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Pious, loyal and mostly out of view: the woman beside Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar

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Hamas leader says he was not involved in choosing wife who was picked by his sisters; 18 years his junior, native Gazan Samar Abu Zamar remains out of public view but exhibits total loyalty to the brutal and violent Sinwar from ynet - News https://ift.tt/25f6TrI

Iranian president threatens Israel on BRICS sideline

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Masoud Pezeshkian in Russia visit swears damage to Israel would be 'unimaginable' should it attack Tehran in response to its ballistic missile attack; Gallant visits airbase hinting at close retaliation from ynet - News https://ift.tt/kcMF0X6

Trump said Hitler did ‘good things’ — he’s not the only one who thinks that

Donald Trump told his chief of staff John Kelly that “Hitler did some good things,” including rebuilding the German economy.  The revelation, first made in 2021 and since expanded on by Kelly , plays into a trend for Trump, who has invoked the Nazis several times since 2015 , and was reported, well before his political aspirations, to own a copy of the German dictator’s speeches . As a new ad for Democratic Majority for Israel makes clear, the former president has people in his orbit who espouse antisemitic ideas, or even apologetics for Nazis. But Trump is not alone in praising the tyrant who Kelly said “you can never say anything good about.” He’s not even the only one to do it recently. Colombian presidential candidate said he’s a follower of Hitler — then said he meant to say Einstein Rodolfo Hernández, who ran for president of Colombia in 2022, said in a 2016 interview that he considered himself himself a follower “of a great German thinker, who is named Adolf Hit...

Mazel tov, Yiddish-speaking soldier Yonatan Alman has married!

יונתן אַלמן, דער 34־יאָריקער צה״ל־סאָלדאַט וואָס האָט זינט דעם אָנהייב פֿון דער ישׂראלדיקער מלחמה מיט כאַמאַס, פּראָדוצירט און פֿאַרשפּרייט פֿונעם פֿראָנט צענדליקער ווידעאָס אויף ייִדיש, האָט שוין געפֿונען זײַן באַשערטע! מיט אַ חודש צוריק איז ער מיט זײַן כּלה, טל פֿינקלמאַן, 30 יאָר אַלט, געשטאַנען אונטער דער חופּה אין רמת־הכּובֿש, אַ קיבוץ אין צענטראַל־ישׂראל. 200 געסט זענען בײַגעווען. הרבֿ אליעזר ווײַס, אַ מיטגליד פֿונעם וועד־הרבנות אין ישׂראל, איז געווען דער מסדר־קידושין. ער האָט גוט געקענט יונתנס טאַטן, שלמה אַלמן ז״ל, ווען זיי האָבן מיט יאָרן צוריק נאָך געוווינט אין מאַנטשעסטער, ענגלאַנד. יונתנס ווידעאָס זענען גוט באַקאַנט דער ייִדיש־וועלט. גלײַך נאָך די שוידערלעכע כאַמאַס־אַטאַקן דעם 7טן אָקטאָבער 2023 איז יונתן געשיקט געוואָרן צום צפֿון־פֿראָנט. אַ ליבהאָבער פֿון דער ייִדישער שפּראַך האָט ער גלײַך אָנגעהויבן מאַכן און פֿאַרשפּרייטן ווידעאָס אויף ייִדיש, כּדי אויפֿצומינטערן די ישׂראלים און ייִדן איבער דער וועלט בײַ דער שווערער צײַט. אין איין ווידעאָ זינגט ער דעם פּאַרטיזאַנער...

'The last person I'd suspect,' shocked neighbors say after Iranian spy ring busted

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Haifa residents in shock after 2 neighbors, including alleged spy ring leader, arrested; officials call for revoking citizenship and imposing financial sanctions on those involved from ynet - News https://ift.tt/r6lqcnM

IDF reveals Hezbollah cash bunker beneath Beirut hospital, housing over $500 million

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Following airstrikes targeting terror group's financial network, army unveils secret money bunker, located underneath Al-Sahel Hospital in heart of Lebanese capital; 'Funds stored here could have been used to rebuild Lebanon, but instead, they are used to rebuild Hezbollah' from ynet - News https://ift.tt/vESxjoY

How to celebrate Simchat Torah when our hearts are weighed down by grief

( JTA ) — How are we supposed to celebrate Simchat Torah this year with a full heart? The very name of this holiday — “the joy of the Torah,” celebrating the completion of the annual Torah cycle — connotes an emotion we cannot fully inhabit on the anniversary on the Hebrew calendar of Hamas’s brutal attack on Israel. I vividly remember standing in shul last year, wondering how we might celebrate with the Torah as the news trickled in . The rabbi kept updating us with the news of more and more dead, even as we sang the same celebratory songs of the holiday. Though we didn’t know the full extent of the devastation, it was still difficult to dance with the normal energy. A day meant to celebrate our love of tradition, embodied in the Torah, was forever altered. And yet, we have completed another cycle of the Torah — and this is a reason to celebrate. We cannot fully convert Simchat Torah to a time of sadness. We have to balance these two emotions — joy and devastation. Indeed, we are ...

Israel has no ambassador in the UAE, despite importance of post

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Amir Hayek, the only Israeli ambassador to an Arab country who did not return to Israel following the outbreak of the war, completed his term last Friday, leaving one of Israel's most friendly allies in the Gulf without an ambassador  from ynet - News https://ift.tt/vozVdc8

Jewish-American billionaire hell-bent on Trump losing presidential bid

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Mark Cuban, the successful businessman and co-star of TV's Shark Tank is a one-man army against Elon Musk and other billionaires who support Trump's race for the White House by propping up his opponent VP Harris   from ynet - News https://ift.tt/RTDqQBc

'Radwan forces fled and we’re in their houses, destroying them at every altercation'

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In a vast underground command center, real-time footage tracks IDF operations in Lebanon; while communication systems relay multiple incidents along the border, personnel inside the bunker remain calm and composed from ynet - News https://ift.tt/XT5EHGC

Driver killed by Hezbollah rocket near Acre identified as Alexei Popov

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Victim, 50, reportedly pulled his car to the side of the road and was critically injured by shrapnel to his upper body; his passenger, who ducked and shielded his head, sustained only minor injuries from ynet - News https://ift.tt/60qpdPg

Israel’s elite rescue unit 669: 'We have no fear, ready to return to the field df needed'

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The daring rescues under heavy fire, soldiers arriving at the helicopter with no pulse and surviving, and the nightmare moment when they lost friends in Gaza chopper crash; 6 elite Unit 669 soldiers, who juggle between reserve duty and working as doctors at Soroka Medical Center, explain why, even with some now grandparents, leaving the unit is unimaginable   from ynet - News https://ift.tt/DHd6tX5

Can you be buried in a Jewish cemetery if you die by assisted suicide?

A Bintel Brief , Yiddish for a bundle of letters, has been solving reader dilemmas since 1906. Send yours via email , social media or this form . Dear Bintel, My husband is nearing the end of his life due to cancer. He wants assisted suicide, legal in my state. Can he be buried under these circumstances in a Jewish cemetery? Signed, Near the End Dear Near the End,  I’m so sorry to hear about your situation and your husband’s suffering. I can only imagine how tragic and difficult this must be for both of you.  I’m no authority on Jewish law, so I asked for help from several experts. The bottom line: Cemeteries and funeral homes don’t require, and won’t inquire about, end-of-life details, so you should have no problems there. But if you belong to a synagogue, or you have a rabbi in mind to assist you at some point in this process, you might want to speak directly with them. And if you don’t get the answer you want, keep looking. You can probably find the support you n...

Judaism is a “silent character” in Nora Ephron’s legacy

Ilana Kaplan’s new book Nora Ephron at the Movies talks about the idea of “comfort”  21 times.  That makes sense. “Comfortable” describes the aesthetic of  Ephron’s films: cable-knit sweaters, oversized jeans, a city somehow perpetually in autumn. Ephron’s rom-coms with strong female leads have nourished generations of movie-lovers and are often called “comfort films.”  In contrast, the word “Jewish” appears only three times in Kaplan’s book, and twice just to describe a certain deli that acts as the setting in one of Ephron’s most iconic scenes . The book focuses on Ephron’s impact on the world of film, not the writer-director’s Jewish background.  That’s true to real life. As those who knew the late Ephron personally attest , Ephron’s Jewish identity was something that indeed textured her life and films, but it was by no means the center of her work, nor did she want her background to define her. “She wanted to be known as a director, and not a femal...

Netanyahu: Sinwar's killing marks 'beginning of day after Hamas'

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In video statement, PM calls Hamas leader's death turning point in war and urges Gaza residents to release hostages or face consequences, declaring collapse of Hamas rule imminent from ynet - News https://ift.tt/mJd4GLX

Former KKK leader David Duke endorses Jill Stein for president

( JTA ) — David Duke, the former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, endorsed Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, who is Jewish, on his radio show Tuesday. Duke, long one of the country’s highest-profile white supremacists and antisemites, has repeatedly sought political office while spreading conspiracy theories about Jews. In his endorsement of Stein, he said that she was the candidate with the strongest stance against “Jewish power” because she opposed Israel’s military campaign. “Although Dr. Stein and I obviously have our differences on important issues, she’s the only candidate who speaks clearly against the war in the Middle East and Ukraine,” Duke said on his radio show. “By opposing Jewish supremacy in Israel and Jewish mass murder in Israel, and the policies of the American government in these insane wars and the Ukrainian war there, she’s actually doing something which is harming this Jewish power.” Duke is an unlikely supporter of Stein, who in addition to being Jewis...

'Starvation': UN Security Council criticized Israel in emergency session on Gaza

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International community in meeting on humanitarian situation in the Strip accuse Israel of 'policy of starvation' amid IDF operations in the area and US threats of an arms embargo from ynet - News https://ift.tt/OLjiSk9

Pope Francis owes Jews an apology

Amid the anguished commemorations of the events of last Oct. 7, Pope Francis issued a letter to Catholics in the Middle East. It lamented the “the fuse of hatred” lit a year ago and urged his followers in the region to “defeat our one true enemy: the spirit of evil that foments war, because it is ’murderous from the beginning,’ and ‘a liar and the father of lies.’” Most people would perceive those words as anodyne, even praiseworthy. But anyone familiar with the New Testament book of John knows these are words that for centuries have demonized Jews, and have been used as a pretext for attacking them. The Vatican needs to issue a clarification, if not outright apology, for implying the antisemitic sentiment. Why? Well, first, some background. It’s a gross understatement to say the Catholic Church has come a long way with regard to its attitude toward the Jewish people. Early Church figures like St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. John Chrysostom were rabidly anti-Jewish. The former called...

'Israel wasn't established by UN resolution, but through blood of heroic fighters': Netanyahu pans Macron

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In call with French leader, PM stresses Israel’s efforts aimed at eliminating Hezbollah threat and secure return of northern residents, following Macron's criticism that Israel cannot disregard UN resolutions from ynet - News https://ift.tt/YJfsPOE

VIDEO: The yeshiva student who became a poet

ס׳איז לעצטנס אַרויס אויף יוטוב אַן אינטערוויו מיטן טאַלאַנטירטן ייִדישן פּאָעט און איבערזעצער ירמיהו אַהרן טאַוב . דער שמועס, געפֿירט פֿון אלי בענעדיקט און פּראָדוצירט דורך דער „ייִדיש־ליגע“, איז אין גאַנצן אויף ייִדיש. דער ווידעאָ איז טייל פֿון אַן אָנגייענדיקער סעריע אינטערוויוען מיט הײַנטיקע ייִדיש־רעדנדיקע פּערזענלעכקייטן. ‫‫ירמיהו אַהרן טאַוב איז געבוירן געוואָרן און אויפֿגעוואַקסן בײַ אַן אָרטאָדאָקסישער משפּחה אין פֿילאַדעלפֿיע און וווינט הײַנט אין וואַשינגטאָן. ער איז דער מחבר פֿון זעקס פּאָעזיע־ביכער און צוויי פּראָזעביכער אויף ייִדיש און ענגליש. אין 2014 איז אין פּויזן, פּוילן, אַרויס אַ קאָמפּאַקטדיסק מיט נײַן פֿון זײַנע מוזיקירטע ייִדישע לידער. אין 2020 איז פּובליקירט געוואָרן זײַן איבערזעצונג פֿון די זכרונות פֿון ירחמיאל בריקס — אַ טרילאָגיע פֿון בריקסעס אויטאָביאָגראַפֿיעס, אַרײַנגערעכנט זײַן לעבן אין אַ חסידישן שטעטל פֿאַרן חורבן , דאָס ערשטע יאָר פֿון דער מלחמה , און זײַנע איבערלעבונגען ווי אַ צוואַנג־אַרבעטער בײַ די דײַטשן.‫ אין דעם ווידעאָ דערציילט טאַוב וועגן זײ...