski, Market Track’s vice president of marketing.

She says she’s conducting a survey of shoppers after the holiday shopping weekend to see how retailers fared. “We want to get shoppers’ perception of these deals,” she says.

Most big retailers acknowledge that they’re starting to offer deals on Thanksgiving that previously were reserved for Black Friday.

Jeff Haydock, a spokesman at Best Buy, the nation’s largest consumer electronics chain, said the best deals become available Thanksgiving when its doors open at 5 p.m.

“Naturally, more of the deals are being pulled into Thursday because our stores are open,” says Haydock.

Brian Hanover, a spokesman at Sears, which is opening at 6 p.m. Thursday, also says Thanksgiving specials spill into Black Friday. But the quantities for the 1,000 door busters are limited. They include Nordic Track treadmills for $699.99, or an $800 discount, and a 36 percent savings on a Whirlpool laundry machine, regularly priced at $549.99.

“It probably behooves the customer to shop earlier on Thanksgiving,” he says.

For its part, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, says it’s spreading out discounts online and in the store. But Gregorski, of Market Track’s says its “evident” in Wal-Mart’s circular that “the best deals are on Thanksgiving.”

To be sure, for its two sales events on Thanksgiving, Wal-Mart devotes 36 pages of its circular to discounted TVs, computers and other items. On Black Friday? Wal-Mart has four pages of deals.

(AP)

It was a stormy session of a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense subcommittee on Monday, 2 Kislev, as the forum was discussing fears there is a wave of religiosity taking over the military. One example cited was the letter read to his forces before going into battle in Operation Protective Edge by Givati Brigade Commander Colonel Ofir Winter.

A second example cited was a Golani battalion commander who took he troops to the Kosel to recite Birchas Hagomeil and to daven.

MK (Labor) Omer Bar-Lev, who chairs the subcommittee, stated the actions of the Golani commander were in contradiction to military regulations.

IDF Brigadier-General Gadi Agmon of the IDF Manpower Directorate stated this simply was not so and the military is not being sucked into a wave of religiosity but complying with long-standing rules. He cited there are no compulsory religious services or ceremonies.

Committee member MK (Bayit Yehudi) Moti Yogev, a colonel in the reserves, commented the very fact that the discussion is taking place is incorrect and the session should not be held. “Yiddishkheit is not the enemy of the IDF or the State of Israel” he commented, adding “It is an integral part of our roots here. This represents an effort to uproot Am Yisrael from its roots”.

MK (Meretz) Nitzan Horowitz added “many IDF soldiers are exposed to religious coercion including compelling them to take part in tefilos. These are missionary activities! Permission is given to religious elements to enter bases to engage in religious coercion. I personally have dealt with dozens of such cases”.

The IDF Ombudsman added that during Operation Protective Edge there were a total of six complaints filed, all dealing with a soldiers’ inability to maintain a religious lifestyle.

MK (Yesh Atid) Ofir Shelach added that due to budgetary constraints the IDF has sharply curtailed the operations of the Education Branch. “All outings in the past year were in the framework of private religious elements” he concluded.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

A Missouri grand jury’s decision to spare police officer Darren Wilson from criminal charges is the latest in a long line of police shooting investigations that show the latitude afforded law enforcement in using deadly force.

The question for the panel that decided the case was never whether Wilson fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown, but rather whether the Aug. 9 killing constituted a crime. In declining to indict Wilson, the grand jury followed laws and court precedents to reach a conclusion that is far more the norm than the exception.

“For a cop to be indicted and especially to be convicted later of a crime in these kinds of situations is very, very unusual,” said Chuck Drago, a police practices consultant and former police chief in Oviedo, Florida.

States and police departments have developed their own policies that generally permit officers to use force when they reasonably fear imminent physical harm. The Supreme Court shaped the national standard in a 1989 decision that said the use of force must be evaluated through the “perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene” rather than being judged after the fact. That means officers are often given the benefit of the doubt by prosecutors and grand jurors reluctant to second-guess their decisions.

Many of the cases that don’t result in charges involve armed suspects shot during confrontations with police. But even an officer who repeatedly shoots an unarmed person, as was the case in Ferguson, may avoid prosecution in cases where he contends he felt at imminent risk.

“A police officer is not like a normal citizen who discharges their weapon. There is a presumption that somebody who is a peace officer, and is thereby authorized to use lethal force, used it correctly,” said Lori Lightfoot, a Chicago lawyer who used to investigate police shootings for the police department there.

But even though police are legally empowered to use deadly force when appropriate, Lightfoot said an officer’s perception of danger can be strongly influenced by the race of a suspect, particularly in a community like Ferguson, where an overwhelmingly white department patrols a majority-black city.

“Take any environment you live in — if there’s not diversity in your workplace, that is a void in your experience,” she said.

The Ferguson shooting followed a skirmish that began when Wilson told Brown and a friend to move from the street onto the sidewalk. St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch said Monday the two men fought inside Wilson’s car and said Wilson shot Brown multiple times after Brown charged at the officer. In explaining the grand jury’s decision, McCulloch cited what he said were inconsistent and erroneous witness accounts.

The Justice Department is continuing to investigate the shooting for evidence of a potential civil rights violation, and federal investigators are relying on the same evidence and witness statements as the grand jury. But they face a higher burden of proof to establish whether Wilson willfully deprived Brown of his civil rights. That standard has been tough to satisfy in past high-profile shootings. Federal prosecutors, for example, declined this year to charge officers who fatally shot an unarmed woman with a baby in her back seat after a high-speed car chase from the White House to the U.S. Capitol.

It’s hard to know how often police use force. A federal Bureau of Justice Statistics study found that an estimated 1.4 percent of the nearly 60,000 U.S. residents who reported having contact with police in 2008 said the officers used or threatened to use force against them.

Some cases do result in criminal charges. A Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina, police officer was indicted in January in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man who wrecked his vehicle and apparently knocked on the front door of a home seeking help. Thinking incorrectly that the man was trying to break into her home, the homeowner called police. Three officers responded and one shot the unarmed victim, authorities say.

But far more often officers aren’t prosecuted.

A grand jury in Ohio, for instance, declined to indict a police officer who in August shot a man carrying an air rifle inside a Wal-Mart. And in May, an Alabama grand jury declined to indict an officer who shot and wounded an Air Force airman he pulled over on the highway. The police chief said the officer shot the man after he got out of his car based on a perceived threat.

Geoffrey Alpert, a University of South Carolina criminologist, said only a “small tip” of police shootings are considered so outrageous as to merit criminal charges. An absence of prosecution, he said, does not mean that an officer did a good job or should not face a wrongful-death lawsuit. But criminal charges are a different burden.

“He may not do (his job) well, and he may have made a mistake, but it’s not like he woke up in the morning and said, ‘I’m going to go out and kill someone,’” Alpert said.

(AP)

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Shots were first at the Lauder Javne Jewish Community School in Budapest, the daily HaMevaser reports. Panic and fear spread among students and staff after they detected two bullet holes in windows, apparently caused during the night.

Police report the building was occupied until 18:00 at night and people returned at 07:30, providing a window during which the attack occurred. Police in District 12 opened the case and are investigating vandalism and property damage.

The school’s principal sent a letter to parents explaining what occurred during the night and the fact that they found the bullet holes in the windows. Security officials point out this was not the first such incident and as such there are protocols, which were followed. Police were notified immediately and the response was timely.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

President Reuven Rivlin has informed Israeli singer Amir Benayoun that his invitation to perform at an official function has been canceled. The reason given is Benayoun’s new song, “Ahmed Loves Israel”, in which he describes the intentions of an Arab student who plans to carry out a terror attack.

Benayoun was to perform as part of events scheduled to mark the exile and expulsion of Jews from Arab Lands and Iran, due to take place at the President’s Residence this coming Sunday, 8 Kislev.

Director General of the President’s Residence Harel Tubi stated in a letter to the event organizers, “Against the background of the release of Amir Benayoun’s latest song yesterday, I wish to notify you that we will not be able to allow him to perform at the President’s Residence. Amir Benayoun is a renowned and exceptional artist, and his talent has greatly contributed to Israeli music. However, his statements made at this time of conflict and tension, even if uttered out of frustration and pain, do not, to say the least, help bring calm to the streets, and are inconsistent with the responsibility required of the President’s Residence, and of all institutions with influence over the public discourse, to work to alleviate tensions, and promote cooperation rather than division in Israeli society.”

The controversial song prompted Meretz MK Esawi Frij to call on police to launch an incitement investigation against the singer.

Frej citing verses from the song, including “Tomorrow I will fly to heaven, and send a Jew or two to hell,” and “One day, the moment will come, you’ll turn your back and I’ll stab you with a sharpened ax.” The MK called the song inciteful and distasteful and believes it violates Israeli law prohibiting incitement.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)