The IDF Spokesperson revealed Thursday the location of rocket launches being within a humanitarian zone in Gaza, misfiring and landing back in the Strip.
“At 12:52 [Wednesday], Hamas launched a rocket from inside a humanitarian zone. The rocket misfired, putting many Gazan civilians at risk,” the IDF said in a statement.
“At 14:12 [Wednesday], Hamas terrorists launched a rocket from a humanitarian zone toward Israel,” the statement added.
“[Wednesday], at 15:59, Hamas terrorists launched 12 rockets toward Israeli civilians in the city of Be’er Sheva in southern Israel. The rockets were launched from near tents of evacuated Gazan civilians in Rafah in southern Gaza and from next to United Nations facilities,” the IDF revealed.
“The Hamas terrorist organization abuses the people of Gaza, utilizing them for its acts of terror. Hamas cynically embeds itself in civilian infrastructure, schools, residential areas, near United Nations facilities and even in humanitarian zones – using the civilians as a human shield,” the statement concluded.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates reacts to presidents of Harvard, MIT, and UPenn refusal to say calls to murder Jews violate uni. policy.
The Biden Administration reacted to Tuesday’s congressional hearing on the phenomenon of rising antisemitism on college campuses in which the Presidents of Harvard, MIT, and UPenn refused to say that calls for genocide against Jews are against university policy.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates stated today (Wednesday): “It’s unbelievable that this needs to be said: calls for genocide are monstrous and antithetical to everything we represent as a country. Any statements that advocate for the systematic murder of Jews are dangerous and revolting – and we should all stand firmly against them, on the side of human dignity and the most basic values that unite us as Americans.”
During the Congressional hearing yesterday, when New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik asked directly if “calling for the genocide of Jews” is against the universities’ respective codes of conduct, all three presidents said the answer depended on the context.
“It is a context-dependent decision,” Penn President Liz Magill responded, leading Stefanik to reply, “Calling for the genocide of Jews is dependent on the context? That is not bullying or harassment? This is the easiest question to answer ‘yes,’ Ms. Magill.”
Responding to the same question, Harvard President Claudine Gay said, “When speech crosses into conduct, we take action.” MIT President Sally Kornbluth said that such language would only be “investigated as harassment if pervasive and severe.”
Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust memorial museum, condemned the university presidents for their tolerance of calls for genocide against the Jewish people.
“Yesterday’s congressional hearings addressing antisemitism on university and college campuses highlight the willful lack of accountability when it comes to Jews, Israel, and antisemitism on campus and in academia,” Yad Vashem wrote in a statement.
“Yad Vashem is extremely alarmed by University Presidents of Harvard, MIT, and UPenn refusal to claim that genocidal calls against Jews do not violate university policy and code of conduct. In fact, when the three presidents were asked point blank whether calls for the genocide of the Jews violated university rules or code of conduct, their response was it was a ‘context-dependent decision’. Yad Vashem is appalled that leaders of elite academic institutions would use misleading contextualization to minimize and excuse calls for the genocide of the Jews. The positions taken by the three university presidents in their testimonies highlight a basic ignorance of history, including the fact that the Holocaust did not start with ghettos or gas chambers but with hateful antisemitic rhetoric, decrees, and actions by senior academics, among other leaders of society,” it added.
‘We have even seen members of this very body repeat blatantly antisemitic rhetoric and spread lies about Israel and her right to exist.’
By World Israel News Staff
The US House of Representatives passed a resolution classifying anti-Zionism as antisemitism, receiving almost unanimous Republican support while dividing Democrats, with a notable number of Jewish Democrats choosing to abstain by voting “present.”
Jewish Republicans Max Miller and David Kustoff introduced the resolution, which saw 311 votes in favor, 14 against, and 92 abstentions. The 14 who voted against were part of, or allied with, the so-called Squad.
Miller and Kustoff’s resolution aims to affirm US support for Jews following the increase in antisemitic rhetoric after the Israel-Hamas war.
“Whereas, since the massacre of innocent Israelis by Hamas, an Iran-backed terrorist organization, on October 7, 2023, antisemitic incidents of harassment, vandalism, and assault in the United States have spiked 388 percent over the same period last year,” the resolution stated.
Kustoff linked anti-Israel and antisemitic biases: “More Jews were murdered on October 7th than on any other single day since the Holocaust. Let that sink in. We have even seen members of this very body repeat blatantly antisemitic rhetoric and spread lies about Israel and her right to exist.”
“We have seen an explosion, an absolute explosion, of antisemitic incidents, attacks, and harassment, in Israel, here in our own nation, and across the world,” Kustoff said.
The resolution drew criticism from some Democrats, including Representative Jerry Nadler, who argued, “The resolution suggests that all anti-Zionism is antisemitism… That is either intellectually disingenuous or just factually wrong. And it unfairly implicates many of my Orthodox former constituents in Brooklyn, many of whose families rose from the ashes of the Holocaust.”
Nadler was referring to a group of fringe hasidic Jews who have openly said they are anti-Zionist.
Nadler accused Republicans of politicizing the issue, saying, “I cannot help but note that, although this resolution strongly condemns and denounces antisemitism, its authors carefully avoided mentioning any of the obvious instances of antisemitism coming from their own leaders.”
Jerusalem, 6 December, 2023 (TPS) — Israeli archaeologists in Jerusalem uncovered ceramic roofing tiles dating back to the reign of Greek King Antiochus IV, best known for his persecution of Jews under his rule during the events of the Chanukah holiday. The discovery was announced by the Israeli Antiquities Authority on Wednesday.
“Until now, we had little material evidence for the presence of the Seleucid Greeks in Jerusalem. The new tiles discovered in the City of David provide tangible remains of the Seleucid Greek presence in the region, linking us with the story of Chanukah. It’s very exciting to encounter the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV ‘face-to-face’, almost 2,200 years after the events of Chanukah,” said Dr. Filip Vukosavovi? of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
The presence of ceramic roofing tiles, a technology originating from Greece around the 7th Century BCE, had not been prevalent in the Land of Israel until 16 fragments of such tiles were discovered by archaeologists from the Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University.
The holiday of Chanukah recounts Antiochus IV’s cultural and military war in Israel n 168 BCE, which led to the renowned Maccabean Revolt. Following this, Antiochus constructed the imposing fortress known as the “Acra” in an attempt to fortify his control over Jerusalem.
The Greek soldiers living in the fortress continued to rule Jerusalem after the Maccabees cleansed the Temple. According to descriptions in the books of the Maccabees and in the later writings of Flavius Josephus, the fortress embittered the lives of the Jewish residents in the city and the Temple. Despite several descriptions of the fortress in the Jewish and external literary sources, its exact location within the city still remains a puzzle debated by scholars.
Vukosavovi? suggested that the tiling played a part in the king’s cultural war against the Jews, deliberately bringing Greek building styles and practices to Israel.
“The climate and the relatively low precipitation in Israel, as well as other factors, do not justify the use of tiles for roofing, yet Antiochus still chose to make use of these roof tiles, probably for cultural reasons and to make a statement, by introducing Greek monumental material culture in the country at a short distance from the Jewish Temple,” Vukosavovi? said.
“It is therefore probably not incidental that with the collapse of Seleucid rule and the ascent of the Hasmoneans, roofing tiles disappear from Jerusalem, until the arrival of the new Roman conquerors,’ he added.
The eight-day Chanukah holiday begins on Thursday night.
The City of David National Park, where the tiles were found, is where King David established his capital and where many pivotal Biblical events took place. Visitors can see the excavated remains of houses, cisterns, and fortifications, getting a glimpse into Jerusalem’s ancient history.
The park is best known for Hezekiah’s Tunnel, which was constructed by King Hezekiah to provide water to the city ahead of an Assyrian siege led by Sennacherib.
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers posted 8.7 million job openings in October, the fewest since March 2021, in a sign that hiring is cooling in the face of higher interest rates yet remains at a still-healthy pace.
The Labor Department’s report said Tuesday that openings were down significantly from 9.4 million in September.
Layoffs were up modestly in October. And the number of Americans who quit their jobs – which generally reflects confidence in their ability to find better pay or working conditions elsewhere — was down slightly.
Despite dropping in October, job openings remain at historically high levels. They have now exceeded 8 million for 32 straight months — a threshold they had never reached before 2021.
U.S. hiring is slowing from the breakneck pace of the past two years. Still, employers have added a solid 239,000 jobs a month this year. And the unemployment rate has come in below 4% for 21 straight months, the longest such streak since the 1960s.
The job market has shown surprising resilience even as the Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark interest rate 11 times since March 2022 to fight the worst bout of inflation in four decades. The resulting higher borrowing costs have helped ease inflationary pressures. Consumer prices were up 3.2% in October from a year earlier, down from a peak of 9.1% in June 2022.
The Labor Department will issue the November jobs report on Friday. It is expected to show that employers added nearly 173,000 jobs last month. That would be up from 150,000 in October, in part because of the end of strikes by autoworkers and Hollywood writers and actors. The unemployment rate is expected to have remained at 3.9%, according to a survey of forecasters by the data firm FactSet.
Though unemployment remains low, 1.93 million Americans were collecting unemployment benefits in the week that ended Nov. 18, the most in two years. That suggests that those who do lose their jobs need unemployment assistance longer because it is getting harder to find new employment.
Overall, the combination of easing inflation and resilient hiring has raised hopes the Fed can manage a so-called soft landing — raising rates just enough to slow the economy and tame price increases without tipping the economy into recession. The cooling of the job market could mean a lessening of inflation pressures and less need for the Fed to keep interest rates high.
The drop in openings “will be welcome news for policymakers” at the Fed, said Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics. ”Overall, the labor market remains strong, but it is cooling. And wages and inflation are decelerating. The data support our view that rates are at a peak and the Fed’s next move will be a rate cut, likely in (the second quarter of) 2024.”
“It was really important to see the love, the support and the solidarity of Jewish people in Canada,” Ohad Lapidot, whose daughter Tiferet was murdered at the Supernova music festival, told JNS.
(December 5, 2023 / JNS)
Maureen Leshem’s 23-year-old cousin Romi Gonen was abducted by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7. Until last weekend, the Canadian didn’t know if her Israeli relative was still alive. Good news came from a freed hostage, though the latter also informed that Gonen suffered from gunshot wounds.
“You’d think by now she would be visited by the International Red Cross, treated by Doctors Without Borders, advocated for by the #MeToo movement or any number of international rights organizations,” Leshem said wryly, addressing an estimated 20,000 people at an Israel solidarity rally on Ottawa’s Parliament Hill on Monday.
“But Romi is Jewish, Israeli and a woman, and somehow that makes her less worthy of saving in the hearts and minds of leaders, social movements and those who run international human-rights organizations designed to protect women and children around the world,” she said.
“I implore humanitarian organizations: Do your job,” Leshem said. “Do not cherry pick your humanity. Support all of humanity, not just some.”
Jewish community members and non-Jewish allies from across Canada braved below-freezing temperatures to attend the outdoor rally. Crowds clad in winter-attire standing on snow-covered grounds intermittently chanted “Bring them home” and Am Yisrael chai, “the people of Israeli live.”
Students, rabbis from across the religious spectrum, parliamentarians from the Liberal and Conservative parties, family members of those murdered or taken hostage by Hamas and a 95-year-old Holocaust survivor were among those addressed attendees.
Raquel and Alain Look, parents of Alexandre Look, a Montreal native who was murdered at the Supernova music festival, made an emotional appeal to attendees.
“Let our son’s sacrifice not be in vain. Please honor his memory by standing up against the forces that seek to destroy the Jewish and the Canadian values we hold dear,” they said. “Let us send a powerful message that we will never tolerate terror. We will not let Jew-hatred fester in our society.”
Ohad Lapidot, whose daughter Tiferet was murdered at the Supernova music festival, speaks to an estimated 20,000 at an Israel solidarity rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Dec. 4, 2023. Credit: UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.
‘A pogromhappened’
Anthony Housefather, a Liberal Party parliamentarian who represents an area in Montreal, referred to Jew-hatred in his own city, including firebombings of a synagogue and community center and two Jewish schools hit by bullets.
He and other Canadian politicians were in Israel the prior week to see the destruction at Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
“We saw bullet holes and blood trails, and heard from survivors stories of rape, torture and murder, and met with families of the hostages,” he said. “We did this so we could bear witness and say that a pogrom happened Oct. 7.”
An estimated 20,000 attended an Israel solidarity rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Dec. 4, 2023. Credit: UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.
Canada’s Jewish Federations, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs and Jewish Federations of Canada-United Israel Appeal organized the event with support from other Jewish organizations nationwide. Organizers said the main objective was to convey that the Jewish community remains resilient, refusing to succumb to the pervasive antisemitism prevalent in the streets, campuses and online realms.
Speakers reminded the crowd of the shared values that bind Canadians and Israelis, including human rights, democracy and protecting innocent lives in the face of terrorism. They stressed the importance of standing together as a nation to support the people of Israel and uphold these fundamental values.
Melissa Lantsman, deputy leader of the Conservative Party and a parliamentarian representing Thornhill (Ontario), had harsh words for some of her colleagues. “More than 40 MPs have publicly called for ceasefire in the face of terror,” she said. “They’ve opted for mealy-mouthed platitudes.”
Lantsman, who is Jewish, also lambasted women’s groups for their silence about Hamas’s terrorists sexually assaulting women and excoriated universities that breed antisemitism.
“It is not over until those professors, who wrap themselves in woke progressive ideology and make Jewish students unsafe, are fired,” she said.
Jerusalem, 5 December, 2023 (TPS) — Hamas drugged Israeli hostages before freeing them, “to make them look happy,” a Health Ministry official told a Knesset panel on Tuesday.
Dr. Hagar Mizrahi, head of the Health Ministry’s medical division, testified to the Knesset Health Committee that the captives were given a tranquilizer which she identified as Clonazepam sometime before they were handed over to Red Cross custody.
Clonazepam is commonly used to treat certain types of seizure and panic disorders. Normally administered orally, the drug has a calming effect on the nervous system. Side effects include drowsiness, dizziness, impaired coordination, and fatigue.
In some places, it is sold by the name Klonopin or Rivotril.
Long-term use or misuse of the medication can lead to dependency, tolerance, and withdrawal symptoms.
Mizrahi did not indicate whether this was based on blood tests, testimonies of the hostages or both.
Committee chairman MK Yoni Meshariki called on the ministry to send an official report with detailed findings and evidence to other health organizations around the world.
Eighty-one Israelis along with 23 Thais and one Filipino were freed in a prisoner exchange during a temporary ceasefire.
Hamas currently holds 137 men, women, children, soldiers and foreigners captive in Gaza.
At least 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on Oct. 7. Some people remain unaccounted for as Israeli authorities continue to identify bodies and search for human remains.
National Security Council rises travel warnings for 80 countries in Europe, South America, Australia, and South Africa.
The National Security Council [NSC] announced that travel warnings have been raised to 80 countries in Europe, South America, Australia, and South Africa.
“Since the beginning of Operation Swords of Iron, the National Security Council (NSC) has been conducting ongoing situation assessments together with the Israeli security organizations. Consequently, an announcement was released to the public on November 3, 2023, listing recommendations for the conduct of Israelis abroad at this time, and emphasizing the threat in several countries. We then conducted an in-depth analysis of all countries and adjusted their threat levels accordingly,” the NSC stated.
As a result, the threat level in dozens of countries has been changed. The threat level for many countries in Western Europe (including the UK, France and Germany), South America (including Brazil and Argentina), as well as Australia and Russia, has been raised to level 2, with the recommendation to exercise increased precaution.
The threat level for countries in Africa (including South Africa and Eritrea) and Central Asia (including Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan) has been raised to level 3, with the recommendation to reconsider non-essential travel to these countries.
The NSC has “identified increased efforts by Iran and its proxies, including Hamas and Global Jihad factions, to harm Israeli and Jewish targets around the world. At the same time, there is a constant and significant rise in incitement, attempted attacks and manifestations of antisemitism in many countries.”
“The NSC reiterates and underlines its recommendation to weigh the essentiality of travel at this time. For Israeli citizens traveling abroad, we recommend choosing their destinations wisely, while exercising recommended precautionary measures wherever they are, and examining their conduct in light of the recommendations detailed in the NSC website and especially: Postponing travel to countries for which travel warnings have been issued, and particularly Arab and Middle Eastern countries, the North Caucasus, countries bordering Iran and several Muslim countries in Asia. Checking whether there have been anti-Israel protests and violence at the destination, even in countries for which no travel warnings have been issued. Staying away from demonstrations and protests. Remaining alert while abroad and being aware of things happening around you. Avoiding openly displaying your Israeli and Jewish identities and any relevant symbols and, and staying away from Israeli and Jewish gatherings. Finding out in advance the phone numbers for emergency services in the destination country and of the Israeli mission, if there is one.”
An NSC official said that the raising of the travel warnings in Europe “are unusual and stem from the significant resurgence in global jihad against the background of the war, as well as the Hanukkah holiday, during which there are major celebrations in the Jewish communities.”
“There is no problem celebrating Hanukkah events abroad – but in a country with a high level of threat where there is no security for the Hanukkah event, the situation is problematic,” said the source.
He noted that during the last two months, many terrorist attacks around the world have been foiled. “There has never been such a significant increase in the level of threats – certainly not in recent years. There is no terrorist in every corner, but it is necessary to take extra caution.”
According to him, “No country likes the level of the travel warning for it to rise. The scope of protests so far by countries in the world is low.”
Alaska Airlines said Sunday it agreed to buy Hawaiian Airlines in a $1.9 billion deal, including debt, putting it on track for a potential clash with a Biden administration that has shown wariness about higher fares in the industry.
The combined company would keep both airlines’ brands, rooted in the nation’s 49th and 50th states. Alaska will pay $18 in cash for each share of Hawaiian, whose stock closed Friday at $4.86 after losing just over half its value in the year so far.
The deal also includes $900 million in Hawaiian debt, which the airlines said brings the acquisition’s total value to $1.9 billion. The combined airline would be based in Seattle, with Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci at its head. The companies forecast the acquisition will add to profits within two years of the deal closing. The combined airline would participate in the oneworld Alliance, which includes American Airlines, British Airways and Cathay Pacific.
Alaska and Hawaiian are both smaller than the nation’s dominant carriers, but they said a combination would meld two complementary networks to offer more connectivity to 138 destinations for passengers traveling through the continental United States and across the Pacific, including nonstop service to 29 international destinations in the Americas, Asia, Australia and the South Pacific.
Hawaiian has a deep and long history within the islands, stretching back to its incorporation in 1929 under the name Inter-Island Airways.
The companies said they would keep Honolulu as a key hub and that they’re “committed to maintaining and growing union-represented workforce” in Hawaii. They also said the combination would triple the destinations that can be reached within one stop in North America for travelers from Hawaii.
“We have a longstanding and deep respect for Hawaiian Airlines, for their role as a top employer in Hawai’i, and for how their brand and people carry the warm culture of aloha around the globe,” Minicucci said in a statement.
The deal has been approved by the boards of both companies, but it still needs an OK from the shareholders of Hawaiian Holdings. It will also need the blessing of U.S. regulators, which have resisted more airline consolidation out of fear it could lead to higher fares.
Both Hawaiian and Alaska are leading airlines flying between Hawaii and the U.S. mainland, which could raise concerns about lessened competition.
The Biden administration is already trying to block JetBlue’s proposed $3.8 billion acquisition of Sprit Airlines, which would subsume the nation’s biggest budget carrier. The Justice Department also won a lawsuit that killed a partnership between JetBlue and American Airlines.
The average domestic airline fare out of Seattle during the spring was $409.93. That was up from $293.08 two years earlier, according to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The average domestic airline fare out of Honolulu during the spring was $367.94, up from $329.93 two years earlier.
The Alaska and Hawaii companies expect the deal to close in 12 to 18 months. ___
This story has been corrected to show that the company boards have already approved the deal.
(TNS) — Less than a week before Chanukah, a New Jersey food company is recalling dark chocolate coins because the candy may contain undeclared milk, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
Manischewitz, based in Bayonne, initiated the recall after its quality control department noted a limited number of bags labeled dark chocolate coins actually contained milk chocolate coins. People with an allergy or sensitivity to milk may have a serious allergic reaction if they consume the candy coins containing milk.
The packages affected by the mix-up have a lot code of 2283, according to the FDA.
Manischewitz’s dark chocolate coins come wrapped in silver foil and are held in red netting, while its milk chocolate coins come wrapped in gold foil and are held in blue netting.
Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, begins Thursday evening.
The dark chocolate coins were distributed to stores nationwide — though largely in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut — during the weeks of Sept. 26 through Nov. 28, according to the FDA.
The FDA informed retailers of the recall and instructed them to remove the coins from their shelves. If consumers have already purchased the coins, they may return them for credit or a refund.
