Yeshiva World News

An 18-month-old boy returned from Uman with his parents, a Breslov family that lives in the Galil area. The baby took ill upon the family’s return to Israel. He was taken to the doctor who instructed the parents to rush him to the emergency room where he was pronounced dead.

According to preliminary reports, the child took ill upon their return and he was sick for five days, with his condition deteriorating until taken to a doctor. The physician realized the seriousness of the child’s condition and instructed the parents to rush to an emergency room. The parents headed to the emergency room of Ziff Hospital in Tzfas in a private vehicle and the boy was niftar enroute. He arrived in the emergency room in cardiac arrest and pronounced dead following CPR and resuscitation efforts.

According to the Ynet report, the parents explain the child took ill upon their return to Israel but they only took him to Kupat Cholim after five days of being ill. It has been learned the child was only checked by a physician once since birth, has not received vaccinations and was not monitored regularly by the medical system including visits to well-care baby clinics run by HMOs.

An investigation is underway as many questions need to be answered. The Health Ministry has ordered prophylactic antibiotic treatment for the parents against meningitis.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

The Orioles will play the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday afternoon at Camden Yards in a rare Major League Baseball game closed to the public, a decision that followed rioting in Baltimore.

The announcement of the closed-doors game came after the Orioles postponed games against Chicago on Monday and Tuesday. The start of Wednesday’s game was moved up five hours to 2:05 p.m.

In addition, the Friday-to-Sunday series against Tampa Bay was shifted from Camden Yards to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, with Baltimore remaining the home team and batting last.

Baltimore is off Thursday.

MLB said the postponed games against the White Sox will be made up with a doubleheader on May 28 at 4:05 p.m.

Public schools were shut on Tuesday in Baltimore, and the mayor imposed a 10 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew.

(AP)

Expressing disappointment over the ongoing coalition negotiations, Likud Minister of the Interior Gilad Erdan feels Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu should explore establishing a coalition with the Labor party.

Erdan feels the smaller parties are trying to extort Likud and the prime minister, aware of the deadline to present the coalition to President Reuven Rivlin.

Speaking to the “London & Kirschenbaum” news magazine program on Channel 10, Erdan explained it appears portfolios including Health, Education, Interior and Housing will not remain in Likud hands. “This concerns me and this should concern Likud voters that wish to see the prime minister and his party run the nation”.

Erdan explains that if the smaller parties are unyielding in their demands, it may be worthwhile to probe a deal with the Labor party, which has 24 seats. “I do not think a national unity coalition is preferable as we must try to cling to the promises made to voters, to establish a nationalist coalition” he added.

“However, the demands from the small parties are intolerable and time is running out. Hence it is legitimate for the prime minister to present a generous proposal to Labor and perhaps this will send a message to the smaller parties that they are getting carried away with their demands”.

Erdan is adamantly opposed to Avigdor Lieberman remaining in the post of foreign minister. “I recall during Operation Protective Edge that Lieberman convened a press conference to speak out against his own cabinet”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

[VIDEO & PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

Looking to woo New York’s Orthodox Jewish community, Republican presidential contender Rand Paul faced tough questions Monday about his support for Israel and his approach to foreign policy in the Middle East.

The Kentucky senator spoke in front of a group of several dozen rabbis and other Jewish community leaders at the National Society for Hebrew Day School Headquarters in Brooklyn as part of an outreach effort to a community widely courted by his party.

“I think Israel is one of our best allies and best friends around the world,” Paul said. “They’re the only democracy in the Middle East. And I’m very supportive.”

Paul’s past calls to eventually end all U.S. foreign aid, including to Israel, set him apart in the crowded field of GOP candidates for president, who all support such aid, and he has worked hard in recent months to broaden his appeal among those voters who are focused on foreign policy, especially in the Middle East.

His visit came the day before the Senate begins debate over empowering Congress to review and possibly reject any nuclear pact with Iran. Israel is strongly opposed to a proposed deal between the U.S., five other world powers and Iran, a country whose leaders have vowed to destroy Israel.

Paul spoke at length about his positon on the ongoing negotiations, telling the crowd a letter sent by 47 senators to Tehran – which said any nuclear agreement with the Obama administration that lacks congressional approval could be unraveled by future presidents – actually strengthened the president’s hand at the table.

“I am for negotiations as opposed to war,” Paul said.

Regarding foreign aid to Israel, Paul said that his position is “the same as it’s always been: One day Israel should be independent.” But he added, “I’m also not saying that it has to end now.”

Asked whether he is an isolationist, Paul that this country’s interventions across the Middle East in recent years, including toppling Saddam Hussein in Iraq, had had unintended consequences. Among them, empowering the Islamic State group that overran large parts of Iraq last year.

“Each time we topple a secular dictator, I think we wind up with chaos and radical Islam seems to rise,” he said, arguing that the first principle of American foreign policy should be “first, do no harm.”

Paul, who has traveled to Israel in recent years, enjoyed a Shabbat dinner at the Plaza Hotel in January 2013 that was referred to repeatedly Monday by his backers. He began his appearance with brief remarks stressing the importance of faith in American life.

“You have to have religion. You need a religious backbone for a culture or for a civilization,” he said, adding that Dr. Richard Roberts, one of his most prominent Jewish supporters, had been teaching him about Jewish traditions, including sitting shiva after the death of a loved one and placing of rocks on grave sites, as he’d seen in the film “Schindler’s List.”

But when the floor was opened to questions, Paul was immediately confronted by a supporter, Pinchos Lipschutz, the publisher of the weekly New York newspaper Yated, who asked Paul to address what he described as “the elephant in the room.”

“How,” in an age of sound bites and poll-tested answers, he asked, “do you explain your position in a way that they will stop writing that you’re an anti-Semite?”

“I’m not your campaign director, but you really have to do something to change that,” he said.

Paul, referencing polling among Republicans in the early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, tried to downplay the concerns.

“Really we don’t see it as much of a problem as it might have been two or three years ago before people knew me,” he said, adding: “I think we’ve made great progress.”

In an interview afterward, Lipschutz said Paul has yet to do enough.

“I think that he has to come up with a soundbite that really convinces Jewish people that he doesn’t bear any animus toward them,” he said. “He’s going to have to do better.”

(AP)

Yahadut Hatorah was hopeful it would receive seven seats in the elections but this was not the case. It only received six seats and as a result, Yaakov Asher is out of the 20th Knesset.

However party officials remain hopeful he will resume his activities on behalf of the tzibur at large, requesting to make him a deputy minister. If this is approved, Asher will be a cabinet member but not a Member of Knesset.

According to a Channel 10 News report by Raviv Drucker, the party’s conditions for entering a coalition include no less than 75 requests to change existing legislation. The requests for change include appointing a deputy minister who is not a MK. Today, the law permits appointing a minister who is not a MK, but not a deputy minister. Yahadut Hatorah wants to expand that law to include deputy ministers as well as ministers.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

House Republicans are moving to sharply curb the Obama administration’s recent moves to ease restrictions on travel to Cuba.

A provision backed by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida would block new air flights and cruise ship travel to Cuba. It was added to a must-pass transportation spending bill that’s coming to the House floor next month.

The administration issued new rules in January that would significantly ease travel restrictions to Cuba and permit regularly scheduled flights for the first time since the revolution more than five decades ago. The GOP move would thwart the new flights but leave in place new rules permitting the import of limited amounts of goods like cigars and rum.

The provision is sure to spark controversy and a veto threat from the White House.

(AP)

A moderate earthquake has shaken the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. There are no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the Tuesday afternoon quake had a preliminary magnitude of 5.5 and struck at a depth of about 70 miles.

Its epicenter was 6 miles east of the city of Palomares, and residents in the state capital reported feeling it.

(AP)

Former Agriculture Minister (Yisrael Beitenu) Yair Shamir blames party leader Avigdor Lieberman for the party’s failure in the elections. The party had 13 seats in the previous Knesset and has dropped down to 6 in the current 20th Knesset.

Speaking to Galei Yisrael Radio’s Menachem Horowitz, Shamir explained a decision was made regarding a certain policy line ahead of elections and the outcome of the elections proves that decision was not correct. Shamir, who announced he is stepping down before elections, explained he was not a part of the elections strategy team or the formulation of the party’s agenda.

Shamir added “I don’t like to grade people but I will say Avigdor Lieberman is a polished politician. He took a calculated risk and the results are what they are. I hope for improvement next time around”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

· The earthquake death toll this morning is reported to have reached 4,438.

· Israel Foreign Ministry officials report that the number of Israelis who have yet to make contact following the earthquake is down to 11.

· Zaka: 11 trekkers hold up in a monetary near Katmandu have been recused.

· Prime Minister Sushil Koirala continues to appeal to the international community for tents, supplies and assistance. The prime minister fears the death toll may reach 10,000.

· 216 Israelis landed in Ben-Gurion Airport including 14 babies on an El Al jumbo jet. There were two preemies on the flight who were taken to Schneider Children’s Hospital in Petach Tikvah.

· United Hatzalah, Zaka & First search and rescue teams currently in Nepal in joint rescue mission following earthquake.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

[VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

As National Guard troops responded to rioting in Baltimore, President Barack Obama said Tuesday that there have been too many troubling police interactions with black citizens across America in what he called “a slow-rolling crisis.” But he said there was no excuse for rioters to engage in senseless violence.

Obama said people in Baltimore who stole from businesses and burned buildings and cars should be treated as criminals. “They aren’t protesting, they aren’t making a statement, they’re stealing,” Obama said.

Obama spoke at a White House press conference with the Japanese prime minister the day after violence broke out 40 miles north after the funeral for Freddie Gray, a black man who died in Baltimore police custody under mysterious circumstances.

Obama said the case should prompt some “soul searching” in America about communities where young men are more likely to end up in jail or dead than completing school. He said police should not be expected to do the “dirty work” and solutions should involve early education, criminal justice reform and job training. He said American can’t just “pay attention to these communities when a CVS burns.”

“We have seen too many instances of what appears to be police officers interacting with individuals, primarily African-American, often poor, in ways that raise troubling questions. It comes up, it seems like, once a week now,” Obama said. He said it’s not new, but there’s new awareness as a result of cameras and social media.

(AP)

On a trip to Australia in 2012, Hillary Rodham Clinton lavished praise on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, calling it the “gold standard” in efforts to create open and fair trade.

Now, early in her Democratic presidential campaign, she’s striking a different tone — determinedly non-committal, with a hint of skepticism about the sweeping trade agreement she promoted as President Barack Obama’s secretary of state. “Any trade deal has to produce jobs and raise wages and increase prosperity and protect our security,” Clinton said at a New Hampshire community college last week.

The 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership under negotiation by Obama has divided the Democratic Party, leaving Clinton caught between angry liberal activists and the president she once served. It’s a fight Clinton has seen before.

She went from backing the North American Free Trade Agreement in the 1990s to renouncing it during her first presidential bid in the 2008 campaign — her positions on trade shifting several times over her decades in politics.

Now, Republicans are pressing for a closer look at what she’s said and done on trade, with the Republican National Committee filing a request under the public-records law for her State Department correspondence with the U.S. trade representative.

At the same time, key Democratic constituencies are pressing Clinton to take a firmer stance against the emerging deal, which would eliminate tariffs and many other trade barriers for the U.S., Canada and Asian countries in their commerce with each other.

“The labor movement opposes Fast Track,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Tuesday, referencing congressional legislation that would speed passage of the pact. “We expect those who seek to lead our nation forward to oppose Fast Track. There is no middle ground.”

Potential Democratic rivals are using Clinton’s history to question her commitment to protecting U.S. workers.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who may seek the Democratic nomination, sought to delay consideration of the pact, calling it a “job-killing” deal “negotiated in secret.” He has long opposed trade liberalization.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who is expected to launch a Democratic campaign this spring, is also against so-called fast-track legislation, which lets the administration negotiate an agreement that Congress can only vote for or against, not amend.

In a fundraising email entitled “Hard Choice?” — a likely reference to Clinton’s memoirs, “Hard Choices” — O’Malley said a fast track on the Pacific deal would produce an agreement that “could depress wages and cost us jobs. That’s the last thing we need right now.”

Clinton’s support for trade deals has fluctuated with the political calendar.

As first lady, she trumpeted the North American deal brokered by her husband, telling unionized garment workers in 1996 that the agreement was “proving its worth.” In her 2003 memoir, she noted that the deal was “unpopular with labor unions” but “an important administration goal.”

Her support for trade pacts began softening during her time as a New York senator, when she voted for trade agreements with Chile, Singapore, Oman, and Morocco but opposed the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

In a November 2007 presidential debate, Clinton described the North American agreement, with Canada and Mexico, as “a mistake” and called for a “trade timeout.”

In that vein, she said she opposed then-pending trade agreements with Korea, Columbia, and Panama. But fast-forward to July 2011 when, as secretary of state, she described those three deals as “critical to our economic recovery.”

Trade is polarizing, she said then, but “done right, it creates jobs.”

She also repeatedly lent her support to the Pacific trade initiative at that time, saying she wanted to “expedite the negotiations as much as possible” and describing the deal as including “strong protections for workers and the environment.”

Now, as a candidate, that enthusiasm appears to have waned.

Her campaign put out a statement saying Clinton would be “watching closely” to see if the final agreement strengthens national security, protects workers, raises wages, and creates more U.S. jobs. She believes “we should be willing to walk away from any outcome that falls short of these tests,” her campaign said.

Clinton’s equivocation is being described by the White House as support for the deal. Obama, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, said Clinton wants “to see a trade agreement that is strong on labor, strong on the environment, helps U.S. workers, helps the U.S. economy. That’s my standard as well, and I’m confident that standard can be met.”

As for O’Malley, while he takes a hard line against the Pacific deal, he endorsed trade liberalization generally in the past — not least because it’s important to the Port of Baltimore. He opposed the Central American Free Trade Agreement in 2006, saying it would outsource jobs, but backed the 2011 deal with South Korea, noting the United Auto Workers union also supported it.

He branded the Pacific deal a “race to the bottom, a chasing of lower wages abroad,” in a National Public Radio interview.

(AP)

While Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu works to build his coalition government, the Yachad party headed by Eli Yishai continues fighting to overturn the results of the elections. The party fell short of reaching the minimum number of required votes to enter Knesset by about 11,000 votes. Yishai and other party officials have been yelling “foul play”, pointing a finger of blame at Shas, citing widespread election fraud.

While six weeks have passed since the national elections for 20th Knesset, Yachad remain tenacious in its efforts to enter Knesset. It is now reported that a recount of votes in ‘problematic’ voting stations began earlier this week and Yishai remains confident the results will verify the legitimacy of his claims, that many votes were disqualified due to foul play. Immediately following elections Yishai told Central Election Officials there was foul play in 200 polling stations. The committee has authorized a recount in 50 stations. Subsequently the committee authorized a recount in 30 additional polling stations for a total of 80.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)

National Guardsmen took up positions across the city and hundreds of volunteers began sweeping the streets of broken glass and other debris Tuesday, the morning after riots erupted following the funeral of a black man who died in police custody.

The streets were calm in the morning, but authorities remained on edge against the possibility of another outbreak of looting and arson. The city was under a 10 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew, all public schools were closed, and the Baltimore Orioles canceled their Tuesday night game at Camden Yards.

“We’re not going to leave the city unprotected,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan vowed during a visit to a West Baltimore intersection where cars were burned and windows smashed the night before.

State Police and law officers from other jurisdictions joined Baltimore police in patrolling the streets. National Guardsmen in riot helmets with face shields surrounded City Hall, standing behind bicycle-rack barriers.

It was the first time the National Guard was called out to quell unrest in Baltimore since 1968, when some of the same neighborhoods burned after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

As firefighters doused smoldering fires around the city, many lamented the damage done by the rioters to their own neighborhoods.

Hundreds of volunteers helped shopkeepers clean up as helmeted officers blocked a stretch of North Avenue in the neighborhood where Freddie Gray, 25, was arrested earlier in this month in a case that has become the latest flashpoint in the national debate over the police use of deadly force against black men.

Hardware stores donated trash bags and brooms, and city workers brought in trucks to haul away mounds of trash and broken glass.

With schools closed, Blanca Tapahuasco brought her three sons, ages 2 to 8, from another part of the city to help sweep the brick-and-pavement courtyard outside a looted CVS pharmacy.

“We’re helping the neighborhood build back up,” she said. “This is an encouragement to them to know the rest of the city is not just looking on and wondering what to do.”

CVS store manager Haywood McMorris said the destruction didn’t make sense: “We work here, man. This is where we stand, and this is where people actually make a living.”

The rioting started in West Baltimore on Monday afternoon — within a mile of where Gray was arrested — and by midnight had spread to East Baltimore and neighborhoods close to downtown and near the baseball stadium.

The rioters set police cars and buildings on fire, looted a mall and liquor stores and hurled rocks, bottles and cinderblocks at police in riot gear. Police responded occasionally with pepper spray or cleared the streets by moving in tight formation, shoulder to shoulder.

At least 15 officers were hurt, including six who were hospitalized, police said. There were 144 vehicle fires, 15 structure fires and nearly 200 arrests, the mayor’s office said.

“They just outnumbered us and outflanked us,” Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said. “We needed to have more resources out there.”

The rioting was the worst such violence in the U.S. since the turbulent protests that broke out over the death of Michael Brown, the unarmed black 18-year-old who was shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, last summer.

“I understand anger, but what we’re seeing isn’t anger,” Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake lamented. “It’s disruption of a community. The same community they say they care about, they’re destroying. You can’t have it both ways.”

State and local authorities found themselves responding to questions about whether their initial response had been adequate.

Rawlings-Blake waited hours to ask the governor to declare a state of emergency, and the governor hinted she should have come to him earlier.

“We were all in the command center in the second floor of the state House in constant communication, and we were trying to get in touch with the mayor for quite some time,” Hogan said at a Monday evening news conference. “She finally made that call, and we immediately took action.”

Asked if the mayor should have called for help sooner, however, Hogan replied that he didn’t want to question what Baltimore officials were doing: “They’re all under tremendous stress. We’re all on one team.”

Rawlings-Blake said officials initially thought they had gotten the unrest under control.

Maryland National Guard spokesman Lt. Charles Kohler said that about 2,000 members would be deployed through the day and that the force could build to 5,000.

“We are going to be out in massive force, and that just means basically that we are going to be patrolling the streets and out to ensure that we are protecting property,” said Maj. Gen. Linda Singh, adjutant general of the Maryland National Guard.

Also, State Police said they were putting out a call for up to 500 additional law enforcement officers from Maryland and as many as 5,000 from around the mid-Atlantic region.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch, in her first day on the job Monday, said she will send Justice Department officials to the city in the coming days. And the governor said he is temporarily moving his office from Annapolis to Baltimore.

Gray was arrested April 12 after running away at the sight of police, authorities said. He was held down, handcuffed and loaded into a police van. Leg cuffs were put on him when he became irate inside. He died of a spinal cord injury a week later.

Authorities said they are still investigating how and when he suffered the injury — during the arrest or while he was in the van, where authorities say he was riding without being belted in, a violation of department policy. Six officers have been suspended with pay while the investigation continues.

While they are angry about what happened to Gray, his family said riots are not the answer.

“I think the violence is wrong,” Gray’s twin sister, Fredericka Gray, said late Monday. “I don’t like it at all.”

In 1968, when Baltimore and many other U.S. cities erupted in flames over the assassination of King, the state of Maryland called up 6,000 Guardsmen to restore order in the city, and 2,000 active-duty federal troops were sent in, too.

Standing in front of the burned-out CVS drugstore Tuesday, the mayor lamented that the neighborhood was still recovering from the riots of the 1960s.

“We worked so hard to get a company like CVS to invest in this neighborhood,” she said. “This is the only place that so many people have to pick up their prescriptions.”

(AP)

The Northwest Citizens Patrol is a Citizens Patrol organization that works to safeguard the property and persons living and visiting the upper Northwest District of Baltimore City and lower Baltimore County, Maryland. The organization works in concert with law enforcement partners. They have issued the following statement:

Important Security Alert from NWCP:

Please be aware that the NWCP has received word from the Associated and the Baltimore Jewish Council that there may be unrest and disturbance later today at “Owings Mills Mall and the Northwest”. It is unclear at this time where exactly “Northwest” refers to. Therefore, the Associated and the Baltimore Jewish Council have strongly recommended that our schools close early so that children will not be out and about later today. All community members should be careful and prudent in their decisions to go outside this afternoon and evening. We will update you if more information becomes available.

Kol Torah, colloquially known as ‘Rabbi Berger’s Shul’ just sent out an email with the following message:

There is a 10pm Baltimore City Curfew in force tonight for all residents and after consultation with community and law enforcement representatives we will have the following schedule for the evening:

Mincha is 6:15 and 7:40pm
Maariv is 9:20 and 9:40pm
After the final Maariv the Shul will be closed.

#Baltimore today – @AlexRosenCNN pic.twitter.com/HwIrkzo7KR

— Conflict News (@rConflictNews) April 28, 2015

Iranian patrol vessels have fired warning shots across the bridge of a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo vessel that was traversing the Strait of Hormuz in Iranian territorial waters, a Pentagon official said Tuesday.

Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said the cargo ship’s master had initially refused an Iranian order to move further into Iranian waters, but after the warning shots were fired the MV Maersk Tigris complied.

Warren said the cargo ship has been boarded by Iranians, but no one has been injured and no Americans are involved.

Warren said the cargo ship issued a distress call and U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, based in the area, sent a U.S. destroyer and an aircraft to the area of the incident to monitor the situation.

Maersk, based in Copenhagen, said the ship was chartered to Rickmers Ship Management, based in Hamburg, Germany. Maersk said it had no information about the crew or the cargo.

(AP)