(theyeshivaworld) A maniac who was released from jail on parole for attempted murder randomly slashed a Hasidic couple and their baby in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday.
It happened at around 5:50PM on State Street near Pearl Street, when the man simply walked over to them, displayed a knife, began screaming at them, and proceeded to slash the family.
Three people were injured: a 22-year-old father was slashed in the head, a 23-year-old mother was slashed in the lip, and their 1-year-old son was slashed in the chin, police said.
According to the NY Post, a 30-year-old parolee who had been released from jail last month, was taken into custody by the NYPD, and the knife used was located. The Post says the man spent a few years in jail after pleading guilty to attempted murder tied to a violent August 2011 robbery on the Upper East Side.
The NYPD tells YWN that it did not appear that the man said anything anti-Semitic prior to attacking the family.
Thankfully, the man and his family were not seriously injured. They were treated by emergency personnel, and were not transported to the hospital.
Shomrim were on the scene as well and assisted police with a language barrier.
(AP) — The Biden administration is quietly ramping up assistance to the Palestinians after former President Donald Trump cut off nearly all aid. Since taking office with a pledge to reverse many of Trump’s Israeli-Palestinian decisions, the administration has allocated nearly $100 million for the Palestinians, only a small portion of which has been publicized.
The administration announced last Thursday that it was giving $15 million to vulnerable Palestinian communities in the West Bank and Gaza to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic. A day later, with no public announcement, it notified Congress that it will give the Palestinians $75 million for economic support, to be used in part to regain their “trust and goodwill” after the Trump-era cuts.
The State Department declined to comment on the notification, and it wasn’t clear if the $75 million includes the $15 million in pandemic aid. Nevertheless, the funding plan represents a major shift in the U.S. approach to the Palestinians after the mutual recriminations during the Trump years.
In general, the administration supports a resumption in aid to the Palestinians, State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
“We continue to believe that American support for the Palestinian people, including financial support, it is consistent with our values. It is consistent with our interests. Of course, it is consistent with the interests of the Palestinian people. It’s also consistent with the interests of our partner, Israel, and we’ll have more to say on that going forward,” he told reporters.
The administration has made no secret of its belief that Trump’s approach, which alienated the Palestinians, was flawed and made prospects for peace less likely. The new assistance appears aimed at encouraging the Palestinians to return to negotiations with Israel, though there is no indication it will have that effect and Israel’s response has yet to be gauged.
A copy of the March 26 congressional notification from the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development was obtained by The Associated Press, just hours after the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office issued a report that found USAID had not properly vetted all of its Palestinian funding recipients for U.S. antiterrorism criteria as required by law.
Under U.S. law, the United States may not provide aid to the Palestinian Authority or fund projects it would benefit from as long as the authority pays stipends to the perpetrators and families of those convicted of anti-Israel or U.S. attacks. Such payments were one reason the Trump administration cut off aid. Although none of the assistance is to be provided to the Palestinian Authority, pro-Israel lawmakers, many of them Republicans, are likely to raise objections.
The GAO based its findings on a review of aid provided to the Palestinians between 2015 and 2019, when Trump severed most of the aid. While it said that USAID had followed the law with respect to people and groups it funded directly, it had not done the same with entities, known as sub-grantees, to which those groups then distributed taxpayer dollars.
“If funding resumes, we recommend measures to improve compliance,” said the GAO report, which was released late Monday.
According to USAID’s congressional notification, much of the $75 million is intended for urgent short-term projects aimed at quickly rebuilding U.S.-Palestinian relations, which had sunk to lows during the Trump administration. The notice said the money may start to be spent on April 10.
“Given the absence of USAID activity in recent years, engaging civil society actors will be critical to regaining trust and goodwill with Palestinian society,” the notification said, explaining the rationale for providing $5.4 million to Palestinian civic groups, including possibly independent media, in the West Bank and Gaza.
Other areas identified for USAID funding include the health care sector and the resumption of assistance to the East Jerusalem Hospital Network that Trump had cut off, sanitation, water supply and transportation infrastructure, social services and job training for Palestinian youth, micro-loans and grants for small businesses as well as disaster preparedness.
In a bid to forestall expected questions and criticism from lawmakers who supported Trump’s aid cuts, USAID sought to assure Congress that it would ensure all legal criteria for providing the money would be met.
“USAID adheres to rigorous partner antiterrorism vetting and certification, auditing, and monitoring procedures to help ensure that its assistance does not go to Hamas or other terrorist organizations,” the notice said.
In announcing the $15 million in COVID-19 assistance, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said it was “one piece of our renewed commitment to the Palestinian people,” but she did not elaborate.
Under Trump, the U.S. provided unprecedented support to Israel, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv and breaking relations and slashing financial assistance for the Palestinians.
Soon after President Joe Biden was inaugurated on Jan. 20, his administration announced that it would restore relations with the Palestinians and renew aid as key elements of support for a two-state solution to the conflict.
Thomas-Greenfield reiterated Biden’s support for a two-state solution and said “the United States looks forward to continuing its work with Israel, the Palestinians, and the international community to achieve a long-sought peace in the Middle East.”
(AP) — The Pentagon on Wednesday swept away Trump-era policies that largely banned transgender people from serving in the military, issuing new rules that offer them wider access to medical care and assistance with gender transition.
The new department regulations allow transgender people who meet military standards to enlist and serve openly in their self-identified gender, and they will be able to get medically necessary transition-related care authorized by law, chief Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters during a briefing.
The changes come after a two-month Pentagon review aimed at developing guidelines for the new policy, which was announced by President Joe Biden just days after he took office in January.
Biden’s executive order overturned the Trump policy and immediately prohibited any service member from being forced out of the military on the basis of gender identity. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin then gave the Pentagon two months to finalize the more detailed regulations that the military services will follow.
The new rules also prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. Their release Wednesday coincides with International Transgender Day of Visibility, and they will take effect in 30 days. Kirby said that will give the military services the time they need to update their policies and provide guidance to commanders.
“The United States military is the greatest fighting force on the planet because we are composed of an all-volunteer team willing to step up and defend the rights and freedoms of all Americans,” Austin said in a statement Wednesday. “We will remain the best and most capable team because we avail ourselves of the best possible talent that America has to offer, regardless of gender identity.”
Austin has also called for a reexamination of the records of service members who were discharged or denied reenlistment because of gender identity issues under the previous policy. Stephanie Miller, the director of military accession policy, told reporters there is no data yet on how many people that may be.
Until a few years ago, service members could be discharged from the military for being transgender, but that changed during the Obama administration. In 2016, the Pentagon announced that transgender people already serving in the military would be allowed to serve openly, and that by July 2017 they would be allowed to enlist.
After Donald Trump took office, however, his administration delayed the enlistment date and called for additional study. A few weeks later, Trump caught military leaders by surprise, tweeting that the government wouldn’t accept or allow transgender people to serve “in any capacity” in the military.
After a lengthy and complicated legal battle and additional reviews, the Defense Department in April 2019 approved a policy that fell short of an all-out ban but barred transgender troops and recruits from transitioning to another sex and required most individuals to serve in what the administration called their “birth gender.”
Under that policy, currently serving transgender troops and anyone who had signed an enlistment contract before the effective date could continue with plans for hormone treatments and gender transition if they had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
But after that date, no one with gender dysphoria who was taking hormones or had transitioned to another gender was allowed to enlist. Troops that were already serving and were diagnosed with gender dysphoria were required to serve in the gender assigned at birth and were barred from taking hormones or getting transition surgery.
The new policies released Wednesday are similar to those developed in 2016. The announcement was praised by advocacy groups and members of Congress.
“The Pentagon absolutely did the right thing today by reestablishing a policy of inclusion for transgender service members, who once again will be able to serve openly and proudly in their self-identified gender,” said Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., who heads the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee.
Nicolas Talbott, whose plans to enlist in the Air Force National Guard were sidelined by the Trump administration, expressed relief Wednesday.
“I’m more confident than ever that when I apply to enlist, I will be judged on my skills and my accomplishments, instead of my transgender status, which has nothing to do with my ability to serve,” said Talbott, who plans to enlist.
Miller said the number of service members who self-identify as transgender could range from 1,000 to 8,000, including those who may not seek treatment. Other studies have said the total could be as high as 14,700. There are more than 1.3 million active-duty troops and close to 800,000 in the National Guard and Reserves.
Speaking during a Pentagon briefing, Miller provided updated numbers on troops who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, saying there are 2,200 who are currently serving. That total is more than double the 1,071 who were serving in February 2019, according to data released then.
Miller also said that medical costs associated with treatment and gender transition is very small, “a handful of million dollars per year.” She added that “we’re not anticipating with these changes in policies that there’s going to be a significant impact in terms of medical costs.”
According to the Pentagon, the department spent about $8 million on transgender care from 2016 to 2019.
Four of the military service chiefs told Congress in 2018 that they had seen no discipline, morale or unit readiness problems with transgender troops serving openly in the military. But they also acknowledged that some commanders were spending a lot of time with transgender people who were working through medical requirements and other transition issues.
In this image from store video, George Floyd, right, is seen inside Cup Foods on May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis. Former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin is on trial for the death of Floyd at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, Minn. (Court TV via AP, Pool)
(AP) — After the ambulance took George Floyd away, the Minneapolis officer who had pinned his knee on the Black man’s neck defended himself to a bystander by saying Floyd was “a sizable guy” and “probably on something,” according to police video played in court Wednesday.
The video was part of a mountain of footage — both official and amateur — and witness testimony at Officer Derek Chauvin ’s murder trial that all together showed how Floyd’s alleged attempt to pass a phony $20 bill at a neighborhood market last May escalated into tragedy one video-documented step at a time.
A security-camera scene of people joking around inside the store soon gave way to the sight of officers pulling Floyd from his SUV at gunpoint, struggling to push him into a squad car as he writhed and screamed that he was claustrophobic, and then putting him on the pavement.
When Floyd was finally taken away by paramedics, Charles McMillian, a 61-year-old bystander who recognized Chauvin from the neighborhood, told the officer he didn’t respect what Chauvin had done.
“That’s one person’s opinion,” Chauvin could be heard responding. “We gotta control this guy ’cause he’s a sizable guy … and it looks like he’s probably on something.”
Floyd was 6-foot-4 and 223 pounds, according to the autopsy, which also found fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system. Chauvin’s lawyer said the officer is 5-foot-9 and 140 pounds.
Chauvin, 45, is charged with murder and manslaughter, accused of killing the 46-year-old Floyd by kneeling on his neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds, as he lay face-down in handcuffs. The most serious charge against the now-fired white officer carries up to 40 years in prison.
Floyd’s death, along with the harrowing bystander video of him gasping for breath as onlookers yelled at Chauvin to get off him, triggered sometimes violent protests around the world and a reckoning over racism and police brutality across the U.S.
Jurors were shown police body camera video of the approximately 20 minutes between when police approached Floyd’s vehicle and when he was loaded into the ambulance.
When Officer Thomas Lane confronted Floyd in his SUV, drew his gun and demanded with a few expletives that he show his hands, a panicky-sounding Floyd said: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry” and “I got shot before.” Seemingly crying, he begged repeatedly, “Please don’t shoot me, man.”
Then, when told to get into the squad car, Floyd repeatedly yelled, “I’m not that kind a guy!” and “I’m claustrophobic!” As officers shoved his upper body and then his legs into the car, he writhed and screamed, “Please! Please! … I can’t breathe!”
Officers were clearly exasperated as Floyd braced himself against the squad car and arched his body while they tried to get him inside. At one point, he threw his upper body out of the car, and officers tried to push him back in.
Officers eventually pulled him out and brought him to the ground. Floyd thanked officers as they took him out of the squad car.
Once Floyd was on the ground — with Chauvin’s knee on his neck, another officer’s knee on his back and a third man holding his legs — the officers talked calmly about whether he might be on drugs.
Lane was heard saying officers found a “weed pipe” on Floyd and wondered if he might be on PCP, saying Floyd’s eyes were shaking back and forth fast.
“He wouldn’t get out of the car. He just wasn’t following instructions,” Lane was recorded saying. The officer also asked twice if the officers should roll Floyd on his side, and later said calmly that he thought Floyd was passing out. Another officer checked Floyd’s wrist for a pulse and said he couldn’t find one.
Minutes earlier, as Floyd was pinned down by Chauvin and other officers, McMillian, the bystander, could be heard on video saying to Floyd, “You can’t win” and “Get up and get in the car.”
Floyd replied: “I can’t.”
The defense has argued that Chauvin did what he was trained to do and that Floyd’s death was not caused by the officer’s knee, as prosecutors contend, but by Floyd’s illegal drug use, heart disease, high blood pressure, and the adrenaline flowing through his body.
Events spun out of control earlier that day soon after Floyd allegedly handed a cashier at Cup Foods, 19-year-old Christopher Martin, a counterfeit bill for a pack of cigarettes.
Martin testified Wednesday that he watched Floyd’s arrest outside with “disbelief — and guilt.”
“If I would’ve just not tooken the bill, this could’ve been avoided,” Martin lamented, joining the burgeoning list of witnesses who expressed a sense of helplessness and lingering guilt over Floyd’s death.
Martin said he immediately believed the $20 bill was fake. But he said he accepted it, despite believing the amount would be taken out of his paycheck by his employer, because he didn’t think Floyd knew it was counterfeit and “I thought I’d be doing him a favor.”
Martin then second-guessed his decision and told a manager, who sent Martin outside to ask Floyd to return to the store. But Floyd and a passenger in his SUV twice refused to go back into the store to resolve the issue, and the manager had a co-worker call police, Martin testified.
Martin said that when Floyd was inside the store buying cigarettes, he spoke so slowly “it would appear that he was high.” But he described Floyd as friendly and talkative.
After police arrived, Martin went outside as people were gathering on the curb and yelling at officers. He said he saw Officer Tou Thao push one of his co-workers. Martin said he also held back another man who was trying to defend himself after being pushed by Thao.
Wednesday morning’s testimony was briefly interrupted when a juror stood and raised her hand and gestured toward the door. She later told the judge that she had been feeling stress and having trouble sleeping, but told the judge she was OK to proceed.
Thousands attend funerals for the Orthodox Jews who were murdered in Jersey City by those influenced by the Black Hebrew Israelite cult. Photo Credit: Josh Einiger
Michael Ginsberg(Daily Caller)
Highly educated people were more likely to support shutting down Orthodox Jewish street funerals than Black Lives Matter protests during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new survey.
78% of individuals with more than a four-year college degree were likely to support shutting down Orthodox Jewish street funerals, compared to only 42% who were likely to support shutting down a Black Lives Matter protest, according to a new paper titled “Education and Antisemitism.”
University of Arkansas professors Jay P. Greene and Albert Cheng, and Empire Center fellow Ian Kingsbury conducted the survey which collected responses from 1,864 Americans.
The survey also found that individuals with a bachelor’s degree were more likely to support banning Orthodox Jewish funerals than Black Lives Matter protests. 74% of those respondents supported prohibiting the funerals, compared to 63% who supported prohibiting the protests. 61% of the public writ large favored prohibiting both funerals and protests.
New York City officials cracked down on Orthodox Jewish worship practices during the summer of 2020, with Mayor Bill de Blasio personally ordering the dispersal of a rabbi’s funeral. More than 500,000 Orthodox Jews live in New York City, according to the New York Times, including many who are Hasidim.
Hasidic Jews follow the teachings of an 18th century Ukrainian rabbi who emphasized a more mystical and emotional religious practice, according to Religion News Service.
However, de Blasio expressed support for Black Lives Matter protests, exempting them from a ban on large-scale events. He also ordered city officials to paint Black Lives Matter murals around the city at the request of activists, ignoring the normal permitting process.
More than 1,200 healthcare professionals signed a letter saying that protests in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd should be allowed to continue, even during the pandemic. Multiple cities, including Sacramento and Boston, declared racism a public health crisis in 2020.
The survey also found that individuals with more than four years of post-high school education were more supportive than the general public of banning military members from wearing yarmulkes than they were of banning them from wearing Sikh turbans. Respondents were also more likely than the general public to say that attachment to Israel can create a political conflict of interest than they were of attachment to Mexico.
As the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum prepares to lead America’s annual national commemoration of the Holocaust during the Days of Remembrance from April 4-11, the Museum continues its race against time to collect and record oral history testimonies before the last generation of Holocaust survivors is no longer with us.
While the Museum’s doors have been closed to visitors during the coronavirus pandemic, the Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive, one of the largest and most diverse collections of Holocaust testimonies in the world, experienced one of its most productive years in 2020, conducting 181 remote interviews in Europe and the United States with survivors and witnesses to the Holocaust. In 2019, 148 interviews were conducted. The increase in interviews last year is attributed to expanded reach through virtual platforms, whereas previously most interviews were conducted in-person.
One of the oral testimonies that the Museum recorded in 2018 was that of Frederick Lubcher, who passed away two years later on November 29, 2020. Lubcher was an attorney and retired partner and chair of the Trust and Estates department of Fried, Frank, Harris Shriver & Jacobson, LLP in New York – and he was also a child Holocaust survivor who went nearly his entire life without talking about his Holocaust experience – until he recorded his oral testimony with the Museum at the age of 87.
“He hardly spoke about what happened to him in the Holocaust — we never really knew until the Museum recorded his oral testimony,” said his son Jeremy Lubcher, who resides in Princeton, N.J., with his wife Amy. “I am so grateful my father recorded his experience because we not only learned so much that we would have never known, but we now have a living memorial of him and when I need my dad, I watch it.”
Jeremy, his brother Howard Lubcher, and their spouses and children are grateful to have their father’s and grandfather’s Holocaust survival story, and the specific details of how he escaped Nazism in Poland and Austria, forever preserved by the Museum and accessible on the Museum’s website as an educational resource, and evidence of Holocaust history.
Howard and his wife Mari Lubcher, of Armonk, N.Y., stated, “We are so incredibly proud of who our father was, and thankful to the Museum for preserving the memory of his struggles and accomplishments. We hope that in some way these oral testimonies will help keep the memories of the survivors, and the histories of their endurance and perseverance, alive.”
A private foundation just made a $250,000 gift to the Museum’s oral history archive to honor the memory of Lubcher, who was a longstanding trustee of the foundation, and Shirley Lubcher, his wife of beloved memory, who passed away two months after Frederick.
“I think it’s great that the foundation is making a gift in honor of my father and the oral testimony archives, which mean so much to me,” said Jeremy Lubcher. “If people start seeing these oral testimonies, they will have a better understanding of the Holocaust.”
To date, the Museum’s oral history archive contains more than 25,000 interviews produced and acquired from individuals, institutions and organizations.
“We know there are many others who can relate to the Lubcher family’s experience, and we hope that the Lubchers’ meaningful story will encourage others to contact the Museum to record their oral testimonies with the profound understanding of how precious time is,” said Andi Barchas, director of the Museum’s Northeast Regional Office.
A Covid-19 outbreak among vaccinated individuals inside a UK care facility is puzzling health officials, luckily the new cases were not life-threatening
Reports claim there was a “pretty big” outbreak at the unnamed care facility in Lincolnshire, where most if not all residents had received the experimental Covid vaccine. The entire report is found at UK’s Lincolnite
It is currently unknown as to whether the infected residents had both doses of a coronavirus vaccine, or just one,” reportsThe Lincolnite.
The outbreak led the Lincolnshire public health director, Derek Ward, to come out in defense of the jabs, saying there’s “no perfect” immunity, and that post-vaccine outbreaks are should be expected.
“Unfortunately, we’ve had an outbreak in a care home,” Ward announced, according to the Lincolnite. “It was a pretty big one, similar to the other outbreaks we’ve seen across the county and indeed across the country.”
Routine testing picked up the virus in a number of residents, although many were asymptomatic or suffered only mild illness.
None of the residents required hospitalization, according to Ward.
A Texas Ranger worked with U.S. Border Patrol agents to rescue a six-month-old migrant girl after human smugglers threw her into the Rio Grande near Roma, Texas. The infant’s mother had reportedly been assaulted by the smugglers in Mexico and sustained a broken leg.
Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) officials posted a photo on Facebook showing a Texas Ranger holding an infant girl after she was rescued from the river that separates the U.S. and Mexico. Officials say human smugglers threw the six-month-old girl out of a raft and into the Rio Grande on March 16.
The DPS South Texas Special Operations Group, Texas Rangers Division, assisted U.S. Border Patrol agents in the rescue effort. The report indicates the mother of the child sustained a broken leg after being assaulted by human smugglers in Mexico.
It is not clear why the smugglers threw the child into the river. Breitbart Texas reached out to Border Patrol officials for additional information on the rescue. An immediate response was not available.
On Tuesday, Breitbart Texas published a leaked video detailing the dramatic rescue attempt of a nine-year-old migrant child who drowned while attempting to cross the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, Texas, on March 20. Despite the heroic efforts to resuscitate the child, doctors later pronounced her to be deceased at a hospital.
Del Rio Sector Marine Unit agents came upon a small island in the middle of the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, Texas, on March 20. The agents found three people unconscious on the island where they became stranded while attempting to cross from Mexico into Texas, according to information provided by Del Rio Sector Border Patrol officials.
Facebook has censored a video of Lara Trump interviewing her father-in-law, Donald Trump, after it warned the family that any content “in the voice of” former President Trump would be erased.
Eric Trump, the President’s son and Lara’s husband, posted Facebook’s warning message publicly, calling it a “slap in the face to 75 million Americans.
According to the message, the Facebook representative reached out to the Trumps after Lara Trump announced her upcoming interview with President Trump, warning them that the interview would be censored if posted on the platform.
“Content posted on Facebook and Instagram in the voice of President Trump is not currently allowed on our platforms (including new posts with President Trump speaking) and will be removed if posted, resulting in additional limitations on accounts that posted it.”
The representative added that the restriction applies to all campaign accounts and “former surrogates” like Lara Trump.
Facebook, along with Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat, and a number of other major tech platforms permanently banned President Trump while he was still in office in January.
The act of permanently blacklisting a world leader drew international condemnation, including from European leaders and from the President of Mexico, who pledged to raise the issue of tech censorship at an upcoming international summit.
Tech censorship continues to be a top priority of Republicans, with the governors of Texas, Florida, and other Republican-controlled states planning to introduce measures to rein in the tech giants.
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) era has been especially difficult for medium-sized businesses in the US that have been affected by the subsequent financial crisis, the evolving business scene, lockdowns and other new challenges.
In the past year, a number of Israeli startups targeting the US small business market have found that the technology they developed has changed the fates of businesses struggling to survive the economic crisis. These technologies were not developed specifically to contend with obstacles created by the pandemic but their market presence during this period has changed the course for the better of many small business operators.
One of the companies operating in the field is Tailor Brands, which provides small businesses with services that a regular branding company offers, but through a digital interface online, automatically, and in the first stage, also for free.
The technology is also available to street businesses that had to move online or enhance an existing digital presence, and for those who set up a completely new business during this period.
“We have thousands of customers who used the platform to make a living during the Corona,” said Yahli Saar, CEO and founder of Tailor Brands.
“For example, a single mother in South Carolina who was fired from her job during the Corona period used the platform to turn a hobby she started with her daughter into a pet boarding house that today is the main source of income for the home,” he shared.
“Most small businesses are still dying at the concept stage because the idea just does not materialize. The Corona era has transformed the ability to move from the concept stage to the application stage quickly from something that is nice to something that is necessary, “Saar added.
Tailor Brands allows people to create logos for free, build business branding, build a social media presence and their website. The system offers branded products like business cards, pens, shirts, bags. Everything is done in an easy, automatic process that takes a few minutes.
Saar said the company has almost 30 million registered businesses in the system. Tailor Brands sampled about 7 million of the businesses that were started recently around the Corona outbreak and during the pandemic.
“From the information analysis we saw a general increase in the number of small businesses starting as a result of rising unemployment in the past year. These are people who have decided to leverage their skills for business building. We have seen an increase in small jewelry and fashion manufacturers, manufacturers of art items. People were looking for a way to make things by themselves in their homes and turn their skills into a business, to produce a new source of income,” he explained.
Data supporting the trend presented by Saar can be seen at the site for opening small businesses in the US. During 2010, 2.46 million applications were submitted for opening small businesses, after a steady upward trend that lasted about a decade. The number of applications increased in 2019 to 3.47 million, and during the Corona year alone in 2020, a leap was made to 4.41 million applications for opening small businesses in the US.
Another company that operates in the field of small business services in the US is Tel-Aviv-based Melio, which provides a platform for transferring digital payments between small businesses in the US. The company was established to help small businesses manage incoming and outgoing payments remotely and improve their cash flow. This is a business efficiency that is required in ordinary times and even more so in a time when the world is facing the pandemic, which creates new difficulties when it comes to synchronizing expenses and income and also running the business remotely due to social distancing requirements.
Lenox Hill Hospital has been granted accreditation by the Commission on Cancer (CoC) for its cancer program, which is part of the Northwell Health Cancer Institute, one the largest oncology programs in the New York metropolitan area. Lenox Hill is one of six CoC-accredited medical centers in Manhattan and the ninth Northwell hospital to receive the coveted recognition.
To earn this voluntary accreditation, a cancer program must meet national quality care standards in 34 key areas and maintain specific levels of excellence in the delivery of comprehensive, patient-centered care.
“This very important accreditation is the culmination of many years of hard work and dedication on the part of our talented clinicians and staff,” said Dennis Kraus, MD, vice chair of the department of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery and director of the center for head and neck oncology, who led the charge on pursuing the CoC accreditation. “It highlights the exceptional level of comprehensive, innovative and personalized cancer care we offer at Lenox Hill.”
The Cancer Institute at Lenox Hill provides access to coordinated inpatient, surgical and outpatient programs at convenient locations throughout Manhattan. The vast multidisciplinary network of specialized clinicians offers services at Lenox Hill Hospital, Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital (MEETH), Lenox Heath Greenwich Village and at nearby physician practices, all of which share electronic medical records to allow for seamless, integrated care.
Lenox Hill’s cancer program offers a broad array of oncology services in more than a dozen clinical specialties, including breast surgery, gynecologic oncology, gastrointestinal cancer, head and neck surgery, neurosurgery, urologic surgery and thoracic surgery. The state-of-the-art imaging services and radiation therapy options are complemented by the recently expanded medical oncology program. Prominent cancer experts — renowned for their work in clinical care, research and education — are continually recruited to leadership positions.
As a CoC-accredited facility, Lenox Hill takes a multidisciplinary approach to treating cancer and offers options that focus on the full spectrum of oncologic care, including prevention, early diagnosis, innovative therapies, surgical intervention, rehabilitation, follow-up for recurrent disease and end-of-life care. In addition to the latest medicine-based therapies and surgical interventions, cancer patients are offered a diverse suite of psycho-social support services, including social work, patient navigation, nutritional and genetic counseling, support groups and palliative care.
Patients are also granted full access to information on clinical trials, new treatments and genetic counseling. Northwell has been a leader in cancer clinical trials for more than 30 years and offers 150 active trials at any given time. The Cancer Institute collaborates with researchers at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, as well as cooperative groups across the country to provide access to the latest clinical trials.
Like all other programs accredited by the CoC, Lenox Hill maintains a cancer registry and contributes data to the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB), a joint program of the CoC and American Cancer Society. The nationwide oncology outcomes database is the largest clinical disease registry in the world and is used to analyze trends in cancer care. This gives Lenox Hill access to exclusive information used to create national, regional and state benchmark reports, which in turn help hospital leadership develop essential quality improvement initiatives.
“We are extremely proud to receive a national accreditation from the Commission on Cancer, as this recognition validates that we are well equipped to compete with the top cancer programs in the country,” said Mark Schiffer, MD, executive director of Lenox Hill Hospital. “The cutting-edge oncology programs and services being offering in Manhattan add to Northwell’s long history of delivering superior cancer care to diverse communities throughout the New York metro area.”
Northwell Health Cancer Institute, which brings comprehensive care and support to patients throughout Long Island, Staten Island, Westchester, Queens and greater Manhattan, is one of the largest cancer programs in the country with a team of more than 200 world-class oncology experts across 25 medical disciplines who diagnose and treat 19,000 new cancer patients each year. It seamlessly integrates world-class hospitals, innovative treatments and leading oncology experts that can treat the most complex cancer cases.
Under the direction of Richard Barakat, MD, physician-in-chief and director of cancer, the Institute’s priorities include continued investment in Manhattan oncology services, expansion of clinical trials, development of specialized cancer programs, establishment of centers of excellence in pancreatic care and oncology care for pregnant women, and enhancement of cancer services within the health system’s eastern region in Suffolk County.
According to the New York State Department of Health, more New Yorkers choose Northwell for cancer care than any other health system. In addition to the CoC accreditation, the Institute’s programs have been accredited by several other leading cancer care organizations, including the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC), the American Institute of Minimally Invasive Surgery (AIMIS), the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT), and the American College of Radiology (ACR).
The American Cancer Society estimates that almost 1.9 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2021 and projects more than 600,000 deaths from the disease. After increasing for most of the 20th century, the cancer death rate has been steadily decreasing from its peak three decades ago, for a total decline of 31 percent due to a reduction in smoking, as well as improvements in early detection and treatment. Even with the drop in death rates, cancer continues to be the second most common cause of death in men and women in the US.
Established in 1922 by the American College of Surgeons, the CoC is a consortium of professional organizations dedicated to improving patient outcomes and quality of life for cancer patients through standard-setting, prevention, research, education, and the monitoring of comprehensive, quality care. Its membership includes Fellows of the American College of Surgeons.
(TJVNEWS) An arrest has been made in connection to a violent attack on an Asian woman in Manhattan, and shockingly the suspect was on parole for slaughtering his own mother years ago.
Police say 38-year-old Brandon Elliot is the man seen in a video kicking a 65-year-old woman to the ground and continuing to attack her as she was laying on the ground.
Police say he also made anti-Asian statement toward her during the attack.
UPDATE:
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, Jr. today filed charges against Elliot in New York County Criminal Court. Elliot is charged with two counts of Assault in the Second Degree as a Hate Crime, and one count of Attempted Assault in the First Degree as a Hate Crime, for brutally assaulting a 65-year-old woman of Filipino descent in Midtown on March 29, 2021, while making anti-Asian statements
She was taken to the hospital with what the police say was a serious physical injury.
The NYPD says the Manhattan man has been charged with attempted assault as a hate crime, two counts of assault as a hate crime, assault and attempted assault, News 12 reported.
The story shocked New Yorkers, not only for its brutality but for the fact, several staffers in an apartment witnessed the attack, right outside their lobby, ignored the victim, and closed the lobby doors.
The Brodsky Organization, the building managers, posted a statement on Instagram saying that it “condemns all forms of discrimination, racism, xenophobia, and violence against the Asian-American community.” They also suspended the staffers who were witnesses to the brutal, xenophobic, stomping attack.
The NY Times was quick to point out the suspect’s disturbing background:
Mr. Elliot pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2002 after fatally stabbing his mother in front of his 5-year-old sister in the Bronx, said Patrice O’Shaughnessy, a spokeswoman for the Bronx district attorney.
According to news reports, Mr. Elliot, who was then 19, stabbed his mother in the chest three times. He was sentenced to a minimum of 15 years to life in prison and was released on lifetime parole in November 2019, after he had served 16 years and had two previous parole applications denied, according to officials and state corrections records.
A migrant who tried to escape Mexican police officers drowned shortly after jumping into the Rio Grande near Del Rio, Texas. The fatality comes less than two weeks after a 9-year-old girl drowned in the same region despite attempts by U.S. Border Patrol to resuscitate her.
The most recent incident took place Tuesday afternoon in Ciudad Acuna, in an area known as La Punta Del Barco or Ship’s Point. There, 25-year-old Eduardo Orrante Rodriguez, a Salvadoran, fished on the bank and spent several days waiting to be smuggled into Texas.
As he was fishing, Rodriguez saw a Mexican police vehicle chasing what appeared to be a group of migrants. Rodriguez jumped into the water and tried to swim to Del Rio, Texas, where he was apparently caught in the current.
Firefighters and Mexican immigration officials searched for Rodriguez but were not able to find him until an hour later. After pulling him out of the water, authorities tried to revive him and eventually turned the body over to the local coroner.
Tuesday on FNC’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) responded to allegations in a New York Times story that the Justice Department investigated him over whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl.
Gaetz denied the claims, calling them “a lie,” and claimed it was part of an extortion scheme, naming Pensacola, FL lawyer David McGee, a former U.S. Attorney.
“It is a horrible allegation, and it is a lie,” he said. “The New York Times is running a story that I have traveled with a 17-year-old woman, and that is verifiably false. People can look at my travel records and see that that is not the case. What is happening is an extortion of me and my family involving a former Department of Justice official. On March 16, my father got a text message demanding a meeting wherein a person demanded $25 million in exchange for making horrible sex trafficking allegations against me go away.”
“Our family was so troubled by that, we went to the local FBI,” Gaetz continued. “And the FBI and the Department of Justice were so concerned about this attempted extortion of a member of Congress that they asked my dad to wear a wire, which he did with the former Department of Justice official. Tonight, I am demanding that the Department of Justice and the FBI release the audio recordings that were made under their supervision and at their direction, which will prove my innocence and that will show that these allegations aren’t true. They are merely intended to try to bleed my family out of money.”
“And this former Department of Justice official tomorrow was supposed to be contacted by my father so that specific instructions could be given regarding the wiring of $4.5 million as a down payment on this bribe,” he added. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that tonight somehow, The New York Times is leaking this information, smearing me, and ruining the investigation that would likely result in a one of the former colleagues of the current DOJ being brought to justice for trying to extort me and my family.”
Carlson asked the Florida congressman who the individual was that attempted the alleged extortion. Gaetz then named McGee.
“His name is David McGee,” Gaetz replied. “He was a top official in the leadership in the Northern District of Florida as a prosecutor. He currently works at the Beggs & Lane law firm. As a matter of fact, one of the recordings that was made at the FBI and Department of Justice request occurred at that law firm, and the money that was supposed to be paid today that would have shown even more evidence of David McGee’s work in this extortion scheme, that was foiled by The New York Times story, and I believe that why this horrible information and terrible allegations have been used this evening.”
Gaetz speculated the story was leaked to the Times as a way to quell the investigation.
“What was supposed to happen was the transfer of this money that would have implicated the former colleague of these current DOJ officials,” he said. “But that’s obviously not going to happen tomorrow because The New York Times story was leaked in order to quell that investigative effort. So here is what needs to happen next. The FBI and the Department of Justice must release the tapes that are in their possession that were done at their direction. Those tapes will show that I am innocent and that the whole concept of sex charges against me was really just a way to try to bleed my family out of money and probably smear my name because I am a well-known outspoken conservative, and I guess that’s out of style in a lot of part of the country right now.”
Every year, Jewish worshippers look forward to the third day of Passover when thousands of gather at Jerusalem’s Western Wall plaza to attend a special “priestly blessing” prayer known as Birkat Kohanim. Photo Credit: Wikipedia
Edited by: TJVNews.com
Every year, Jewish worshippers look forward to the third day of Passover when thousands of gather at Jerusalem’s Western Wall plaza to attend a special “priestly blessing” prayer known as Birkat Kohanim.
This year, due to the coronavirus pandemic and the limited attendance allowed at the site, the prayer is taking place on both the second and third days of Passover—Monday and Tuesday, according to a report in Israel HaYom.
Last year’s ceremony included only 10 priests, known in Hebrew as kohanim, who are residents of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. This year’s ceremony marked the first time since the outbreak of the virus that kohanim across Israel were given permission to actively participate in the traditional event, as was reported by the JNS web site.
Last year’s ceremony included only 10 priests, known in Hebrew as kohanim, who are residents of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. Photo Credit: AP
As is the case every year, the ceremony was attended by prominent religious and political leaders, among them Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau, Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, Religious Affairs Minister Ya’akov Avitan and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion.
The Western Wall Heritage Foundation asked worshipers who attended the ceremony on Monday to refrain from doing so again on Tuesday, to enable others to participate, as was reported by JNS.
The priestly blessing at the Western Wall is traditionally held twice a year, on Passover and Sukkot, the feast of the Tabernacles.
“In order to meet the challenge of massive crowds coming from all over the country for the traditional Priestly Blessing, it was decided that this year Priestly Blessing will be split into two different events that will be held day after day to prevent overcrowding,” Western Wall Heritage Foundation said in a statement.
i24 News reported that in the morning, Jerusalem Police closed the main roads leading to the Old City, and thousands of officers and volunteers were deployed to the area to ensure the safety of the many worshipers.
Vehicle entry to the area and along some surrounding roads was stopped to further enable movement of those arriving at the site, Israel Police said. Police asked the public to avoid driving to the area and instead use public transport, as was reported by the Times of Israel.
This year, the Health Ministry permitted the ceremony to go ahead as usual, albeit with congregants divided into pods by clear plastic barriers and on the condition that hygiene rules were maintained, according to a Times of Israel report.
The ceremony is one in which male descendants of the Kohanim priestly caste gather to bestow a benediction upon the entire congregation. It involves the raising of hands to perform the blessing, with those conducting the blessing wrapped in prayer shawls, as was reported by the Times of Israel.
Jewish worshippers attend the Priestly Blessing by the Kohanim on Passover at the Western Wall, Jerusalem, Mar. 29, 2021. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
TOI reported that the Western Wall is the closest spot to the Temple Mount where Jews can pray. Though they may visit the Mount, where the two ancient Jewish Temples stood, Jews are not allowed to pray at the holy site, which is overseen by a Jordanian custodian.
Israel has gradually eased many of the restrictions applied to curb the virus spread. Infection rates plummeted following a third lockdown that lasted over a month and a world-beating inoculation program that already last week reached the milestone of immunizing over half of the population, according to the report. The government’s long term objective is to vaccinate the entire adult population by the end of April.
Prior to last week’s national elections in Israel, air travel restrictions were eased in traditionally one of the busiest weeks for air travel in Israel in advance of the Passover holiday, as was reported by World Israel News.
Israel shut down most entry to the country in January and maintained severe restrictions on air travel in order to prevent coronavirus mutations from entering. Following the High Court’s decision to strike down those constraints because they were too broad, the government then announced that the daily limit of only 3,000 air passengers was cancelled.
However, of the estimated 600,000 Israelis living or traveling abroad, few of them appeared to be in any hurry to return to vote in the national election March 23. Over the next few days, the number of people leaving Israel is expected to be greater than the number of people entering the country, Calcalist reported.
World Israel News reported that even with the cancelling of the restrictions, the scope of daily flights remains limited due to the need to comply with other corona regulations, including the need to test all incoming passengers and maintain social distancing inside the terminal.
Dozens of coronavirus testing stations have been set up in the arrivals hall and in a large tent adjacent to the terminal. Under social distancing limits of 2 meters (6 feet) between people, the terminal can accommodate only about 7,000 passengers a day. Airport officials are trying to reduce that distance to 1.5 meters to up the capacity, according to the WIN report.
Ben Gurion Airport. Photo Credit: Go Tel Aviv
Foreigners wishing to enter Israel still need to apply for permission before they leave their country of origin. The Ministry of Health warned that opening the skies could lead to the entry of dangerous virus variants into Israel, as was reported by WIN.
Israel’s national vaccination campaign to inoculate all of the 9.3 million citizens aged 16 and older, according to the WIN report. To date, 4.5 million Israelis have received both shots of the Pfizer vaccine, with another 660,000 having received their first injection.
Health Ministry statistics showed a continuing drop in the number of daily infections and active cases.
Also on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that more than 20 heads of government and global agencies called in a commentary published for an international treaty for pandemic preparedness that they say will protect future generations in the wake of COVID-19.
But there were few details to explain how such an agreement might actually compel countries to act more cooperatively.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and leaders including Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain, Premier Mario Draghi of Italy and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda proposed “a renewed collective commitment” to reinforce preparedness and response systems by leveraging the U.N. health agency’s constitution, as was reported by the Associated Press.
“The world cannot afford to wait until the pandemic is over to start planning for the next one,” Tedros said during a news conference. He said the treaty would provide “a framework for international cooperation and solidarity” and address issues like surveillance systems and responding to outbreaks.
AP reported that international regulations governing health and implemented by WHO already exist — and can be disregarded by countries with few consequences. Despite an obligation for nations to share critical epidemic data and materials quickly with WHO, for example, China declined to do so when the coronavirus first broke out.
And with no enforcement powers, WHO officials had little means of compelling them to share details, an AP investigation last year found.
Steven Solomon, WHO’s principal legal officer, said the proposed pandemic treaty would need to be ratified by lawmakers in the participating countries.
“Specifics about enforcement will be up to member states to decide on,” Solomon said.
European Council President Charles Michel first laid out the idea of a pandemic treaty at the U.N. General Assembly in December, according to the AP report. Joining Tedros at Tuesday’s briefing, Michel said the global community needs to “build a pandemic defense for future generations that extends far beyond today’s crisis. For this, we must translate the political will into concrete actions.”
Gian Luca Burci, a former WHO legal counsel who is now a professor at the Graduate Institute of international affairs in Geneva, described the proposal as an attempted “big fix” involving information sharing, preparedness and response, saying the concept is “like a Christmas tree, frankly.”
“But to me, the risk is that it diverts attention from the tool that we have” — WHO’s existing International Health Regulations, Burci said recently. He said his fear was those regulations would get short shrift and receive “cosmetic improvements, but fundamentally remain a weak instrument.”
Although the 25 signatories of the commentary called for “solidarity,” and greater “societal commitment,” there was no indication any country would soon change its own approach to responding to the pandemic. China, Russia and the United States didn’t join in signing the statement, according to the AP report.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the U.S. has concerns about the current push for a new pandemic treaty.
“We do have some concerns, primarily about the timing and launching into negotiations for a new treaty right now, and we believe that could divert attention away from substantive issues regarding the response, preparedness for future pandemic threats,” Psaki said Tuesday. “That should be our focus currently.”
Peter Ben Embarek of the WHO team shows a chart on coronavirus transmission. (AP/Ng Han Guan)
AP reported that WHO legal officer Solomon said the pandemic treaty might also address issues such as the sharing of vaccine technology and vaccine supplies, but gave no indication how that might happen. Despite WHO’s calls for patents to be waived during the pandemic, rich countries have continued to oppose efforts by poor countries to compel them to share vaccine manufacturing technology.
Tedros pleaded with rich countries last week to immediately donate 10 million COVID-19 vaccines so that immunization campaigns could start in all countries within the first 100 days of the year. Not a single country has yet publicly offered to share its vaccines immediately. Of the more than 459 million vaccines administered globally, the majority have been in just 10 countries — and 28% in just one. WHO didn’t identify the countries.
AP reported on Monday on Monday that the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made an impassioned plea to Americans not to let their guard down in the fight against COVID-19, warning of a potential fourth wave of the virus and saying she has a recurring feeling “of impending doom.”
Speaking during a virtual White House briefing, Dr. Rochelle Walensky grew emotional as she reflected on her experience treating COVID-19 patients who are alone at the end of their lives, as was reported by the AP.
“We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are and so much reason for hope,” she said. “But right now, I’m scared.”
“I’m going to lose the script, and I’m going to reflect on the recurring feeling I have of impending doom,” she said, according to the AP report.
Cases of the virus are up about 10% over the past week from the previous week, to about 60,000 cases per day, with both hospitalizations and deaths ticking up as well, Walensky said. She warned that without immediate action the U.S. could follow European countries into another spike in cases and suffer needless deaths.
“I have to share the truth, and I have to hope and trust you will listen,” she added.
(Sources: Israel HaYom, JNS.org, i24News, Times of Israel, AP)
A New York State lawmaker said Thursday that the legislature’s impeachment investigation into embattled New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) will also examine reports of the governor providing special access to coronavirus tests to family members at the beginning of the pandemic.
New York Assembly Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Lavine made the revelation in a statement to the Associated Press. The impeachment probe will primarily focus on allegations of Cuomo covering up data regarding the numbers of nursing home deaths during the pandemic and sexual harassment accusations brought forth by multiple women, including current and former staffers.
On Wednesday, the Times-Union reported that Cuomo directed state health officials to “prioritize” testing for members of his family, including his mother, Matilda Cuomo, and brother, primetime host CNN Chris Cuomo. Further, the governor and Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker requested state Department of Health officials to prioritize testing for influential individuals with ties to the Cuomo administration, said the Albany-based newspaper. In a separate report, the Washington Post noted that the results of prioritized tests were immediately processed at a state lab.
Chris Cuomo announced in March 2020 that he had contracted the virus, later telling the Associated Press in an interview: “I knew it was just a matter of time, to be honest, because of how often I was exposed to people.” The Post reports that a top New York Department of Health doctor visited the CNN host at his Hamptons residence to obtain test samples from him.
Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi downplayed the seriousness of the reports.
WSJ reported: Last year, technicians at the Wadsworth Center—the state Health Department’s public-health laboratory—were given specimens for priority processing for Covid-19, according to people familiar with the matter.
At least some of those specimens were taken by Health Department personnel from members of the Democratic governor’s family, the people said, including CNN anchor Chris Cuomo. The governor’s younger brother announced on March 31 that he had tested positive for Covid-19 and broadcast his nightly show from the basement of his Long Island home
The office of Attorney General Letitia James, Cuomo’s fellow Democrat, issued a statement earlier Thursday urging New York’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics to investigate the alleged preferential testing after reports were published in the Times Union of Albany, the New York Times and the Washington Post.
“The recent reports alleging there was preferential treatment given for COVID-19 testing are troubling,” the statement read. “While we do not have jurisdiction to investigate this matter, it’s imperative that JCOPE look into it immediately.”
A spokesperson for the ethics commission, Walt McClure, said the commission could not comment “on anything that is or might be an investigative matter.”
