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Jersey Shore University & Ocean Medical Centers Earn 2019 Leapfrog Top Hospital Awards

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Jersey Shore University Medical Center

Edited by: TJVNews.com

Highlighting their nationally recognized achievements in patient safety and quality, Hackensack Meridian Health Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune and Ocean Medical Center in Brick were named Top Teaching Hospitals nationally. The Top Hospital designation is awarded by The Leapfrog Group, a national watchdog organization of employers and other purchasers focused on health care safety and quality. The designations follow the academic medical center’s and hospital’s “A” Hospital Safety Grades announced in November, also from The Leapfrog Group.

The Leapfrog Top Hospital award is widely acknowledged as one of the most competitive honors American hospitals can receive. “I’m extremely proud of our team members at Jersey Shore University Medical Center and Ocean Medical Center on receiving this recognition,” said Kenneth N. Sable, M.D., MBA, FACEP, regional president, southern market, Hackensack Meridian Health. “What better distinction can a hospital receive, than to be noted for our efforts in protecting patients from harm and providing safer health care. We remain dedicated to enhancing the quality of the care and safety we provide as well as improving our patient experience.”

About 2,100 hospitals were considered for the award. A total of 120 hospitals were selected as Top Hospitals, including:

  • 10 Top Children’s Hospitals
  • 37 Top General Hospitals
  • 18 Top Rural Hospitals
  • 55 Top Teaching Hospitals

Performance across many areas of hospital care is considered in establishing the qualifications for the award, including infection rates, practices for safer surgery, maternity care, and the hospital’s capacity to prevent medication errors. The rigorous standards are defined in each year’s Top Hospital Methodology.

“We are pleased to recognize Jersey Shore University Medical Center and Ocean Medical Center as 2019 Leapfrog Top Hospitals,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “This demonstrates extraordinary dedication to patients and the community. We congratulate the board, staff and clinicians whose efforts made this honor possible and know they share pride in this achievement.”

To qualify for the Top Hospitals distinction, hospitals must rank top among peers in the 2019 Leapfrog Hospital Survey, which assesses hospital performance on the highest known standards for quality and patient safety, and achieve top performance in its category. To see the full list of institutions honored as 2019 Top Hospitals, visit www.leapfroggroup.org/tophospitals.

For more information or a free physician referral, visit www.jerseyshoreuniversitymedicalcenter.com or www.oceanmedicalcenter.com.

About The Leapfrog Group

Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps forward in the quality and safety of American health care. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey collects and transparently reports hospital performance, empowering purchasers to find the highest-value care and giving consumers the lifesaving information, they need to make informed decisions. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, Leapfrog’s other main initiative, assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents and infections.

About Hackensack Meridian Health

Hackensack Meridian Health is a leading not-for-profit health care organization that is the largest, most comprehensive and truly integrated health care network in New Jersey, offering a complete range of medical services, innovative research and life-enhancing care.

Hackensack Meridian Health comprises 17 hospitals from Bergen to Ocean counties, which includes three academic medical centers – Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, JFK Medical Center in Edison; two children’s hospitals–Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital in Hackensack, K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital in Neptune; nine community hospitals – Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair, Ocean Medical Center in Brick, Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen, Pascack Valley Medical Center in Westwood, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Old Bridge, Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, and Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin; a behavioral health hospital – Carrier Clinic in Belle Mead; and two rehabilitation hospitals–JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison and Shore Rehabilitation Institute in Brick.

Additionally, the network has more than 500 patient care locations throughout the state which include ambulatory care centers, surgery centers, home health services, long-term care and assisted living communities, ambulance services, lifesaving air medical transportation, fitness and wellness centers, rehabilitation centers, urgent care centers and physician practice locations. Hackensack Meridian Health has more than 34,100 team members, and 6,500 physicians and is a distinguished leader in health care philanthropy, committed to the health and well-being of the communities it serves.

The network’s notable distinctions include having four hospitals among the top 10 in New Jersey by U.S. News and World Report. Other honors include consistently achieving Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center and being named to Becker’s Healthcare’s “150 Top Places to Work in Healthcare/2018” list.

The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University, the first private medical school in New Jersey in more than 50 years, welcomed its first class of students in 2018 to its On3 campus in Nutley and Clifton. Additionally, the network partnered with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to find more cures for cancer faster while ensuring that patients have access to the highest quality, most individualized cancer care when and where they need it.

Hackensack Meridian Health is a member of AllSpire Health Partners, an interstate consortium of leading health systems, to focus on the sharing of best practices in clinical care and achieving efficiencies.

For additional information, please visit www.HackensackMeridianHealth.org.

World Health Experts Assess Global Risk of Deadly China Virus

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wikimedia

By: Lisa Schlein 

Experts meeting in emergency session at the World Health Organization will look at the spreading Coronavirus to see whether it constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and decide on recommendations needed to manage it.  The WHO has confirmed 440 cases of the disease, including 17 deaths. 

Since the new coronavirus was detected in a fish market in Wuhan city, China three weeks ago, the previously unknown virus has moved with frightening speed internally and abroad.  Deaths have been reported in China, Thailand, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

Chinese health officials announced Wednesday that the coronavirus has killed 17 people in the country, a sharp increase from the nine fatalities that were reported earlier.

The announcement was made by China’s health commission, according to state media reports that cited provincial officials.

Authorities said the deaths occurred in China’s Hubei province and that there were 440 confirmed cases of the virus in 13 provinces.
 
The higher death toll was announced as the World Health Organization held an emergency meeting Wednesday on the outbreak that has sickened people across China and beyond.

The global health agency says it is considering whether the outbreak should be declared a global health emergency.

The first case of the disease has been reported in the United States in a man who returned to the West Coast city of Seattle last week from Wuhan.  He is hospitalized in good condition, but the appearance of the case has put officials in the U.S. and other countries on heightened alert.  

Many airports are screening travelers from China.  U.S. President Donald Trump, who was attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, has told media that he trusts the information coming out of China on coronavirus and that the situation was under control.

Nevertheless, the World Health Organization is urging countries to continue preparedness measures to protect themselves from the possibilities of a large-scale outbreak.  

WHO spokesman Tarek Jasarevic says WHO experts and health officials in China are conducting investigations into the outbreak.

“Much remains to be understood about this novel coronavirus.  Not enough is known to draw definitive conclusions about how it is transmitted, clinical features of the disease, its severity, the extent to which it has spread or its source,” he said.

Based on previous experience with respiratory illness, Jasarevic says limited human to human transmission is likely occurring.  But he adds, this is not an airborne disease and people have to be in close contact to get infected.  

He says WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has convened the emergency meeting because little is known about the coronavirus and expert advice is needed to calm nerves and to know what protective actions are required.  

He notes a Public Health Emergency of International Public Concern has been declared only five times by the WHO. (VOA News)

Nadler: Trump’s Belief He Cannot Be Impeached is ‘Dangerous Nonsense’

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By: Ken Bredemeier & Kenneth Schwartz

House impeachment manager Jerrold Nadler calls President Trump’s argument that he cannot be impeached for abuse of power “dangerous nonsense.”

Nadler, the head of the House Judiciary Committee, kicked off the second day of the Democrats’ case of the Trump impeachment trial in the Senate Thursday, where the 100 Senators will decide the president’s guilt or innocence.  

“A president who sees no limit on his power manifestly threatens the republic,” Nadler said as he accused Trump of “abuse of power, betrayal of the nation, and corruption in elections into a single unforgivable scheme” — all of which Nadler says meets the Constitutional standard for high crimes and misdemeanors and removal from office.

“It is wrong, it is illegal,” Nadler said, adding that the 44 U.S. presidents who preceded Trump “would be shocked to the core.” Nadler contended that Trump’s abuse “puts President Nixon to shame,” the scandal-ridden 1970s-era president who resigned in disgrace before he could be impeached.

“President Trump has made clear in word and deed that he will persist in such conduct. He poses a continuing threat to our nation, to the integrity of our elections, to our democratic order. He must not remain in power one moment longer,” Nadler said.

Trump is accused of pressuring Ukraine to open a corruption investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden — a major Democratic challenger to Trump’s re-election bid. He also allegedly withheld military aid to Ukraine unless President Volodymyr Zelenskiy publically announced a probe into Biden, his son Hunter’s job with a Ukrainian gas company, and a debunked theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 U.S. election. No evidence against the Bidens ever surfaced.

Intelligence committee head Adam Schiff said Trump didn’t care about the facts or his purported interest in fighting government corruption in Ukraine. Schiff said all Trump cared about was investigating Biden, especially after early polls showed the former vice president would soundly beat Trump in the election.

Florida’s Val Dennings said Republicans believe the only thing Democrats are worried about is winning the next election and keeping Trump from a second term. She said the case is truly about making sure the vote of every American matters.

Trump again ridiculed the Democrats’ impeachment case Thursday, tweeting “The Democrat House would not give us lawyers, or not one witness, but now demand that the Republican Senate produce the witnesses that the House never sought, or even asked for?”

Trump and his lawyers were invited to appear before the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment inquiry, but declined.

The two articles of impeachment accuse Trump of abusing the office of the presidency and obstructing congressional efforts to investigate his Ukraine-related actions.

The Democrats have one more day to present their case before the president’s legal team begins its three days to lay out their case.

Jay Sekulow, one of Trump’s lawyers, said after Wednesday’s session that the fact the impeachment proceedings are even taking place is “ridiculous.”

“Are we having an impeachment over a phone call?” he asked reporters. “Or has this been a three-year attempt to take down a president that was duly elected by the American people? And we’re doing this with 10 months to go to a general election. Pretty dangerous for our republic, in my view.”

Trump has said throughout the process he did nothing wrong in his discussions with Zelenskiy, frequently describing their half-hour phone call as “perfect.”

Sekulow said, “We believe, without question, the president will be acquitted. There is not a doubt.”

That outcome is widely expected with members of Trump’s Republican Party holding a 53-47 majority in the Senate and impeachment rules requiring a two-thirds vote for conviction in order to remove him from office. Democrats would need to convince 20 Republicans to vote for conviction, and no Republican has, at least not so far, called for his removal from office.

Trump eventually released the military aid to Ukraine and Zelenskiy never opened an investigation into the Bidens — proof, Republicans say, that Trump did not engage in a quid pro quo with Ukraine — the Biden probes in exchange for the defense assistance.

But Schiff said Trump only released the funds because “he got caught,” when a still unidentified intelligence whistleblower filed a complaint that Trump in the July 25 telephone asked Zelenskiy to “do us a favor,” to start the politically investigation against Biden.

Trump is only the third U.S. president to be impeached and tried before the Senate. Andrew Johnson was impeached in 1868 because of a post-Civil War dispute over states that seceded from the union.

Bill Clinton was impeached in 1998 for lying to a grand jury over a sex scandal. Both Johnson and Clinton were acquitted and remained in office until the end of their terms. (VOA News)

 

Putin Receives 2,000-Year-Old Coin Uncovered in Jerusalem

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Russian President Vladimir Putin received on Thursday from a 2,000-year coin uncovered in Jerusalem at the City of David excavations. Photo by Kobi Richter/TPS on 23 January, 2020

By: TPS Staff

Russian President Vladimir Putin received on Thursday from a 2,000-year coin uncovered in Jerusalem at the City of David excavations.

Putin is in Israel together with 45 global leaders and royals to attend the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Putin was awarded the coin by Jerusalem’s Mayor Moshe Leon, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in attendance, on the sidelines of a dedication ceremony of the monument in memory of the heroism of the soldiers and residents who were killed during the siege of Leningrad in World War II.

The coin is an original, inscribed with the ancient Hebrew words “Liberty of Zion.” On the other side of the coin are the words “year two” and refer to the second year of the Great Revolt during the years 66–73 CE.

The coin was minted by Jewish rebels in Jerusalem on the eve of the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE by Rome’s 10th Legion.

Coins that were minted in the second and third years of the revolt are plentiful and easier to find, but coins from the fourth year are much rarer.

This archeological artifact is a piece of evidence of the Jewish People’s ancient ties to Israel, and especially Jerusalem.

 

In another development, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Putin in Jerusalem on Thursday and discussed with him several issues, including the release of Na’ama Issachar, the Israeli jailed in Russia for a minor drug offense.

Putin is in Israel together with 45 global leaders and royals to attend the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Yaffa, Na’ama Issachar’s mother, joined the meeting the two leaders towards its end.

Netanyahu stated after the session that they “have just concluded an excellent working meeting.”

“At its conclusion, President Putin asked to bring in Yaffa, Na’ama Issachar’s mother. This was a very moving meeting. I am very grateful to you for this gesture, my friend the President,” he told Putin.

Putin added that after meeting Na’ama’s mother, “it is clear that Naama comes from a very good family.”

“The Prime Minister’s position is known to me – to decide appropriately. All of this will be taken into account when a decision is made,” he stated cryptically.

He promised that Na’ama will meet today “with the person responsible for maintaining human rights in Russia.”

“Her mother was very moving and supports her daughter. I said to her and I will say it again – everything will be alright,” he concluded.

While it is unclear what the practical meaning of Putin’s statement is, Israeli officials expressed optimism about the prospects of Issachar’s release in the near future.

Another issue the remains shrouded in secrecy is the price Israel will pay in return for her release.

Officials close to Netanyahu credited the “significant progress” towards Issachar’s release to the “close and personal relationship” between Netanyahu and Putin.

Netanyahu spoke to Putin seven times about Issachar’s release, and along with conversations held between Israeli and Russian officials, the issue was raised about 20 times since Issachar’s arrest on April 9 at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, where she had stopped for a connecting flight to Tel Aviv from New Delhi. Russian authorities found 9.5 grams of cannabis in her luggage and arrested her.

Netanyahu spoke on Thursday with Putin about Issachar’s release and expressed “optimism that the issue of the release of Naama Issachar is advancing towards a solution.”

Netanyahu called Putin at the end of December to discuss foreign policy and request Naama’s release.

This was the 14th meeting Netanyahu and Putin have held since September 2015. (TPS)

 

 

Trump says Israel-PA peace deal will be unveiled Prime Netanyahu and Gantz arrive in Washington next Tuesday

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Earlier on Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence said that Netanyahu and Gantz have both accepted the Trump Administration's invitation to the White House next week to discuss the administration's upcoming Middle East peace plan. Photo Credit: US Embassy in Israel Trump: 'Deal of the Century' Will be Unveiled in the Coming Days

By: Elad Benari

President Trump announced on Thursday that he will unveil the “Deal of the Century” in the coming days and before Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz arrive in Washington.

Trump added that officials in his administration had briefly spoken to senior Palestinian Authority (PA) officials and will be speaking to them again soon.

“They may react negatively at first, but it is actually positive for them and they have a lot of incentive to do it,” Trump told reporters.

“It’s a great plan. It’s a plan that really would work,” he added. “I’d love to be able to do that deal. They say that’s the hardest of all deals.”

Earlier on Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence said that Netanyahu and Gantz have both accepted the Trump Administration’s invitation to the White House next week to discuss the administration’s upcoming Middle East peace plan.

“President Trump asked me to extend an invitation for Prime Minister Netanyahu to come to the White House next week, to discuss regional issues as well as the prospect of peace here in the Holy Land,” Pence told reporters.
The Vice President added that he invited Gantz at Netanyahu’s suggestion.

Netanyahu said, “I suggested that Benny Gantz be invited to this event as well, because I think that it’s important that we do not lose this historic opportunity. With such friends in the White House, with such backing from the United States, we should get as broad a consensus as possible around the efforts to achieve security and peace, peace and security for the State of Israel.”

“I look forward to doing both, and I thank you again for your extraordinary friendship. Thank you,” he added.

Meanwhile, Channel 12 News’ Amit Segal published details of what he said was the Trump administration’s peace plan.

According to Segal, the plan would allow Israel to apply sovereignty to all Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria immediately.

In addition, all but 15 Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria would be included in a territoriality continuous bloc which would come under Israeli sovereignty. The remaining 15 Israeli towns would also be placed under Israeli sovereignty, but as smaller enclaves outside of the larger bloc. In total, Israel would apply sovereignty to about 30% of all the land in Judea and Samaria.

Jerusalem would remain entirely under Israeli sovereignty. Israel would be required to recognize a Palestinian Arab state on the remaining 70% of Judea and Samaria.

Trump dismissed the report, saying that “reports about details and timing of our closely-held peace plan are purely speculative.” (INN)

New Bail Reform & Sanctuary City Laws Continue to Unnerve NYers

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The latest examples of how New York state and NYC’s lax laws on criminals and “undocumented” people are making NY more dangerous by the minute.  Photo Credit: Shutterstock

By: Wayne Numanstein

A bank robber who was arrested in connection to four robberies on January 9th, was let go without bail and was free to rob two more banks, before turning himself in. 

A 21-year-old illegal immigrant who was released from prison late last year after attacking his father went on to brutally rape and murder a 92-year-old woman in Queens after being released from prison because of de Blasio’s “sanctuary city” policies.

These are 2 of the latest examples of how New York state and NYC’s lax laws on criminals and “undocumented” people are making NY more dangerous by the minute. 

The N.Y Post reported: “Under the new bail reforms, which took hold Jan. 1, Gerod Woodberry, 42, is considered a non-violent defendant because he allegedly used notes to demand dough from banks in Brooklyn and Manhattan. State law forbids judges from setting any bail for him under the new law”

After the suspect turned himself in to the Manhattan Criminal Court building last Friday, federal prosecutors had to take over the case, in order to prevent him from being released from jail once more without bail. 

“No sound, rational and fair criminal justice system requires the pre-trial release of criminal defendants who demonstrate such determination to continuously commit serious crimes,” Brooklyn US Attorney Richard Donoghue said in announcing the criminal complaint against him and calling the spree “unprecedented”, the N.Y Post reported. 

The suspect himself was amazed that he was initially released from prison. “I can’t believe they let me out,” sources told the Post, after he was released from jail in early January after the first slew or bank robberies. 

The combination of the new bail reform laws and de Blasio’s “sanctuary city” policies have made New York City a very crime friendly city and the entire state powerless to stop crime in general.

Reeaz Khan was previously arrested for assaulting his father in November of 2019 but was released almost instantly because of his “undocumented” citizenship status. 

Khan then went on to violently rape a 92-year-old woman on the streets of Queens, resulting in her death. 

In a statement issued by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement last  Tuesday, officials said Mr. Khan was “an unlawfully present Guyanese national” who had been released “due to New York City’s sanctuary policies”, the N.Y Times reported. 

ICE officials said they had issued what is known as a detainer in November requesting that law enforcement turn over Mr. Khan for possible deportation after he was arrested and charged with attacking his father with a broken coffee cup.

The New York City Police Department disputed the claim on Tuesday, saying that it “did not receive an ICE detainer in regard to this individual” after he had been arrested on Nov. 27, said Sgt. Mary Frances O’Donnell, a department spokeswoman.

On Wednesday, ICE released a copy of the fax transmission form appended to the detainer, which was dated Nov. 27.

It would appear that local police are literally ignoring ICE detainers, due to the bleeding-heart leftist policies of Bill de Blasio.

Thomas Decker, field office director for ICE’s enforcement and removal operations, said in the statement issued on Tuesday: “It was a deadly choice to release a man on an active ICE detainer back onto the streets”, the NY Times reported 

He added: “New York City’s sanctuary policies continue to threaten the safety of all residents of the five boroughs.”

 

Survey: 70% of French Jews Experienced Anti-Semitism

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Flowers and a French flag outside the Hypercacher kosher supermarket. Photo Credit: Wikipedia

By: Aryeh Savir
A staggering 70% of French Jews say they have been victims of anti-Semitism, 59% suffered physical abuse in school and 46% suffered verbal abuse at work, according to a new survey by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) on the issue.

Other disturbing findings in the survey showed that young French Jews between the ages of 18-24 are most vulnerable to anti-Semitism.
More than 8 out of 10 young French Jews have suffered at least one anti-Semitic incident, and 39% have been the victims of physical violence.
Attempting to avoid anti-Semitic attacks, more than a third of French Jews refrain from wearing Jewish symbols in public, and a quarter avoids revealing their Jewish identity at work, and 40% avoid arriving at certain areas to circumvent attacks.

The report did not touch on the perpetrators’ identity, whether they be neo-Nazis or Muslim immigrants from Africa.
Overall, 44% of the Jewish respondents said the situation for French Jews is worse than a year ago, only 11% say it is better and 42% said it was not better or worse.
Some 52% of French Jews have considered leaving France while Israel has seen several large waves of Aliyah of French Jews in recent years.
Between the years 2000 and 2017, 10 percent of the French Jewish community, the largest in Europe, immigrated to Israel.

Some 38,000 arrived in Israel in the past decade. The number of Olim from France peaked this decade, with the new Olim coming in the past 10 years constituting nearly one-third of the total Olim from France since the establishment of Israel. In 2015, a record number of Olim came from France with the arrival of 7,892 French Jews.

Interestingly, 73% of the French general public and 72% of French Jews agree that anti-Semitism affects all of society and not only the Jews.

The National Assembly in France in December voted in favor of a resolution that endorses the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, which also defines anti-Zionism as a form of Jew-hatred.

“This has to stop,” said Ann Sebban-Bécache, Director of AJC Paris. “The fight against anti-Semitism must be a national priority which has the adequate means to cover all of France.”
The AJC Paris study was conducted by IFOP, a leading polling firm, in partnership with Fondapol, a major French think tank. They polled 505 French Jews and 1,027 French people between October 14 and November 19, 2019. (TPS)

Parshas Vaera – The Art of Comfort and Consolation

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"I will take you out from under the burdens of Egypt; I shall rescue you from their service; I shall redeem you with great miracles; I shall take you to Me to be a people, and I will bring you to the promised land" (Exodus, 6). Photo Caption - To find the proper words on such occasions is never easy, but that was the challenge of Moshe Rabbenu as he addressed his brethren who were suffering in Egyptian bondage. Photo Credit: Wikipedia.org

By: Rabbi Osher Jungreis

To find the proper words on such occasions is never easy, but that was the challenge of Moshe Rabbenu as he addressed his brethren who were suffering in Egyptian bondage. At the beginning of the parsha, G-d charged Moshe with the mission of announcing to the Jewish people that the time of their liberation was at hand. HaShem used four different expressions in describing their redemption. “I will take you out from under the burdens of Egypt; I shall rescue you from their service; I shall redeem you with great miracles; I shall take you to Me to be a people, and I will bring you to the promised land” (Exodus, 6).

Despite this awesome promise however, the Jewish people remained dispirited and incapable of absorbing the good news. The explanation for this reveals the nature of suffering and how one may best comfort those who are hurting. When someone is in pain, he does not have the patience or the ability to comprehend that which will occur in the future. His agony is so overwhelming that he is aware only of the here and now. In his pain he cannot contemplate the future. Therefore, the Almighty G-d instructs Moshe and Aaron once again and commands them to bring the children of Israel forth from Egypt (Exodus 6:13) teaching us that when someone is in distress, we have to extend immediate help. Thus, when encouraging those who have lost hope, let us not content ourselves with visions of the future. Rather, let us do something concrete to relieve their pain and infuse them with hope.

In this same passage, G-d also instructs Moshe to be gentle and patient with the people – a basic ingredient that is required of all leaders. The Midrash teaches that HaShem told Moshe and Aaron: “My children are often stubborn and recalcitrant. They are quick to anger and troublesome. It is under these conditions that you should undertake to accept leadership over them..” This teaching has bearing, not only for leaders, but for each and every one of us. In every family, there are situations in which one`s patience is sorely tried. At such times, we must exercise forbearance, remain calm and respond with strength and dignity.

This passage has yet a third interpretation. It is written in the Talmud that it was at this moment of crisis for the Jewish people that G-d told Moshe to command the nation regarding the emancipation of slaves that would take place once they entered the promised land. At first glance, this appears far-fetched. The nation is in bondage, so what possible relevance can such instructions have? But the Torah is teaching us that it is precisely when you are in the throes of suffering that you must make a commitment to banish suffering – to convert that pain into a healing experience. It is in this spirit that the Torah calls upon us to remember our bondage and exodus from Egypt (Zeicher l`Tziyas Mitzraim) and relate to the stranger, the widow, the orphan, and all those in need with compassion and love. (Hineni.org)

Trump Impeachment Trial Ready to Begin

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The impeachment trial of President Trump begins in full Tuesday in the U.S. Senate — only the third time in U.S. history a president faces removal from office for allegedly violating his oath. Photo Credit: C-SPAN

Edited by: TJVNews.com

The impeachment trial of President Trump begins in full Tuesday in the U.S. Senate — only the third time in U.S. history a president faces removal from office for allegedly violating his oath.

One of the first pieces of business for the Senate is a vote on Republican leader Mitch McConnell’s proposed timeline for the trial.

McConnell’s resolution would give Democratic House impeachment managers — who will act as prosecutors — and Trump’s legal team 24 hours each over two days to present their cases. The resolution says nothing about whether witnesses would be called and new evidence allowed to be introduced.

McConnell and the Republicans have made no secret of wanting the trial to be a quick as possible resulting in Trump’s acquittal.

Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said late Monday that McConnell is going along with what he calls Trump’s “cover-up hook, line, and sinker.”  

“On something as important as impeachment, Senator McConnell’s resolution is nothing short of a national disgrace,” Schumer said, accusing most Republicans of bring frightened of the president.

Lawyers: Trump did ‘absolutely nothing wrong’

Trump’s lawyers are assailing the impeachment case against him as a “dangerous perversion of the Constitution,” asserting he did “absolutely nothing wrong” in pressing Ukraine to launch investigations to benefit himself politically.

The lawyers say Democrats pushing for Trump’s removal are not trying to find the truth about Trump’s Ukraine-related actions, but are looking to overturn his 2016 election and interfere with his 2020 reelection campaign.

The House impeached Trump on two articles. One alleges he abused the presidency by pressing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate one of his top 2020 Democratic challengers, former Vice President Joe Biden. The second charge is allegedly obstructing Congress in its investigation.

Democratic lawmakers had earlier said it was clear that the “evidence overwhelmingly establishes” that Trump is guilty of both charges.

The Trump lawyers, in their 110-page filing, said that president was conducting normal foreign policy affairs in dealing with Zelenskiy.

They said he did not commit a crime, even though conviction of an impeached U.S. president and removal from office does not depend on a specific violation of a criminal law. Rather, it is how the 100 members of the Senate, acting as jurors, interpret the standard for conviction set out in the U.S. Constitution, whether a president has committed “high crimes and misdemeanors.”  

No matter the legal arguments for and against Trump, he almost certainly will be acquitted by the Republican-majority Senate, where a two-thirds vote against him would be required for a conviction and removal from office.

At least 20 of the 53 Senate Republicans would have to join all 47 Democrats to convict Trump, and no Republican has called for his ouster.

The White House predicts Trump’s acquittal within two weeks. But the trial could last much longer if Democrats succeed in persuading four Republicans to join them in calling for testimony from key Trump aides about the president’s Ukraine-related actions.

Democrats want to hear testimony from former national security adviser John Bolton, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, and others about how Trump asked for investigations of Biden, his son Hunter Biden’s work for a Ukrainian natural gas company, and a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election on behalf of Democrats. Trump’s Ukraine efforts came at the same time he was temporarily withholding $391 million in military aid that Ukraine wanted to help fight pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Trump has said he wants to call the Bidens as witnesses at his trial, along with the still-unidentified whistleblower who first disclosed that Trump in a July phone call asked Zelenskiy to launch the Biden investigations. But on Twitter Monday, he seemed averse to hearing testimony from Bolton, whom he ousted in September.

Democrats, Trump said, “didn’t want John Bolton and others in the House” to testify. “They were in too much of a rush. Now they want them all in the Senate. Not supposed to be that way!”

Democrats pushing for Trump’s impeachment had sought testimony from Bolton and others in Trump’s orbit; however, the potential witnesses complied with the president’s edict to not cooperate with the House investigation, although others ignored it and testified. Democratic lawmakers abandoned efforts to subpoena some witnesses out of fear that the legal fights over their testimony would extend for months and instead moved ahead to adopt the impeachment articles without hearing them testify under oath.

Bolton now says he is willing to testify at Trump’s impeachment trial if he is subpoenaed by the Senate.

Trump, who almost daily ridicules the impeachment effort, tweeted Monday, “Cryin’ Chuck Schumer is now asking for ‘fairness’, when he and the Democrat House members worked together to make sure I got ZERO fairness in the House. So, what else is new?”

Trump eventually released the Ukraine military aid in September after a 55-day delay without Zelenskiy launching the Biden investigations. Republicans say that is proof Trump did not engage in a quid pro quo — the military aid in exchange for the investigations to help him politically.

Two other presidents — Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998 — were impeached by the House but acquitted in Senate trials and remained in office.

President Richard Nixon faced almost certain impeachment in 1974 in the Watergate political scandal, but resigned before the House acted. (VOA News)

Pardon Deal for Naama Issachar Advances Prior to Putin Arrival in Israel

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Yaffa Issachar, mother of Naama Issachar, an Israeli jailed in Russia. (Flash90)

According to reports in the Israeli media, Israel and Russia agreed to the broad contours of a pardon for the young backpacker jailed in Moscow over drug possession.

By: WIN Staff & JNS

On Monday evening, reports on Channels 12 and 13 in Israel indicated that a deal was moving forward for the release of Naama Issachar from Russian prison.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will discuss the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, during a meeting many hope will result in an announcement regarding Issachar’s release.

According to Times of Israel, the two nations had “agree[d] in principle” on pardoning Issachar as of Monday evening.

Reports related to the pardon indicated that Israel would be required to make concessions to Russia in exchange for the pardon, including potentially altering the status of a Russian building near Jerusalem’s Old City.

Yaffa Issachar, Naama’s mother, commented on Sunday, “We’ll know this week when Naama will be released. I want to go see [Israeli] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and show him my support. I believe that Putin will pardon her.”

Issachar was arrested in April during a layover in Moscow on the way back to Israel, after 9.5 grams of marijuana were found in her checked luggage. Though she denied having any intention of leaving the airport, she was convicted of drug smuggling and sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison.

Putin is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Thursday to take part in the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum along with dignitaries and heads of state from around the world.

Ahead of his arrival, rumors have swirled in the Russian and Israeli press that the Russian president is considering pardoning Issachar.

At the airport on Sunday, Yaffa Issachar urged the supporters who had arrived to welcome her not to protest or cause an incident during Putin’s visit.

“I appreciate everything you have done to bring Naama’s plight to the public sphere,” she said, “but now is the time to let negotiations play out.”

Following a conversation with Putin last week, Netanyahu on Sunday alluded to the possibility of a pardon, stating at his weekly Cabinet meeting, “I hope that on the occasion of the visit, we will also hear good news soon.”

According to Israel’s Ma’ariv newspaper, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov is scheduled to meet with Israeli Social Equality Minister Gila Gamliel on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of a pardon for Issachar. (World Israel News)

Read more at: World Israel News

 

 

Should the 5th Ave Frick Museum Buy Jeffrey Epstein’s Old Mansion?

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Preservationists are reportedly calling on the Frick Museum at 1 East 70th Street to buy the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s old Upper East Side mansion. Photo Credit: thirteen.org

By: Jeff Sagorties

Preservationists are reportedly calling on the Frick Museum at 1 East 70th Street to buy the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s old Upper East Side mansion.

The museum is currently in the process of expanding its facilities, a move that has riled some neighbors.

Several groups, including ones called Save the Frick and Stop Irresponsible Frick Development, are involved. Indeed, the Frick Collection’s planned expansion has had local residents upset over the prospect for years. One part of the expansion involves getting rid of the Frick’s music room and using the space instead to expand an exhibition area.

The director of Save the Frick, an architect and preservationist named Theodore Grunewald, has voiced the opinion that the planned changes to the museum’s music room would not be necessary if it purchased several nearby houses, including the one that belonged to Epstein.

However, Frick COO maintains that the Frick would not have to do this if it buys Epstein’s mansion at 9 East 71st Street and other nearby houses.

According to Frick’s chief operating officer Joe Shatoff, however, such a move would do nothing to help the museum realize its goals. “Our renovation and revitalization plan has been guided carefully by two key tenets — first and foremost, to preserve the unique, intimate experience of the Frick, and secondly, to ensure the long-term future of the museum and library,” he said in a statement to the New York Daily News. “A separate building across the street does not answer these needs and would not provide the critical adjacencies required to make it a functional solution.”

Facets of the Frick’s expansion strategy include remodeling nearly 6,000 square feet for use as an education center. It would also improve wheelchair accessibility and allow greater public access.

Internationally recognized as a premier museum and research center, the Frick is known for its distinguished Old Master paintings and outstanding examples of European sculpture and decorative arts, the museum points out on its web site.

“The collection was assembled by the Pittsburgh industrialist Henry Clay Frick (1849–1919) and is housed in his former residence on Fifth Avenue. One of New York City’s few remaining Gilded Age mansions, it provides a tranquil environment for visitors to experience masterpieces by artists such as Bellini, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Gainsborough, Goya, and Whistler. The museum opened in 1935 and has continued to acquire works of art since Mr. Frick’s death.”

Prosecutors Furious Over Lack of White Female Jurors in Harvey Weinstein Case

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Page Six reported : On Jan. 8, the female juror, whose name is being withheld by the Post, said in open court, “I have a close friend who had an encounter with [the] defendant in his hotel room, and I do not think I can be a fair juror in this case.” Photo Credit: Getty Images

By: Rusty Brooks

Over half of the jurors in the Harvey Weinstein case are men, according to the N.Y Times.

 The N.Y Times reported: “They are systematically eliminating every young white woman on this jury,” the lead prosecutor, Joan Illuzzi, said in court on Thursday afternoon. She renewed the same protest vigorously on Friday, noting the defense had objected to “every single white woman.”

The Times also reported: “Defense lawyers said their resistance to seating certain people had to do with their responses on a questionnaire, which, in their minds, raised doubts about whether the prospective jurors could be fair. Mr. Weinstein’s lead lawyer, Donna Rotunno, said the challenges “had nothing to do with race or sex, frankly.”

The defense was also careful to eliminate any woman who had been a victim of sexual assault or had a close friend or family member as a victim. 

7 men have been picked as jurors and 5 women., 3 of them white woman. All of Weinstein’s accusers are white women. 

There was a level of difficulty picking the jurors from the start.

Page Six reported in an exclusive that: Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers asked a judge Friday to dismiss all prospective jurors present when a panelist said she couldn’t be impartial since her good friend had a run-in with the disgraced movie mogul.

This incident happened on the 4th day of jury selection for the huge trial of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Page Six reported : On Jan. 8, the female juror, whose name is being withheld by the Post, said in open court, “I have a close friend who had an encounter with [the] defendant in his hotel room, and I do not think I can be a fair juror in this case.”

The potential juror did not reveal any further details about her friend and the Weinstein incident.

Finally, last Friday the full jury was seated, ending a long 2-week process which included the incident that Page Six reported. 

The New York Times stated: “ Ms. Illuzzi did not say in court why having few young white women on the jury would be problematic for the prosecution, but the district attorney’s office appeared to be operating on the theory that such jurors were likely to be sympathetic to Mr. Weinstein’s accusers” 

 

Threatening Presence? Hamas Puts Checkpoint Near New Int’l Hospital

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Photo Credit: Majdi Fathi/TPS on 20 January, 2020

By: Baruch Yedid

Hamas’ security forces have established a new military checkpoint in the proximity of the new soon to be opened international-sponsored hospital in the northern Gaza Strip.

The new checkpoint established Sunday is situated near an already active checkpoint that monitors all residents and delegations entering into the Strip.

A source in Gaza told TPS that the new checkpoint was established due to the sensitivity surrounding the opening of the new hospital.

The 10-acre hospital will consist of infrastructure dismantled from the IDF’s military hospital established by Israel a few years ago on the border with Syria, and equipment donated by a US organization, Friendship NGO. This project will also include support from Qatar, which has already invested $1 million.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is opposed the project because it claims that it is part of the understandings which are currently forming between Israel and Hamas, and which are expected to deepen the split between the PA’s government in Ramallah and Hamas’ rule in Gaza.

Fatah and PA sources said in talks with TPS that “while Israel and the US are preventing financial aid and support from hospitals in the PA and eastern Jerusalem, the US is actually promoting the Gaza Strip’s suspicious plan to establish a hospital that will block the union between the two Palestinian government areas.”

Ramallah claims that the hospital is “a crime committed by Hamas against the residents of the PA,” part of a plan to kill the idea of a Palestinian state.

The PA also fears that the hospital paves the way to direct US-Hamas relations and “the beginning of a campaign that will allow the establishment of a Gazan emirate sponsored by the US.”

Hamas supports the hospital’s establishment because of the collapse of the health services in the Gaza Strip but is facing opposition from Gazan factions who oppose it because of its location, just 200 meters from the Erez Crossing, could facilitate a rapid Israeli takeover of the hospital.

Gazan factions also claim that the site was chosen by Israel and the US so that they can promote security interests through civilian organizations.

Photos of Americans from the hospital’s establishment team, dressed in uniforms that look like those worn by marines, have recently stirred criticism on social networks against Hamas’ consent for a foreign military presence in the Gaza Strip.

Radical Islam opposes the presence of foreign countries in the territory of Islamic countries. (TPS)

Bloomberg Proposes Economic Justice Plan for Black Americans   

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New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg said: “For hundreds of years America systematically stole black lives, black freedom & black labor. A theft of labor and a transfer of wealth- enshrined in law and enforced by violence…”Photo Credit: Getty Images 

By: Jared Evan 

Presidential hopeful and former mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg  continues to slide into the far left spectrum of the Democrat party as he rolled out his plan to force  all new cars to be electric by 2035 and new buildings to produce zero carbon emissions by 2025 as part of clean energy plans and began a race based political agenda as he rolled out the Greenwood initiative, a plan named after the Tulsa race massacre of 1921, aimed to help African American business owners and communities. 

Bloomberg, a multi-billionaire, is a Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on Climate, so it’s no shock a large part of his platform is based around “Global warming” climate theory. 

A.P reported: “Bloomberg’s latest climate plans build off his December plan to cut the United States’ carbon emissions by 50% by 2030. That’s less ambitious than the Green New Deal that many of his competitors have embraced that calls for achieving net-zero carbon emissions within 10 years. Bloomberg’s plans do not include total costs or specifics on how they would be paid for details his campaign advisers say they will share later.”

His rhetoric is beginning to sound more like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez every day as his campaign blurts out popular ideas among “woke” progressives about the environment, racial inequality and constant anti Trump blather on social media. 

This is a drastic turn from the pragmatic centrist Bloomberg was known for when he served 3 terms as NYC mayor.

On Sunday afternoon his campaign tweeted and posted on Facebook rhetoric you would hear from a “woke” politician like Ilhan Omar or Minister Farrakhan: “For hundreds of years America systematically stole black lives, black freedom & black labor. A theft of labor and a transfer of wealth- enshrined in law and enforced by violence…” his campaign social media handlers posted. 

 On his environmental goals, A.P reported: “The newest plan, released Friday, outlines how Bloomberg would cut down on pollution from cars and trucks, the nation’s biggest source of carbon emissions. While the plan calls for new federal standards requiring all new cars to be electric by 2035, it would require 15% of the nation’s trucks and buses to be pollution-free by 2030.

The irony of  electric cars that escapes environmentalists like Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie sanders is that according  International Council on Clean Transportation, a nonprofit that conducts research for environmental regulators: “electric vehicle manufacturing requires more energy and produces more emissions than manufacturing a conventional car because of the electric vehicles’ batteries. Lithium-ion battery production requires extracting and refining rare earth metals and is energy intensive because of the high heat and sterile conditions involved. Most lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles in Europe in 2016 were produced in Japan and South Korea, where approximately 25 percent to 40 percent of electricity generation is from coal” according to their 2018 study.

These kinds of statements and lofty ideas are crafted very carefully by campaign analysts and are designed to appeal to a specific voting population.

The “new” Mike Bloomberg, went to Tulsa, Oklahoma last Sunday on MLK weekend to discuss his “white privilege” and discussed his latest, a plan called the Greenwood initiative, a plan named after the Tulsa race massacre of 1921.

The three major goals in the racial wealth plan, called the “Greenwood Initiative,” are increasing home ownership to 1 million more African Americans, getting more capital to 100,000 more entrepreneurs — specifically black women, who make up the fastest-growing group of new entrepreneurs — and flooding 100 impoverished neighborhoods in the country with $70 billion for pilot programs and community investments, ABC news reported. 

 

Coca Cola Bldg in NYC Sold for $946M; Biggest Property Sale of 2nd Half of 2019

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According to Real Capital Analytics, the Coca-Cola building represented the biggest property sale during the second half of 2019, at $946 million. Photo Credit: wikimapia.org Coca Cola Bldg in NYC Sold for $946M; Biggest Property Sale of 2nd Half of 2019

By Tom Roberts

The second half of 2019 saw some major-league property sales go through, a good portent for 2020.

According to Real Capital Analytics, the Coca-Cola building represented the biggest property sale during the second half of 2019, at $946 million. That was followed by 341 9th Avenue, the Morgan North Post Office, at $798 million; 685 3rd Avenue, at $451 million; and 24 – 02 49th Avenue at $438 million.

The Coca-Cola Building, at 711 Fifth Avenue, went up in 1927 “and was inherited by Coca-Cola after the beverage conglomerate’s 1983 purchase of Columbia Pictures,” Crain’s New York Business reported. “SHVO and Bilgili Holding now own the 18-floor office and retail tower, which counts Allen & Co. and The Polo Bar as tenants. The developers intend to enhance the building’s public spaces and amenities.”

The 340,000-square-foot 711 Fifth has “enjoyed almost a century of institutional ownership as one of only 20 boutique office buildings along Fifth Avenue,” according to Shvo’s website. It acquired its current nickname with Coca-Cola’s 1983 acquisition of Columbia Pictures, then its largest tenant.

In October, it was announced that Tishman Speyer and the United States Post Office had finished their deal to redevelop the upper floors of a historic postal facility into a dynamic office complex above West Chelsea.
“Known as the Morgan North Postal Facility, the building was originally completed in 1933 and encompasses an entire city block from Ninth to Tenth Avenue and 29th to 30th Streets,” noted newyorkyimby.com.

“Scope of work includes a renovation of the structure’s fifth through tenth floors in addition to the creation of more than 5,000 square feet of ground floor retail along Ninth Avenue. Office tenants will access the building via three dedicated lobbies and elevator banks, located on Ninth Avenue, 30th Street, and Tenth Avenue.”

Capital improvements at 685 Third Avenue have been completed, with a new entrance, lobby, elevators and new one-of-a-kind pocket park.

Late in 2019 it was announced that Innovo Property Group had finished the recapitalization of 24-02 49th Avenue, an 830,000-square-foot mixed-use property in Queens, through a new equity joint venture with Hong Kong-based Nan Fung Group. The recapitalization transaction included debt from Axonic Capital and affiliates of Athene Annuity & Life Assurance Co.

“We took advantage of the low interest rates,” Andrew Chung, CEO of Innovo Property Group, told Commercial Property Executive. The recapitalization comes three years after IPG joined forces with Westbrook Partners to acquire the asset in a $195 million transaction.”

Israel to Host 75th Anniversary of Auschwitz Liberation with 50 World Leaders Arriving

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A ceremony held at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Over 50 world leaders and foreign dignitaries arrive at midweek to mark the day and vow to fight against anti-Semitism.

By: Batya Jerenberg

Security and traffic preparations have been finalized for the arrival in Israel at midweek of over four dozen heads of state and government who are expected in the Jewish State to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Poland from the Nazis.

Thousands of Israel Police, Border Police, and volunteers are slated to be mobilized to ensure that the delegations landing in Israel mostly on Wednesday will move smoothly and securely from Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, to Jerusalem.

Some delegations will be arriving earlier in the week and some on the day of the main event, Thursday. Notable arrivals on that day will include U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, together with a bipartisan Congressional representation.

Local flights which normally use Terminal 1 at the airport are being moved to the international Terminal 3, to make way for the special flights with dignitaries on board. Highway One, leading to Jerusalem, as well as many streets within the capital, will periodically be closed to allow the entourages to travel to their destinations with minimum delays.

The main event of the Fifth World Holocaust Forum will take place at Yad Vashem, The World Holocaust Remembrance Center, under the title “Remembering the Holocaust: Fighting Anti-Semitism.”

The event will mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day a little early, as the official date is January 27, the day the Soviet Red Army liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest and most infamous Nazi concentration and death camp. The objective is also to send a clear message that Jew hatred is an unacceptable phenomenon in today’s world, as well, say the organizers.

“Everyone is uniting around the message of fighting anti-Semitism,” Presidential Residence director-general Harel Tubi said.

“It shows that this is not just a problem for Jews and Israel, but one of the society in which it is developing; and therefore, when countries come here and show concern about this phenomenon,” they are telling their own people that action must be taken, Tubi added.

The number of world leaders who answered “yes” to Yad Vashem’s invitation, which was accompanied by a personal letter from President Reuven Rivlin, is unprecedented, according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry, which says that this will be “the biggest political event ever” in the State of Israel’s history.

Many of the delegations are headed by the country’s leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Most European countries are sending either their presidents or prime ministers, while the EU as a whole will be represented by the presidents of the European Parliament and European Council. The kings of the Netherlands and Spain and Crown Prince Charles of Great Britain will add a touch of royalty to the ensemble, and the Pope is sending an envoy as well. (World Israel News)

Read more at: worldisraelnews.com