Girls allowed to wear tefillin in Modern Orthodox New York high school

 

Two teenage female students break ritual barriers by donning tefillin with the support of their rabbi.

By and Anne Cohen

 

Salanter Akiba Riverdale (SAR) High School, a Modern Orthodox institution in Riverdale, New York, is now allowing girls to wear tefillin.

SAR High School in Riverdale, NY

Salanter Akiba Riverdale High School, Modern Orthodox Yeshiva day school in Riverdale, New York. – Photo:Facebook

Rabbi Tully Harcsztark, head of the school, sent out an email explaining that two girls were granted permission to wrap tefillin at the school’s daily all-girls meeting, reports the Boiling Pot, the online student newspaper of Shalhevet High School in LA. Continue Reading »

Sinai Salafists Responsible for Yesterday’s Rocket Attack on Eilat

The Sinai-based jihadi group, Ansar Bayt al-Makdis, declares that ‘the Jews will only see injury from us.’

By Tova Dvorin

 

 

The Long War Journal reports Tuesday that a Sinai-based Salafist group has claimed responsibility for Monday’s rocket fire on Eilat.

The jihadist group, named Ansar Jerusalem or Ansar Bayt al Makdis, posted on Gaza based social media a statement boasting the attack.

“Our war with the enemy in Egypt has not dissuaded us from the war against the first enemy of our nation,” the statement claims. “With Allah’s help, the Jews will only see injury from us.”

The organization is believed to be the most prominent group operating against the Egyptian army in recent months. Continue Reading »

Israel Evaluates Jerusalem’s Ancient Sites in Event of Earthquake

The only site in the Old City that Israeli officials say is being checked for a possible earthquake risk is the Tower of David.  Israeli involvement in the Old City’s ancient buildings has sparked protest from Palestinians who seek sovereignty there.

 

JERUSALEM — With Israel situated in one of the world’s earthquake-prone areas, officials are taking action to protect the Holy Land’s most important ancient treasures so they don’t come tumbling down.

Tower of David - Photo:IsraelandStuff/PP

Tower of David – Photo:IsraelandStuff/PP

After a series of five moderate earthquakes shook the country in October, experts installed a seismic monitoring system at the Tower of David, one of Jerusalem’s most important — and most visible — historical sites. Continue Reading »

Arab MK Tibi yells at Netanyahu & Harper During Speeches in Knesset

Netanyahu: “I haven’t found any Arabs who wish to leave the State. Quite the opposite; Arabs have been very upset at a proposal by Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman that would redraw Israel’s boundaries and include many Israeli Arabs in a Palestinian state.”

By David Lev

 

A particularly nasty debate broke out Monday evening between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Arab MK Ahmed Tibi – as Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who was visiting the Knesset, looked on. Tibi screamed at Netanyahu, who spoke in praise of Israeli democracy, and later walked out when Harper said the same when he spoke to MKs. Continue Reading »

Rockets fired on Eilat from the Sinai

 Security  Alert – – Rockets Fired on Eilat

Last strike on Eilat occurred in August, when Iron Dome intercepted rockets.

 

Two rockets were fired at the southern Israeli city of Eilat on Monday evening, apparently from the Sinai Peninsula.

Rocket fired on Eilat in April 2013.

Rocket fired on Eilat in April 2013. – Photo: Israel Police

Police forces began combing the city shortly after the blasts were heard, at around 7 P.M., and located one of the projectiles in an open area near the entrance to the city.

An Iron Dome anti-missile battery intercepted a rocket targeting Eilat in August, marking the first time the Iron Dome system a rocket has been shot down over the southern resort city. Continue Reading »

Syrian Palestinian: ‘I Want Israeli Citizenship’

 

No Flotillas, No ‘Peace Convoys’, no pro-Palestine activists even planing help, as the Arab states, Hamas and even Palestinian Authority seem uninterested in Palestinian starvation and suffering in Syria.


Only Israel seems to have been helping.

By Israel Today Staff

 

Refugee camp resident in Damascus living under ‘suffocating siege’ says Mahmoud Abbas and the Arab world to blame for starvation.

Palestinian in Damascus: ‘I Want Israeli Citizenship’ – Screenshot

Two thousand Palestinians have been killed in Syria’s ongoing civil war, a drop in the bucket compared to the 120,000 estimated overall deaths. But many of those Palestinian casualties are the result of starvation, and many are children. Continue Reading »

Finally: Obama admits little chance for Israeli-Palestinian peace deal

 

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Vatican: Secret Archives on Pope Pius XII not ready to be opened

Pope Francis had expressed his views in 2010 in a book he co-wrote, that the World War II archives should be opened.

 

 

ROME – Should Pope Francis decide to open the secret Vatican archives regarding the World War II pontificate of Pope Pius XII, it could still take another year and a half before the thousands of documents in question are fully cataloged.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahy with Pope Francis at the Vatican, December 1, 2013.-  Photo: Amos Ben-Gershom/GPO

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahy with Pope Francis at the Vatican, December 1, 2013.- Photo: Amos Ben-Gershom/GPO

“It is a very complex operation, which we have been working on for six years,” Monsignor Sergio Pagano, the prefect of the Secret Vatican Archives, told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Monday.

Continue Reading »

Israel seeks permanent office at Int’l Renewable Energy Agency in Abu Dhabi

Energy, Water & National Infrastructures Minister Shalom, says despite Kuwait ban, Arab delegations stayed on to hear his speech.

 

 

Energy, Water and National Infrastructures Minister Silvan Shalom aims to see a permanent Israeli delegate based in Abu Dhabi, as a representative to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) headquartered in the emirate, he told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

Energy, Water and National Infrastructures Minister Silvan Shalom at the IRENA assembly in Abu Dhabi. - Photo: Courtesy

Energy, Water and National Infrastructures Minister Silvan Shalom at the IRENA assembly in Abu Dhabi. – Photo: Courtesy

Shalom spoke with the Post on Sunday evening over the phone from Abu Dhabi, where he attended the IRENA Fourth Assembly on Saturday and Sunday, occurring in conjunction with Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. Continue Reading »

Norwegian Minister: We don’t see boycott as tool to promote positive change

 

Norway’s record of hostility towards Israel is now assuming a more balanced policy, enhancing cooperation in various fields such as energy & television. Norway’s PM Solberg is expected to make 1st visit to Israel this year.

By Eldad Beck

BERLIN – The new Norwegian government, which so far was considered one of the most hostile administrations facing Israel, is working towards bracing the ties between the two countries and enhancing mutual cooperation in an array of fields.

Norway’s PM Erna Solberg left, & right, Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany – Photo: POLFOTO/AP

 

The conservative-progressive minority government, which was established some three months ago, included an article in its elections platform that states that the government will change its Middle East policy and implement a more balanced course of action. Continue Reading »

PLO official blasts Australia’s FM for admitting Israeli settlements are legal

 

Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi urged the Australian government to clarify its official position regarding settlements’ legality.

 

The Palestine Liberation Organization on Monday condemned recent remarks from Australia’s foreign minister, who said Israeli settlements may not be illegal under international law.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. – Photo: AP

 

PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi urged the Australian government to clarify its official position regarding settlements and to act in accordance with international law and consensus, Palestinian media reported.

RELATED:

 

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who was in Israel last week to attend the funeral of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, gave an interview to the Times of Israel, in which she cast doubt on the settlements’ illegality. Continue Reading »

Video: Palestinians Film Israel Border Police Being Ambushed at Anata

The 3rd intifada? Arabs ambush a police patrol, hurling cinder blocks, paint & fire bombs.

By Dalit Halevy

 

A “third intifada” may not have been officially declared, but conditions on the ground resemble those of the “first intifada” in the patterns of violence and the daring exhibited by the attackers.

Anata attack – Screenshot

The Palestinian Authority encourages what it terms “resistance” or “struggle” – adding the term “by peaceful means.” This is doublespeak, however, for struggle that includes severe violence, and the use of rocks and firebombs with intent to cause severe injuries or death among Israeli civilians and security forces. Continue Reading »

Israel sends terrorists’ bodies to Palestinian Authority

The remains of 36 terrorists to be transferred to the PA following court order.

Israeli official says the move was purely procedural & denies the move is any ‘gesture’.

By i24news

 

 

Israel late Sunday began the gradual handover of the remains of 36 Palestinians buried on its turf to the Palestinian Authority in a move reportedly aimed at boosting the ongoing peace talks between the two sides.

Bodies of terrorists transferred to Palestinians ( AFP )

The deceased were militants laid to rest in “numbered graves” at a specially designated cemetery for enemy fatalities.

The transfer became possible after Israel’s High Court of Justice acquiesced to release the bodies following an appeal by Israeli human right groups and the Palestinian families of the late militants. Continue Reading »

St. Dept allowed Muslim Brotherhood delegation to bypass U.S. airport security

 

In April 2012, American State Department official allowed a visiting delegation of Muslim Brotherhood officials to enter & continue traveling through the U.S. without undergoing routine inspection by U.S. Customs & Border Protection agents at the airports.

By Steven Emerson, IPT News

 

Continue Reading »

Congress members condemn ASA for unproductive path of boycott

Along with the U.S. Congress, close to 200 U.S. universities and the larger academic groups have criticized the boycott.

By JTA

WASHINGTON  — A bipartisan slate of 134 U.S. Congress members wrote a letter to the American Studies Association protesting its decision last month to boycott Israeli universities.

 Reps. Pete Roskam (R-Ill.) left & right  Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) - Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Pete Roskam (R-Ill.) left & right Ted Deutch (D-Fla.)  Photo: Wikimedia Commons

“Academic cooperation can be an important tool to help foster peace between Israelis and Palestinians, but you have chosen the unproductive path of isolation,” said the letter dated Friday, initiated by Reps. Pete Roskam (R-Ill.), the chief deputy whip of the U.S.

Continue Reading »