A massive fast-moving four-alarm blaze ripped through three homes in Flatbush, early Thursday morning, as was reported by Yeshiva World News. Photo Credit: Facebook
A massive fast-moving four-alarm blaze ripped through three homes in Flatbush, early Thursday morning, as was reported by Yeshiva World News.
Edited by: JV Staff
Chief of Fire Operations Thomas Richardson said more than 170 firefighters and EMS personnel were on the scene at 1488 East 17 Street near Avenue N within 5 minutes and found three homes on fire at 4:05 am.
“They did make an interior attack into the main fire building, but they quickly had to evacuate that building, and we concentrated our efforts on the two exposures,” Chief Richardson said, according to a CBS News report.
Over a dozen civilians, including a 6-week old infant, were injured, along with three firefighters and two police officers. Most of them suffered smoke inhalation, and are all in stable condition in the hospital. They’re all expected to survive.
“Children were screaming, ‘help!’ I did not see them. Then I heard the voice of a man, and I came out right away. When I came out right away, I saw three houses on fire,” neighbor Philippe Naim told CBS2’s Aundrea Cline-Thomas. “Thank God everyone’s out, thank God, thank God.”
Yeshiva World News reported that Flatbush Hatzolah received multiple calls, and along with FDNY EMS treated and transported approximately 10 victims.
Highly credible sources confirm to YWN that NYC fire marshalls are in possession of a security camera footage of an individual seen running from the fire just as the fire started – in the home of a long-time Rebbi at Yeshiva Chaim Berlin.
YWN reported that there is additional footage showing the home literally bursting into flames – pointing to the fact that an accelerant was used.
CBS News reported that surveillance video from a nearby home shows a man pouring what is believed to be a flammable liquid beside a parked car, sources say. Investigators believe he was burned when the fire began and ran away.
Additionally, YWN is aware that authorities are investigating recent threats that were made to the home owner. Thankfully, all homes had working smoke detectors, and no one was seriously injured or killed, according to the Yeshiva World News report.
A state judge agreed with Exxon that the New York attorney general’s office hasn’t done enough to lay out an accurate witness list for an upcoming court case. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
October trial between energy producer and state of NY carries major ramifications
By: Todd Shepherd
A state judge agreed with Exxon that the New York attorney general’s office hasn’t done enough to lay out an accurate witness list for an upcoming court case.
In October of 2018, the New York AG filed suit after a multi-year investigation against Exxon, alleging the company misled investors by not accurately disclosing the risks its business faced as a result of climate change.
Since then, a battle has played out over the elements necessary for a trial, including disclosure of documents but also the witness list for each side.
Judge Barry Ostrager chided the AG’s office on Wednesday for having more than 30 persons on their potential witness list, while Exxon only has 11. In particular, Ostrager said the AG couldn’t simply list “Goldman Sachs” as a potential witness, when the company has tens of thousands of employees.
“This is a case that’s been in discovery and investigation for three years,” Ostrager said, according to courtroom transcripts. “And it doesn’t seem reasonable to me that four months before trial you can’t do a better job of identifying potential witnesses with [greater] specificity than you have.
“Now, I’m not going to play hall monitor where we have weekly conferences with the lawyers to ascertain the extent to which you’re giving Exxon reasonable notice of the witnesses you may potentially call at trial. But you can’t give them the name of a company with 600,000 employees and not indicate which of four or five of those 600,000 employees you might call as a witness—as witnesses in your case.”
It would appear Ostrager was purposefully exaggerating to make a point, given that the banking and investment giant is estimated to have about 36,000 employees.
The judge meanwhile denied a request by Exxon that would have let the company unseal records between the AG and Matt Pawa, a lawyer and climate activist who has been a central force in convincing governments across the country to sue energy producers. The AG had argued that the communications should be kept sealed claiming that Pawa was a “whistleblower.” Exxon had argued that Pawa was more akin to a cooperating agent by providing strategy and legal insight.
Ostrager did, however, leave open the possibility that Exxon might be able to obtain quarterly reports from a special attorney placed in the AG’s office but who is funded by former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg specifically to work on climate- and energy-related legal issues.
While the special attorney in this instance is under the control of the AG’s office, per his contract he must send quarterly reports back to the New York University State Energy and Environmental Impact Center (SEEIC), the law school funded by Bloomberg that pays the salary of the special attorney and has also placed climate attorneys in other AG offices across the nation.
“Documents may reveal a trail of influence peddling,” the Wall Street Journal editorial pages wrote about the court case just days ago. “Quarterly reports from the New York AG to the SEEIC explain the fellows’ contributions to environmental initiatives.”
“Exxon has produced millions of pages of documents since former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman began investigating the company in 2015 and now wants more information regarding the office’s communications with outside groups,” the paper also said. “Yet AG Letitia James is dodging transparency regarding her office’s SEEIC relationship.”
The Wednesday proceedings also netted some positives for the AG’s office, as the judge threw out two of the defense strategies Exxon was hoping to use in the trial.
“I am happy with the judge’s decision today, and look forward to continuing to make our case in court,” Attorney General Letitia James said in an emailed statement to the Free Beacon.
Attorneys for Exxon did not comment, but a representative of the National Association of Manufacturers blasted the AG’s office and what he perceived as the overall thrust of the suit.
“Over the years, significant evidence has been disclosed in the public record showing that the New York Attorney General’s investigation of ExxonMobil and now this lawsuit were done in close coordination with outside groups that are financially and politically motivated,” said Phil Goldberg, special counsel to NAM’s Manufacturers’ Accountability Project.
“The goal of these private groups is to weaken the energy manufacturing industry, rather than seeking justice. Today’s hearing helped further expose this unfortunate reality to the public, and we continue to urge the Attorney General to adhere to basic principles of transparency that should be required of every public official.”
If Exxon were found liable for not accurately defining to investors the company’s risks of future regulation because of climate change, other suits would likely follow in other jurisdictions. (Washington Free Beacon)
Democrats are expressing alarm after President Trump dismissed concerns about accepting information about electoral opponents from foreign powers and said such activity would not amount to interference in the political system.
Edited by: JV Staff
“I think you might want to listen. There’s nothing wrong with listening,” he told ABC News in an interview released Wednesday. “If somebody called from a country — Norway — ‘We have information on your opponent.’ Oh, I think I’d want to hear it.”
When asked if he wants that kind of interference in the election process, Trump said, “It’s not interference,” and that members of Congress “all do it.”
“They always have, and that’s the way it is,” Trump said. But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said those comments put Trump one step away from dictators and autocrats who manipulate elections to stay in power. “The president’s comments are undemocratic, un-American and disgraceful. The president’s comments suggest he believes winning an election is more important than the integrity of the election,” Schumer said in morning floor remarks. Trump clarified his remarks in a Thursday tweet, writing that he talks to foreign governments every day.
“Should I immediately call the FBI about these calls and meetings? How ridiculous! I would never be trusted again. With that being said, my full answer is rarely played by the Fake News Media. They purposely leave out the part that matters.”
Rep. Brian Schatz rejected the president’s assertion, calling the prospect of accepting such information “crazy.”
“It is not customary or normal or legal or moral to accept campaign assistance from a foreign government. Nobody does that. Nobody,” he said.
Rep. Jim McGovern said getting information from a foreign adversary is “not normal” and that “most people would call the FBI.”
“Republicans and Democrats should both speak out — loudly and strongly — against this,” Sen. Chris Coons said. “Foreign interference in our elections is unacceptable. Period.”
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham did call the president’s comments “wrong and a mistake” Thursday morning. Graham told reporters, “If a public official is approached by a foreign government and offered anything of value, the answer is no — whether it’s money, opposition research.” Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, told VOA, “I don’t give the president public advice (on what to say). Only in private.”
During the 2016 campaign that brought Trump to power, his son Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer who offered negative information about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. FBI Director Christopher Wray said that contact should have been reported to the agency.
“The FBI director is wrong,” Trump said when reminded of Wray’s statement.
“The duty of any patriotic American is to call the FBI if they encounter foreign interference in our elections,” said Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard. “Tragically, Donald Trump thinks patriotism is less important than his own power.”
In response to the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Russia operated a campaign to influence the 2016 elections with a preference for damaging Clinton’s chances and for Trump to win, the FBI launched its own campaign to combat foreign influence and encouraged both election officials and campaign staff to report suspicious activity to the agency.
Wray has also warned in recent months that Russia poses what he called a “significant counterintelligence threat” to the United States and is likely to intensify its efforts ahead of the 2020 U.S. presidential election that will be held in November of next year.
Special counsel Robert Mueller concluded that Trump had not colluded with Russia to help him win the election, but reached no decision on whether he, as president, had obstructed justice by trying to thwart Mueller’s probe.
During the campaign, Trump praised WikiLeaks, which released a trove of hacked Democratic National Committee emails. At a campaign rally, he also urged Russia to find 30,000 emails Clinton had reportedly deleted from a private email server during her time as secretary of state. Trump later said he was joking, but Mueller wrote in his report that Trump’s comments resulted in Russian military intelligence officers targeting Clinton’s personal office within hours.
Rep. Tom Malinowski released a statement Wednesday saying he was introducing legislation that would require political campaigns to file a report with the Justice Department if they receive an offer of assistance from a foreign power or from a domestic source that involves illegal activity such as hacking.
“If a foreign government offers to help us win an election, we should report that offer, not exploit it,” Malinowski said. (VOA News)
Amid pushback, Takoma Park in Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C., postponed a scheduled screening this week of an anti-Israel documentary narrated by pro-BDS activist and former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
“A film like this only fuels ill will against the Jewish people,” said Stand With Us CEO Roz Rothstein.
By: Jackson Richman
Amid pushback, Takoma Park in Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C., postponed a scheduled screening this week of an anti-Israel documentary narrated by pro-BDS activist and former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters.
“The proposed June 13 screening of the film, ‘The Occupation of the American Mind’ in the Takoma Park Community Center as part of the ‘We Are Takoma’ series, has spurred expressions of concern and support from a number of organizations and individuals,” according to the municipality’s post on Facebook. “The Takoma Park City Council appreciates the comments and has asked that the screening of the film be postponed to a later date.”
They continued, “We wish to allow space for a conversation about the points the film makes in a way that allows for people to express their thoughts and perspectives and explore what has changed since the film was made given the current politics in Israel and the United States. How that conversation takes place is still to be determined. The Council appreciates that several organizations have expressed interest in helping us think through an appropriate approach.”
According to Culture SpotMD, a website by the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, where Takoma Park is located, the film “is a captivating documentary that reveals how the Israeli government, U.S. government, and pro-Israel lobbying groups have engaged in a decades-long propaganda campaign to shape American media coverage of Israel and its occupation of Palestinian lands … the film examines how the Israeli government has sought to avoid condemnation for civilian deaths, the blockade of the Gaza Strip, and illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank that are a ‘flagrant violation’ of international law according to the United Nations.”
Zionist Organization of America national president Mort Klein told JNS that the “insidious Orwellian propaganda film calls pro-Israel truth ‘propaganda,’ and labels Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups’ lies as ‘truth.’ The film even claims that it is ‘propaganda’ to report that Hamas is raining rockets down on Israel, that Hamas’s terror tunnels endanger Israeli civilians, and that Israel has the right to defend itself from all this. The film then tries to blame Israeli/Jewish media operations for what the film labels as pro-Israel ‘propaganda.’ ”
The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) applauded Takoma Park’s decision.
“Takoma Park is headed in the right direction by postponing the showing of ‘The Occupation of the American Mind,’” CAMERA media analyst Dexter Van Zile told JNS. “Hopefully, organizers will find a more honest and credible film to show because ‘Occupation’ is rank propaganda.
“The film includes doctored quotes, manipulated to demonize Israel. It’s simply a dishonest hit job produced by Sut Jhally, an anti-Israel professor at UMASS Amherst,” said Van Zile. “He’s worked hard to mainstream anti-Israel commentators like Roger Wagers and Linda Sarsour into the American mainstream, but for whatever reason, Takoma Park decided to draw the line against his propaganda. Good for them.
“Hopefully,” he continued, “this will slow down Jhally’s effort to hypnotize young Americans into believing every anti-Israel trope that comes down the pike from the anti-Israel fabricators who’ve been given way too much play in American civil society.”
Stand With Us CEO Roz Rothstein said “we are pleased that Takoma Park has decided to postpone showing the documentary. At a time of rising anti-Semitism, screening a film that makes inflammatory accusations against Jews (that they control the American media and the U.S. government) and is narrated by a known anti-Semite Roger Waters is extremely problematic. We are grateful the municipality recognized that a film like this only fuels ill will against the Jewish people.” (JNS.org)
Phyllis Chesler writes: “I dare to say, at the risk of being shamed and shunned for telling the truth, that "Palestine" is a fiction, a concept that refers to an imaginary entity, not real but socially constructed.” Photo Credit: Joan Roth
“Palestine” is a fiction, a concept that refers to an imaginary entity, not real but socially constructed
By: Phyllis Chesler
I dare to say, at the risk of being shamed and shunned for telling the truth, that “Palestine” is a fiction, a concept that refers to an imaginary entity, not real but socially constructed.
Even as barbarians terrorize civilians everywhere, (if not, the UK and Australia would have granted Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi asylum), the world remains divinely diverted, even obsessed by the alleged “occupation” of a country that does not exist.
I am talking about “Palestine” aka the disputed territories. And yes, I dare to surround this word with quote marks because it is a fiction, a concept that refers to an imaginary entity, an entity desired by the world, the more so because it is not real but is, rather, socially constructed.
The world’s honor is now bound up with this falsity. And why? Because this is an idea that allows Jew haters the world over to continue their genocidal lust towards Jews, both in Israel and around the world.
Although non-existent, “Palestine” is so sacred a concept that one risks being shamed and shunned for saying so. The world’s honor is now bound up with this falsity. And why? Because this is an idea that allows Jew haters the world over to continue their genocidal lust towards Jews, both in Israel and around the world.
It is the way European Christian and non-Western Muslims can continue their gruesome history of pogroms, massacres, and the industrial-scale slaughter of Jews—and still virtue-signal their compassion for the other Semites: displaced Arab Muslims, a compassion they sadly lack for persecuted Arab and African Christians.
This imaginary Palestine is similar to other imagined and socially constructed realities. For example, Caucasian Rachel Dolezal believed she was an African-American. An increasing number of men believe they are, in truth, women trapped in men’s bodies; as such, they are seen as both victim and hero for embracing this destiny. A smaller number of women believe that they are really men trapped in women’s bodies. They, too, are seen as victim/heroes.
Arab “Palestinian” style Intifada and Jihad has gone global. Antifa activists in America are also face-masked, aggressive, verbally vulgar, and violent. They shout down anything and anyone with which they disagree and operate as a mob both on campuses and at demonstrations. No matter what their real issues are (Wall Street, police anti-Black racism, climate apocalypse, the prison system, women’s rights), “Palestine” is often signaled by the wearing of checkered Arafat-style keffiyehs and Hamas-style face masks.
Often, they also chant “Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea” which is the same as saying “Let’s ethnically cleanse all the Jews, not only those who live in the ‘West Bank’ but also those in Haifa, Tel Aviv, and Jerusalem.” It is a call to genocide which has been misunderstood as a call to righteous resistance.
The above article by renowned scholar, author and human rights advocate Prof. Phyllis Chesler was posted last week on Fundies say the Darndest Things without permission or knowledge of the writer and received a slew of insults which we will not post here. Note the hashtags provided: #racist#wingnut#transphobia. Prof. Chesler commented only: ‘I stand by what I wrote.’.
One of the talkbackers on Israel National News however, added these maps and wrote:
I am aware of Israel’s stance that it’s not an occupation strictly speaking, due to the Palestinian territories not being claimed by any sovereign state recognized by Israel as legitimate (like Jordan or Egypt), thus being “just” a disputed area. Regardless of that, just about the entire rest of the world considers the West Bank to be occupied territory, and Israel to be an occupying power with all the obligations that entails. I doubt you’re saying this due to understanding the legal intricacies of the issue and wanting an educated discussion, though. Nah, more likely, you’re just prejudiced and cheering for one side (Israel).
Another reader answered:
The leftmost, 1917 map – what does it show? Palestinian land? Not really… since the territory at that time belonged to the Ottoman Empire. There was no such thing as Palestinian sovereignty.
It doesn’t even show private land, since Palestinian Arabs* at that time did not own all the land – privately or otherwise.
In other words, that map doesn’t show any discernible reality.
The next map, from 1946, shows land privately owned by Jews, in green. What is the yellow land, though? It wasn’t land that was privately owned by Palestinian Arabs. It wasn’t state land, either – the territory of Mandate Palestine was under British management, not Palestinian Arab or Jewish. So how was all of that “Palestinian land”?
The king of Jordan handed it out to his friends.
The map compares privately owned Jewish land with… err… all the land, including uninhabited desert areas, that wasn’t owned by Jews? How is this relevant for anything?
That said, I’ll give kudos to the author of the image for mentioning that most of the Jewish-owned land back then was bought perfectly legally. That’s true, and also not something pro-Palestinian people tend to admit or even seem to know.
I have no issues with the next three maps. The only problem is with the very last one and its accompanying text, which are… at best incomplete. What does it show?
Firstly, the stated year of the map is 2012. The IDF’s Gaza disengagement and the evacuation of Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip took place in 2005. Therefore, that green bit within the Gaza Strip and next to the Egyptian border had not existed for seven years by 2012.
Secondly, the distribution of areas in the West Bank is unexplained. The yellow areas here are a combination of Areas A and B of the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority has civil control (but full security control only in Area A, and even that not fully since Israeli forces do enter it regularly in order to control terror but do nothing else). The green one is Area C, where Israeli authorities exercise full control and where nearly all of their settlements are. Thus, while perhaps not precise enough, the map does somewhat accurately depict the areas of Israeli or Palestinian civil control. A summary of these finer points should have been given in the accompanying text, though.
The actual text the author included below the image is problematic as well.
Other than not mentioning the year of Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, it also gives almost nothing of the background of the Israeli operation in 2012. Nothing about thousands of Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, for instance. And while such a small text can’t really do the job, I’d at least try to be a bit more informative (and, of course, avoid possible propaganda by omission).
So, to conclude: I’m sorry, Swede, but your post is a classic example of ignorant but well-meaning people parroting other (potentially malicious) people’s talking points without really considering what they’re about. And don’t get me wrong, pro-Israel propagandists facilitate that as well, not just pro-Palestinian ones. Such arguments don’t help resolve the conflict at all; they only muddy the waters. Please take a closer look at what you use in the future, lest you become an unwitting pawn in somebody’s propaganda machine.
*I use the term “Palestinian Arabs” since ‘Palestinians’ as a term for a nation only became popular and commonly used by the Palestinians themselves in the 1960s. Using it for the previous period isn’t really accurate, but I’ll grant you that using it as a shorthand won’t really cause confusion. Still, I prefer to make the distinction.
Residents of the quiet, leafy neighborhood of Gravesend in Brooklyn were rocked to the core on Wednesday afternoon when a huge blaze erupted at one of the upscale homes on East 1st Street near Avenue T. The serious fire, which broke out shortly after 1 pm, warranted about 50 firefighters and EMS crews was located at 1944 East 1st Street. Firefighters were able to vanquish the roaring fire, however the kitchen in the rear of the structure incurred heavy damage as did the atrium which featured high ceilings and glass windows, according to NYFD officials.
By: David Ben Hooren
Witnesses says that the firefighters broke all the windows and that the house sustained water damage. The fire officials reported it took about 20 minutes to get the blaze under control. There were no injuries in the inferno and no reasons were given for what precisely started the fire. It is currently under investigation.
According to a report on the Bklyner web site, the current owners of the home were not immediately identified. The report indicated that the other day they were moving some tropical fish and some had been left behind to be moved at a later date. The owners said the fire was “very bad timing.”
Suspicions have been raised as to whether the fire was an alleged arson, as the home had been under contract for $2.8 million, according to real estate brokers from Wolf Properties. According to the real estate web page Zillow, similar houses in this community are selling for $2-3 million, as was reported on the Bklyner web site.
The home had been owned by architect Robert Scarano, who inherited the home from his father. Scarano, however, has an allegedly checkered business past and according to published reports, he lost his rights to submit new building plans to the New York City Department of Buildings due to previous falsification on applications.
According to information provided on Scarano’s Wikipedia page, the ban by the city is still in effect. The ban was originally imposed on Scarano in March of 2010. The ruling against the embattled architect came in response to a June 2008 DOB action alleging “false or misleading statements on applications submitted to the Buildings Department in connection with two new buildings in Brooklyn.”. According to the DOB, Scarano’s filings deliberately misrepresented the size of his proposed buildings, which were larger than he was claiming in his filings.
In her March 2010 ruling, Judge Joan Salzman agreed with the DOB, calling Scarano’s filings “so deceptive that they call to mind out-and-out fraud.”
According to Wikipedia, in response to the ruling, Scarano sued the DOB, attempting to overturn a city statute that “can be used to bar an architect from filing for permits”. The suit alleged that the statute was “unconstitutional because it lacked due process; it was poorly drafted with a “meager” standard; and could be applied arbitrarily”. An appeals court upheld the ban in 2011, saying DOB could “no longer rely on Scarano to submit honest paperwork.” Scarano said that he would explore his legal options in response.
This ban was the second time in four years that the NYC Department of Buildings brought charges against Scarano. In 2006, Scarano was brought before the City’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings for alleged zoning violations. The allegations were mutually settled in August 2006 with the settlement specifying that it was “not an admission of guilt or liability” by Scarano and the DOB agreed to keep private “any information or documents that form the basis for the department’s assertions and allegations.”
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, several residents of the Gravesend community said that Scarano did not pay his debts and swindled people out of their money on the business transactions that he engaged in with them.
President Dodon & EAJC President Michael Mirilashvil. Photo credit: EAJC press service
Edited by: JV Staff
The Moldovan government together with its Prime Minister, Pavel Filip, recently approved the transfer of the country’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This move fulfills the promise made by Moldovan President, Igor Dodov, which he first voiced during his meeting with the leaders of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) headed by Michael Mirilashvili. During the meeting, which took place last December in Jerusalem, President Dodon vowed “in all earnestness” to consider the question of transferring the country’s embassy. Prime Minister Filip expressed his confidence that the decision would be realized regardless of the outcome of the pre-term elections scheduled to be held in Moldova in the near future.
EAJC President Michael Mirilashvili thanked the country’s leadership saying, “We are talking of an historic decision that is going to take the bilateral relationship to a whole new level. Israelis and Jews all over the world alike will always remember Moldova as one of the first countries to move its embassy to Jerusalem. This step is a logical continuation of the Moldovan government policy of strengthening ties with the Jewish community and fighting against anti-Semitism. We congratulate the peoples of the two countries on this milestone and are happy to further promote friendly relations between Israel and Moldova.”
EAJC CEO Haim Ben-Yakov stressed that, “The status of Jerusalem is one of key issues in Middle Eastern politics. Moving the embassy to Jerusalem is a testament to the shared belief that Jerusalem has always been the center of spiritual life for our people, and it is inconceivable to imagine any solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict without Jerusalem being recognized as the capital of the State of Israel.”
The United States recognized Jerusalem as Israeli capital in December of 2017 and in May of 2018 moved there its embassy from Tel Aviv. Later, Guatemala also moved its embassy to Jerusalem. On September 13, 2018 Czech government announced their decision to transfer its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In December of 2018 Australia recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Russia recognizes West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Member of Knesset Amir Ohana (Likud) sworn in as Minister of Justice for interim government.
Ohana takes over portfolio that was held by Ayelet Shaked, who was fired from the government by PM Netanyahu along with Naphtali Bennet after the two failed to get re-elected in recent general elections.
Ohana, a known confident close to Netanyahu will fill this position at least until the forming of the next government after the September Knesset elections.
The advancement of Amir Ohana is upsetting to the left wing and intersectionality crowd being that he is openly gay and politically on the right.
Ohana is a strong supporter of the Land of Israel movement and greatly appreciated in the Likud party.
In a recently feature in the New York Times he is quoted describing himself as: “I’m Jewish, Israeli, Mizrahi, gay, a Likudnik, a security hawk, a liberal and a believer in the free market,” Mr. Ohana told parliament. (“Mizrahi,” or “eastern,” refers to Israelis with roots in the Islamic world, about half of the Jewish population.)
Israel’s Minister of Communication Ayoob Kara (Likud) received a delegation of 45 Muslim leaders from France and Belgium today at the Knesset in Jerusalem.
A delegation of heads of the Muslim community in France and Belgium, led by Imam Hassan Chalghumi, who arrived in Israel ahead of the Trump Conference in Bahrain.
A the special reception for the guests in the Knesset Minister Ayoob Kara said: “I welcome the announcement by Morocco, Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf states that they want to participate in the Bahrain conference.
On his Twitter account (in Hebrew): “This is further proof that the Iranian threat and the desire to stop it have become the most important issue in most Arab countries. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now considered a leader admired by leaders in the Arab world – and Israel has long been not the problem in the Middle East.”
Ayoob Kara a representative of Israel’s Arabic speaking Druze community has been slated by PM Netanyahu to serve as Israel’s next ambassador to Cairo.
Tomorrow the delegation will visit the Barkan industrial park to learn about the damaging effects of BDS on the welfare of the local Arab population.
קיבלתי היום בכנסת משלחת של ראשי הקהילה המוסלמית בצרפת ובלגיה, בראשות חברי האישי האימאם הראשי חסן שאלגומי, שהגיע לישראל לקראת ועידת טראמפ שתתקיים בבחריין.
אמרתי במפגש המיוחד שאני מברך על הודעת מארוקו, מצרים, ירדן ומדינות המפרץ על רצונם להשתתף בוועידה –
>>> pic.twitter.com/nICIX07jyT
Israel’s Financial Newspaper Calcalist reports that Israel’s police are investigating suspicions of fraud and forgery in the purchase of shares in the Montefiore winery by David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel. The investigation, which is being conducted by the police division of the Jerusalem district, was opened following a complaint filed last December by the American Karraben Wine LLC, which until recently was owned by Friedman and his family.
The Karben Wines Company, was owned by David Friedman before he appointed ambassador. “Friedman says that he invested $730,000 on false pretenses. While that winery owners claim that: “Plaintiffs made a bad deal and are afraid to blame the ambassador.”
The company was sold when Friedman was appointed ambassador in March 2017, to Mar Wine Company owned by another American Jewish family. This was done in order to prevent a conflict of interest between Friedmann’s role and his private investments.
Karavan’s wines filed a lawsuit with the Tel Aviv District Court, claiming that Friedman invested $730,000 in the Israeli wine brand Montefiore on the basis of false presentations. “An investigation is being carried out, and testimonies have been taken from key figures, including a worker who was asked to forge documents,” Yuval Nahmani, the company’s lawyer, said during a court hearing.
Attached to the NIS 3.1 million claim were documents including a series of financial reports, bank transfers and correspondence that Carben claims were forged or fraudulently presented by Montefiore’s owner Arnon Geva in order to convince Friedman and later the representative of the Hershman family to buy shares or lend money to the brand.
Geva is a well known figure in the Israeli wine world, and has held senior positions in the Castel and Carmel wineries. Another defendant is Jerusalem lawyer Eitan Geva, Arnon’s father, who was formerly an active director in the winery. According to the plaintiff, Adv. Geva knew, or turned a blind eye, to his son’s actions.
In the defense statement filed by the Geva family, they denied the allegations. Attorney General Avi Segal said during the court hearing that “the plaintiffs made a bad deal with Mr. Friedman and it’s hard for them to sue him because they do not like them, so we’re here today. Judge Naftali Shilo ordered the parties to submit an update within four months regarding the results of the police investigation, before the prosecution can proceed.
Protestors in the streets of London in May of 2018. A woman can be seen holding an Hezbollah flag as thousands call for the total annihilation of Israel. The UK’s Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn considers Hezbollah an ally. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
In a bombshell report that appeared in the Daily Telegraph of London on Sunday, it appears that a major cover up of terrorist activities took place to protect the legitimacy of former President Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal. The Daily Telegraph reported that in following a tip-off from a foreign government, police and the MI5 intelligence service raided four properties on the outskirts of London on Sept. 30, 2015, and discovered three metric tons of ammonium nitrate, concealed in disposable ice packs.
A man in his forties was arrested on suspicion of plotting terrorism, but was eventually released without charges. The paper quoted “well placed sources” as saying that “the plot had been disrupted by a covert intelligence operation rather than seeking a prosecution.”
The Telegraph said that there were no signs that Britain would have been a target of the future attacks.
Ynet News reported on Monday that Israeli officials confirmed that the Mossad intelligence agency provided information that led British law enforcement to thwart the 2015 plot Hezbollah to attack targets in the UK.
David Cameron British Prime Minister seen leaving Downing Street on Jul 14, 2015 in London. According to the Telegraph report, then-Prime Minister David Cameron and then-Home Secretary – later prime minister – Theresa May were reportedly informed about the discovery of the ammonium nitrate. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
The Times of Israel indicated that the report said the arrest came just months after the UK joined the US and other world powers in signing the Iran nuclear deal and speculated that it was hushed up to avoid derailing the agreement with Tehran, which is the main supporter of the Lebanese Hezbollah group.
“It raises questions about whether senior UK government figures chose not to reveal the plot in part because they were invested in keeping the Iran nuclear deal afloat,” the paper said.
Britain joined the U.S., France, Germany, Russia, and China in the marathon talks that produced the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal in the summer of 2015.
The JCPOA was finalized 11 weeks before the raids in the London outskirts, and the agreement less than four months after the raids, as was reported on the CNS web site.
President Trump has since pulled the US out of the deal and hit Iran with fresh sanctions.
The Daily Telegraph reported that the London plot was part of a larger plan by Hezbollah to attack targets around the world. Similar plots were foiled in Thailand, Cyprus and New York, according to the Ynet news report.
The Telegraph said the Cyprus case was strikingly similar to the one in London. In 2015 in Cyprus, confessed Hezbollah agent Hussein Bassam Abdallah was sentenced to six years in jail after he was found with 8.2 tons of ammonia nitrate in his home. He had reportedly planned to attack Israeli targets.
The Telegraph indicated that the information that it garnered came after a three-month investigation in which more than 30 current and former officials in Britain, America and Cyprus were approached and court documents were obtained, according to a Times of Israel report.
Sources told the Telegraph that the British plot was in its very early stages and no targets had been selected. The report said British intelligence had hoped to establish what Hezbollah was planning and did not disrupt the plot immediately.
Ammonium nitrate has also been used in other major terrorist attacks, including the 1994 bombing of the Argentine-Israel Mutual Association (AMIA) building in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people. Investigators implicated Hezbollah and senior Iranian regime officials in that plot. Photo Credit: Twitter
“MI5 worked independently and closely with international partners to disrupt the threat of malign intent from Iran and its proxies in the UK,” a UK intelligence source told the paper.
“The Security Service and police work tirelessly to keep the public safe from a host of national security threats. Necessarily, their efforts and success will often go unseen,” said Minister of State for Security Ben Wallace.
Reporter Patrick Goodenough of the CNS site wrote that in the U.S., the Obama administration opposed attempts by Republican lawmakers to link Iran’s support for terrorism to the nuclear negotiations.
According to the Telegraph report, then-Prime Minister David Cameron and then-Home Secretary – later prime minister – Theresa May were reportedly informed about the discovery of the ammonium nitrate.
In Goodenough’s searing investigative piece, he reported that in 2012, a Hezbollah operative apprehended in Thailand led police to a cache of bomb-making material, including ammonium nitrate stored in ice-packs.
More recently, ammonium nitrate stored in ice-packs were featured in court documents relating to indictments against two men on trial in the U.S. for Hezbollah-related terror activity.
Ammonium nitrate is a fertilizer that has become a popular ingredient for terrorist bombs.
Goodenough reported that Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh used a mixture of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil in the device he built in 1995. That bomb, which killed 168 people, comprised 2.2 tons of the mixture – less than the amount reportedly discovered in Britain.
Ammonium nitrate has also been used in other major terrorist attacks, including the 1994 bombing of the Argentine-Israel Mutual Association (AMIA) building in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people. Investigators implicated Hezbollah and senior Iranian regime officials in that plot.
A decade ago, its use in homemade bombs deployed against U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan became so pervasive that its possession and sale was outlawed in Afghanistan and parts of north-west Pakistan, as was reported in Goodenough’s CNS piece.
Hezbollah was established in 1982 during the Lebanese civil war and fought a 2006 war with Israel. Its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, regularly threatens to target Israel with thousands of advanced missiles that can reach all major Israeli cities, according to the Times of Israel report.
The group is considered a terror organization by Israel, the US and the Arab League. The European Union and Australia only designate the group’s military wing as such.
TOI reported that Hezbollah has been blamed for a string of attacks against Israelis including the 2012 attack on a bus load of Israeli tourists in Bulgaria that killed five, and the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 29.
Britain blacklisted Hezbollah’s military wing in 2008 but had until now made no move against its political wing, according to the TOI report.
TOI also reported that British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the UK now believes that any distinction between its military and political wings “does not exist.”
Goodenough reported that Joan Ryan, an independent member of the House of Commons, asked Home Secretary Sajid Javid in a letter Monday why details of the September 2015 raid had not been made public.
“Can you confirm that nobody in Government ordered this information to be withheld from the public because of its sensitivity due to Iran’s funding and support for Hezbollah and the recent conclusion of the Iran nuclear deal?” she asked.
Ryan, who for years campaigned for Britain to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist group – in its entirety, rather than just its purported “military wing” – also wanted to know why the government resisted that move until early this year, even though it was aware in 2015 of its apparent terrorist plotting in the U.K.
Ryan is one of eight members of parliament who resigned from the opposition Labour Party this year over unhappiness over left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn’s performance, including his handling of allegations of anti-Semitism in the party.
UK Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn who once referred to Hezbollah as his “friends,” said the Home Office had not provided evidence to justify its change in stance on the Iran-backed organization’s political wing, according to the TOI report.
“Decisions on the proscription of organizations as terror groups are supposed to be made on the advice of civil servants based on clear evidence that those organizations fall foul of the proscription criteria set out in legislation,” Labor said in a statement.
Back in March of this year, Al Jazeera reported that Hezbollah had said that Britain is acting as a “subordinate that serves the American master” after London had seriously debated a ban of the terror group.
Hezbollah also said: “UK’s decision is an insult to the feelings, sympathies and will of the Lebanese people that consider Hezbollah a major political and popular force represented in the Lebanese parliament and cabinet.”
Al Jazeera reported back in March that Three ministers in Lebanon’s government are affiliated with Hezbollah, including the health minister. Despite pressure from the US, which did not want the cash-rich ministry to fall to Hezbollah, the group succeeded in putting its man in the position.
Jamal Jabak, the new health minister, used to be the personal physician of Hezbollah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah and is seen to be close to him.
The Al Jazeera reported that His appointment irked Washington, which had warned there would be “consequences”. Analysts close to Hezbollah see the UK’s decision partly as fallout from Jabak’s appointment.
Amal Saad, professor of political science at the Lebanese University and author of a book on Hezbollah, said there were other reasons behind Britain’s move, including domestic politics.
Al Jazera reported in March that Bente Scheller, director of the Heinrich Boll Foundation’s Middle East office in Beirut, said the UK had little leverage left over the EU.
“The decision to ban the military wing in the past was driven by the UK. But with a looming Brexit I think the UK is in a weaker position in the EU to lobby for this,” Scheller said.
According to a petition on the change.org web site which calls for Hezbollah to be officially banned in the United Kingdom, the British based statement read: “Enough is enough. If Britain is to genuinely say “no to terror” then all terrorist organizations must be banned without compromise. Following the Arab League and United States in proscribing Hezbollah is one simple step that the UK Government can take in ensuring that extremism will not be tolerated in this country.”
A helicopter crash landed on the roof of a 54-story building in Midtown Manhattan in the middle of a rainy Monday afternoon, starting a fire and killing the pilot
A helicopter crash landed on the roof of a 54-story building in Midtown Manhattan in the middle of a rainy Monday afternoon, starting a fire and killing the pilot, NBC News reported.
The helicopter hard landed. on the roof of 787 Seventh Avenue.
A senior official told NBC NY 4 that the pilot, was identified as Tim McCormack and had just dropped off a passenger at the East 34th Street heliport, and may have been making his way back to the chopper’s base in Linden, New Jersey, when the crash occurred.
The victim’s body remained inside the mangled wreckage of the chopper, which burst into flames but was quickly extinguished by firefighters, FDNY sources said
The incident happened around 2pm according to local media. Roads in the area were said to be closed with crews in the area as a precautionary measure. Hundreds of first responders were at the scene within seconds to keep the city safe and help with the evacuation of the 7th Ave building and several others.
The 54-floor skyscraper, known as the AXA Equitable Center, is home to Le Bernardin, the acclaimed French seafood restaurant.
Zach Escalante, a computer programmer who works on the third floor told the NY Post “We felt the building move, It felt like something hit or impacted the building,” he said.
Governor Cuomo was on the scene very quickly and said at a briefing “”the helicopter was making a forced landing or emergency landing… and landed on the roof.” He added that there was no indication of terrorism.
The mayor arrived over two hours later as he was busy campaigning for president. Local talk radio show commentators on WNYM 970 AM pointed out that it is not responsible for a mayor of most powerful city in the country to be out and about campaigning for president, when major incidents occur like this one in NYC.
The chopper is an Agusta 109E that was not being handled by air traffic controllers, Zero Hedge reported. The Agusta 109E is a two-engine model that can carry two crew members and as many as seven passengers, according to the online GlobalAir aviation marketplace.
This is not the first time in recent memory a lightweight aircraft crashed in NYC. The most recent significant crash occurred on October 11, 2006, when a Cirrus SR20 general aviation, fixed-wing, single-engine light aircraft crashed into the Belaire Apartment. Both people aboard the aircraft were killed in the accident, New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and his flight instructor.
“This could have a tremendous impact as we head into the season where helicopter rides are popular from the City to the Hamptons, and could have a chilling effect”, Jewish Voice publisher David Ben Hooren, keenly observed.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced last Thursday that a Crown Heights man has been sentenced to 24 years to life in prison for the kidnapping and murder of Williamsburg businessman Menachem Stark during a botched abduction in 2014. Photo Credit: YouTube
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced last Thursday that a Crown Heights man has been sentenced to 24 years to life in prison for the kidnapping and murder of Williamsburg businessman Menachem Stark during a botched abduction in 2014.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant orchestrated the callous kidnapping that led to the murder of Menachem Stark, a husband, father and beloved member of the Williamsburg community. With today’s substantial prison sentence this defendant has now been brought to justice and held accountable for his role in this senseless loss of life.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Erskin Felix, 40, of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. He was sentenced last week by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun to 24 years to life in prison. The defendant was convicted of first-degree kidnapping, second-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence on April 8, 2019, following a jury trial.
In the aftermath of the Stark kidnapping and murder, newspapers portrayed a vehemently anti-Semitic portrait of the Williamsburg resident. The media purposely attempted to concoct an image of Stark as a callous and ruthless slumlord, when nothing could be further from the truth. People who had professional business dealings with Stark, as well as friends and neighbors described him as an exceptionally generous man and someone who donated significant sums of money to various charities.
The District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, on January 2, 2014, at approximately 11:30 p.m., during a blizzard, the defendant and his cousin Kendel Felix, 31, ambushed Menachem Stark, 39, on the street as he left his office, located at 331 Rutledge Street in Williamsburg, and abducted him with the intention of holding him for ransom. Erskin Felix worked as a contractor for the victim and his cousin, Kendel Felix, did construction work for him.
After the victim fought unsuccessfully to escape, the defendants forced him into a Dodge minivan, bound his arms and legs with duct tape, taped his mouth and placed a ski mask over his head. Kendel drove away while Erskin restrained Stark in the back of the van by sitting on his chest, according to testimony. Erskin and Kendel picked up defendant Kendall Felix (Erskin’s brother) and they drove to the home of Irvine Henry (another cousin), the evidence showed.
Upon arrival, they discovered that the victim was dead due to Erskin’s actions in trying to subdue him, according to the evidence. The defendants attempted to return to the kidnapping scene to retrieve the victim’s Lexus SUV, but saw police on the scene.
Erskin then directed Kendel and Kendall to drive to Long Island to dispose of the body, the evidence showed. They drove to Nassau County, threw the body in a dumpster and set it on fire.
Approximately 17 hours later, a Nassau County police officer found the partially burned body in a garbage dumpster behind a gas station in Great Neck, Long Island. An autopsy determined that the cause of death was asphyxia by compression of the neck and chest.
Kendel Felix was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison on May 1, 2019. A jury convicted him of first-degree kidnapping and second-degree murder in September 2016.
Kendall Felix was sentenced to 2 1/3 to 7 years in prison on March 27, 2019 following his guilty plea to second-degree conspiracy and first-degree hindering prosecution over the objection of the prosecution.
Irvine Henry was sentenced to three months in prison on May 1, 2019 following his guilty plea to attempted tampering with physical evidence.
Eight NY drivers were recently arrested for using fake handicapped and official placards to get out of paying parking tickets
It is nearly impossible find a parking spot frequently in New York City and drivers spend hundreds a month on parking spots. Nearly every spot seems to be off limits with restrictive signs and limitations. It should come as no surprise drivers are looking for creative ways to park and afterwards get out of endless parking tickets.
The Daily News reported that forged “city-issued” placards recently led police to the arrests of eight drivers nabbed trying to scam their way out of parking tickets. According to the News, half of them were using forged “handicapped placards”. The phony documentation was “issued” by the Department of Transportation, the City Law Department, the New York Blood Center and the U.S. Post Office, according to authorities.
“Parking comes at a premium in a city like New York and using fraudulent placards to circumvent the rules is a crime,” Margaret Garnett, the commissioner of the Department of Investigation, said in a statement to the NY Times.
“These individuals abused city parking regulations and attempted to escape paying the penalties by posing as city employees with city-issued placards or by using fake handicap parking placards reserved for those in real need,” Ms. Garnett added.
The City took these forgeries quite seriously in a time where ironically de Blasio sent new guidelines to judges recently telling them to “more than triple” the number of people eligible for no-bail release, including violent criminals. The guidelines sent by the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice expands the release program to include first and second-degree burglary, assault, and robbery., according to Washington Examiner.
In NYC violent assault, burglary and robbery apparently are less serious crimes than someone trying to get out of a parking ticket. According to the NY Times, the defendants can face up to 4 years in prison if found guilty., according to the NY Times.
The Times described that the defenders in this forgery scam were led to their arraignment in State Supreme Court in Manhattan on Tuesday in handcuffs, bowing their heads as members of the news media swarmed around them, taking photos. The suspects faced felony counts of offering a false instrument for filing, officials said.
Meanwhile, Mayor DeBlasio bragged about his prison reform program and said would make a fairer society, on ultra-liberal CNN recently.
The expansion of the city’s release program comes as de Blasio promotes criminal justice reform as part of his absurdist aspiration of winning 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
“In our city, we have reduced our jail population about 30% already. We’re going to close the infamous Rikers Island jail. We are ending the era of mass incarceration in New York City, the mayor said on CNN.
The Face of Terror, 22-year-old Ashiqual Alum (Facebook)
The lone wolf terror suspect from Queens who was plotting to attack Times Square with grenades, suicide vests and guns, went for corrective eye surgery because he was worried, he would not be able to pull off his horrific deeds, NY Post reported.
The aspiring terrorist Ashiqul Alam, 22, who is a Muslim born in Bangladesh & admires Bin Laden, was nervous about his eyeglasses falling off his face during the terror strike and creating an embarrassing debacle that would lead media outlets to dub him the “Looney Tunes Terrorist,” according to federal charging documents, which local media reported on.
Authorities say Alam wanted to either attack Times Square or Washington D.C., with an eye toward killing a “senior government official”, CBS 2 News reported.
“Mr. Alam discussed guns, suicide vests, hand grenades, and surveilled crowded New York targets such as Times Square”, Police Commissioner James O’Neill explained to local media. “Our job is to prevent these terrorist attacks whenever we can before they are carried out. This case is another example of the tightly knit teamwork of the JTTF and the NYPD’s Intelligence Bureau. Mr. Alam is charged with illegally purchasing untraceable firearms from undercover officers. That was a clear indicator of his intent to move his plot forward.”
The psycho jihadist “wannabe” told an undercover officer: “Let’s say we are in an attack, right, say that my glasses fall off. What if I accidentally shoot you?” Alam is quoted as telling an undercover officer in the filing in Brooklyn federal court.
“You know what I mean. Imagine what the news channel would call me, the ‘Looney Tunes Terrorist’ or the ‘Blind Terrorist’, the deranged suspect continued.
CBS News NY spoke to Alum’s neighbors at his Jackson Heights, Queens apartment building who stated the loser still lived with his mother.
“He was kind of weird and would always stay quiet. I would never talk to him,” one neighbor explained to the press.
“Right when I left my house, I just saw 10-15 federal agents, you know, with guns and with the vests,” another neighbor said. “The guy wouldn’t open the door. Later, they went back downstairs, got some tools, came up and they actually broke in.”
Sources say Alam got on law enforcement’s radar after searching for explosives. Authorities then set up a sting. He was arrested Thursday after trying to purchase guns from officers with the Joint Terrorism Task force (JTTF).
Alam was arraigned in Brooklyn federal court last Friday, where prosecutors said the Lasik surgery, he received was intended to help him “shoot more accurately”, the NY Post noted. The potential mass murdering terrorist is being held without bail.
This is not the first time the target rich tourist area of Times Square was a target of jihadists. On May 1, 2010, a terrorist attack was attempted by a Pakistan-born resident of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Faisal Shahzad, who had become a U.S. citizen in April 2009. He admitted attempting the car bombing and said that he had trained at a Pakistani terrorist training camp, according to U.S. officials.
DeBlasio is infuriating many New Yorkers as he ignores the City and lives out his delusional dreams of being president. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
Mayor de Blasio had another embarrassing week as he falls further out of favor with New Yorkers. His reign as mayor has been filled with scandals from the NYCHA to Thrive NYC’s missing billion and the latest, a round of discrimination lawsuits levied against the Department of Education.
Things got worse as hizzoner skipped every event commemorating the 75th anniversary of D-Day in NYC, missed the 2 million New Yorker strong Puerto Rican Day Parade in favor of campaigning in Iowa and ignorantly called all anti-Semitism a “right wing” trait.
The mayor skipped every single event in the city honoring World War 2 veterans and commemorating D-day and instead went to the dry cleaners and the gym, CBS news reported.
Many Veterans were furious with de Blasio at an event honoring them in Brooklyn.
“He’s not a good mayor. He’s a terrible mayor. He cares about nothing. He makes out like he cares for the people, but I don’t think he cares for the people. He’s a self-centered mayor,” Norman Senay of Bellerose Queens, who served in World War II, told local press at the D-Day event.
“He is the mayor of one of the largest populated cities in the world and for him not to be here today seems to be a strike against what we stand for in the military,” added Vietnam vet Herbert Sweat of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
A Des Moines Register/Mediacom/CNN Iowa Poll asked 600 registered voters over the weekend who are likely to participate in the 2020 Democratic caucuses who their first and second choices for president were, and not a single person polled picked de Blasio.
The mayor was so busy in Iowa with his totally disastrous bid to become the Democratic candidate for president that he missed the tremendous annual Puerto Rican Day parade.
“Being in Iowa instead of at the parade sends the message that he cares more about Iowa votes than Puerto Rican ones,” said Ruben Diaz Jr., Bronx Borough President.
De Blasio stuck his foot in his mouth one more time when early last week he declared all anti-Semitism is exclusively a “right wing” movement.
“I think the ideological movement that is anti-Semitic is the right-wing movement,” de Blasio said at a Brooklyn press conference recently about the increase of hate crimes in New York City. The NY Post reported that the mayor said “I want to be very, very clear, the violent threat, the threat that is ideological is very much from the right.” The mayor strangely ignored left wing anti-Semitism from groups such as BDS among other movements against Jews and “Zionists”
The Washington Examiner pointed out in their recent editorial:” Anti-Semitism is a cancer that plagues both the American Left and the Right. De Blasio, who is pointing to the other team (Right wing) as an excuse for his own failure to address the problem adequately in New York, makes things worse still by actually trying to take advantage of a rise in anti-Semitism to gain a political advantage for his own team”
