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US halts statement by UN Security Council on escalation in Israel-Palestinian tensions

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US halts statement by UN Security Council on escalation in Israel-Palestinian tensions

Diplomats said US ‘not sure that a statement at this point would help’

The United Nations Security Council held an urgent meeting Monday on the unrest in Jerusalem but issued no immediate statement, with diplomats saying the United States believed public comments would be counterproductive.

The negotiations among the 15 nations on the Security Council were over a text that could be watered down from an initial draft proposed by Norway, diplomats said.

More than 300 people were injured Monday as clashes again erupted between Israeli police and Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, or Temple Mount, which is sacred both in Islam and Judaism.

Citing Israel’s actions in Jerusalem, Gazan militants shot upward of 150 rockets at Israel on Monday, when the Jewish state celebrated the unification of its capital with its Jerusalem Day holiday.

Despite limitations on celebrations to ease tensions with Palestinians in east Jerusalem, the rockets forced Israel’s military to respond to the most serious barrage of rockets it has seen in years.

The bloodshed has prompted statements of deep concern from governments and international organizations, and pleas for an end to the violence.

The United States, according to one diplomat, said in the closed-door videoconference that it was “working behind the scenes” to calm the situation and that it was “not sure that a statement at this point would help.”

After further discussion on the possibility of a joint text calling for de-escalation of the violence, several diplomats told AFP there would be no Security Council statement Monday.

“The United States is engaging constructively to ensure any action by the Security Council is helpful in de-escalating tensions,” a spokesperson for the US mission to the UN said.

The draft Security Council statement, seen by AFP, would call on Israel to “cease settlement activities, demolitions and evictions” including in east Jerusalem.

The Norwegian draft was jointly put forward with Tunisia, a fellow non-permanent member that called Monday’s meeting, as well as China.

In the draft statement, which is a step below a resolution, the Security Council members would voice “their grave concern regarding escalating tensions and violence in the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem.”

The draft also calls for “exercise of restraint, refraining from provocative actions and rhetoric, and upholding and respecting the historic status quo at the holy sites.”

(i24 News).

Ra’am Party freezes contacts with Bennett and Lapid

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Ra’am Party freezes contacts with Bennett and Lapid

Mansour Abbas wants to wait for calm before resuming negotiations
on formation of a government.

The chairman of the Ra’am Party, MK Mansour Abbas, announced on Monday evening that the negotiations on the formation of a government have been halted in light of the escalation in the south, the launching of rockets at Israel and the riots in Jerusalem.

A senior Ra’am official told Kan 11 News that they do not know if they will be able to resume negotiations before Yair Lapid’s mandate to form a government expires, and that this depends on the extent of the escalation.

Earlier on Monday, Abbas canceled a tripartite meeting with Lapid and Naftali Bennett. The meeting was scheduled to take place at 4:30 p.m., before the rocket attacks from Gaza toward Israel began.

MK Bezalel Smotrich reacted cynically to the announcement of Ra’am, saying, “Shocking, the cute Ra’am which was legitimized here as a partner in the government identifies with its movement – its sister Hamas in Gaza?!”

“We have not been surprised like this in a long time … We’re lucky that it is happening now and what is being delayed is irresponsible negotiations and not a sovereign government in Israel or an operational activity to fight terrorism.”

Smotrich, the chairman of the Religious Zionist Party, called on Bennett and Gideon Sa’ar to form an emergency government of the parties in the national camp: “Put everything aside and let’s form an emergency government of the national camp today. Everything else will wait.”

Turning to Ayelet Shaked, Smotrich said, “Come with us to an emergency government of the national camp and together we can return the determination to the State of Israel.”

(Arutz 7)

 

Report: US navy seizes ship with large cache of weapons headed for Yemen

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Report: US navy seizes ship with large cache of weapons headed for Yemen

The guided-missile cruiser “USS Monterey” found assault weapons, machine guns, sniper rifles on the stateless ship in the Arabian Sea.

The U.S. Navy announced on Sunday that it had seized a large shipment of assault weapons, machine guns and sniper rifles bound for Yemen.

A U.S. official told the AP that the Navy discovered that the vessel came from Iran, seeming to be a shipment seeking to arm the Houthis.

The guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey found the weapons on the stateless ship in the Arabian Sea near Oman and Pakistan. U.S. soldiers boarded and found the weapons hidden under the deck.

Iran has been backing the Houthis in Yemen as part of a war that started in 2014, while Saudi Arabia and its allies have backed the internationally recognized government.

There is a U.N. arms embargo on the Houthis. However, they were removed from the U.S. terror list in February by the Biden administration after being designated as such by the Trump administration.

This comes amid ongoing nuclear talks between world powers and Iran continue in Vienna, which is seeking to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.

(JNS).

 

FDA authorizes Pfizer vaccine for 12–15-year-olds

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FDA authorizes Pfizer vaccine for 12–15-year-olds

Food and Drug Administration lowers the age that people can receive Pfizer’s vaccine in the US to 12.

Ben Ariel , May 11 , 2021

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday lowered the age that people can receive Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine in the United States to 12, NBC News reported.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was authorized for use in ages 16 and up in December. The FDA has now amended that authorization to include children ages 12 to 15.

The agency’s acting commissioner, Dr. Janet Woodook, called the authorization “a significant step in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The action, Woodcock wrote, “allows for a younger population to be protected from Covid-19, bringing us closer to returning to a sense of normalcy and to ending the pandemic.”

Now that the FDA has authorized the vaccines for adolescents, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is scheduled to meet on Wednesday to update its recommendation for who should receive the Pfizer vaccine, reported NBC.

Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech SE said last month they have requested the FDA to expand the emergency use of their COVID-19 vaccine in adolescents aged 12 to 15.

Pfizer has also begun testing its vaccine on younger children. The global study of 144 participants will also examine whether the vaccine can generate an immune response in children and determine the proper dosage for each age group in the trial: 6 months to 2 years; 2 years to 5 years; and 5 years to 11 years.

 

 

Rabbi Jonathan Gewirtz – Meat and Potatoes

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Rabbi Jonathan Gewirtz – Meat and Potatoes

Operation Inspiration

With the exception of perhaps Chanuka, no time of the year screams “Milchigs!” like Shavuos. Yes, we don’t eat meat during the Nine Days (unless you’re a Sefardi and Tisha B’Av is a Sunday so you’re eating meat the whole week, in which case you really deserve those thirty days of Selichos…) but that week doesn’t scream “Dairy!” It sort of offers up a muffled, anguished whimper of surrender… “:::dairy:::” as opposed to the triumphant clarion call of blintzes and cheesecake on the holiday which celebrates Kabolas HaTorah.

I don’t need to get into the various explanations for the custom of eating dairy on Shavuos. Whether it was a reminder of the Shtei HaLechem, the two loaves brought as a korban on Shavuos, or if it was because the Jews’ pots were effectively ‘treif’ and could not be used once they got the Torah, is not germane to the point I’ll try to make here today.

What I’d like to introduce to you, which may not be a foreign concept to many of my readers, is the idea of a fleishophobe. No, they’re not actually afraid of eating meat. They probably very much enjoy meat. What they’re afraid of, though, is what they might miss BECAUSE they’ve eaten meat. For example, you’re cooking Friday morning and you’re putting up what you hope will be a delicious chicken soup. After it’s been cooking a few hours, you taste it to see if it has enough salt. Yum! It’s perfect.

Five minutes later, your daughter comes home with a hot pie of pizza from your favorite pizza shop. It was the last one to come out of the oven before they closed – and you can’t eat it because you had a spoonful of soup. Oh man! You weren’t even eating a bowl of it. You just tasted it to make sure it was good for Shabbos, and now you’re being punished and you can’t eat the pizza!

You, my friend, have just experienced the kind of food FOMO that creates fleishophobes. Thinking about a nice chef salad for lunch? What if you want a cup of coffee in the afternoon? Want to eat a hot dog at an afternoon baseball game? Maybe opt for the potato knish just in case you stop for ice cream on the way home. When you’re not sure what the future will bring, and you don’t want to miss out, you may very well hold yourself back from something you want, even if the other thing never materializes.

I have a brother-in-law who is not a fleishophobe. He has no problem getting fleishig at ten in the morning. Not because he’s Dutch and would only wait one hour. He waits six. But he also knows what he likes and he will eat those chicken wings for breakfast if that’s what he’s in the mood of. Yes, it’s kind of weird, but rather brave in a way too.

When you go after what you want, and know that it’s worth missing other things, you’re exhibiting a sort of strength that is admirable. When you have the conviction to make your decisions and stand by them, that’s a fantastic trait to have because you can put it to good use.

When Hashem asked the nations of the world if they wanted the Torah, they asked, “What’s in it?” When they realized they wouldn’t be able to do the things they were accustomed to doing, they turned it down. Not so Klal Yisrael. We said Naaseh V’Nishma, we will follow the Torah and learn what You want from us. Let’s look at this in terms of the fleishophobe.

The other nations were afraid that once they accepted the Torah, they would lose out. True, if you’re blessed by Hashem with success you don’t need to resort to theft or murder as they did for their livelihoods, but they were unsure of what the future held. Maybe accepting the Torah would put them in a conflict with their desires later on so they didn’t indulge in accepting it.

However, the Jews understood that the meat and potatoes of being the people of Hashem; of having the Torah to guide our lives, outweighed any potential ice cream or treats that might come down the line. They recognized the wisdom and sure pleasure of accepting the Torah and were not concerned about what they might have to give up later.

On Shavuos, when we eat milchigs, we’re celebrating the fact that Torah is liberating. It liberates us from the worries of “what if?” because we know we’re having the best of all worlds. There is a custom to eat first dairy and then meat. It could be a reference to the two loaves of bread of the korban, but it could also be our way of commemorating our acceptance of Torah, knowing that we could have our (cheese)cake and eat it too.

The only thing we have to lose because we follow the Torah is the uncertainty and regret of always thinking we’re going to miss out on something better. We know we’ve got the greatest situation on earth and beyond, and maybe that’s one of the best reasons to eat milchigs on Shavuos.

 

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Police rescue Israelis from Arab lynch mob in Jerusalem

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Police rescue Israelis from Arab lynch mob in Jerusalem

An officer arrived just as Arabs tried to kill the Israeli driver and his passengers outside Jerusalem’s Old City.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

A dramatic video uploaded to social media on Monday showed an Israeli police officer firing his gun in the air as dozens of Arab men attacked the passengers of an Israeli car outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City.

His white shirt covered in bright red blood from an apparent head wound, the driver identified as Ephraim, who appeared to be in his 20s, described how the windows of his car were smashed and the Arabs tried to drag him and his passengers from the vehicle as they were continuously pummeled by rocks.

“The streets were empty of police and full of Arab youth, and the entire way we got hit with rocks and more rocks and more rocks,” Ephraim said in a video interview uploaded to YouTube shortly after the attack. “I passed on the right, on the left against oncoming traffic, through an intersection on a red light and continue to get hit by rocks the whole way.”

With a bandage tied around his head to staunch the bleeding, he described how beside the Lion’s Gate on the south side of the Old City and with nowhere left to flee, he lost control and his car ended up on a concrete barrier on the sidewalk as rocks continued to fly through the windows.

“The windows were smashed and more and more rocks were coming into the car and pepper spray,” he said. “They opened the doors and continued to beat us – tens of Arabs, murderers, animals beating us until one policeman…arrived and ended the incident.”

The attack was part of a wave of violence by Arabs in Jerusalem and Gaza staged in a bid to disrupt Jerusalem Day celebrations marking the 54th anniversary of the unification of the city.

Jerusalem police later posted a video taken from a security camera showing dozens of Arab men attacking the car with rocks and repeatedly trying to drag the people out.

After more rocks hit him, the car lurched off the road and smashes into the concrete barrier, knocking down one of his attackers.

As the attack escalates, a police officer is seen running towards the car, fires his gun in the air and the attackers move back. As Ephraim emerges from the car, the officer is forced to point his gun at the Arabs who want to continue the lynching, and they eventually back off with the dramatic ending also captured by a news photographer who happened to be on the scene.

In a comment uploaded to social media from a Palestinian and reported by Kan News, a man was heard saying in Arabic: “We beat the settler and he [the policeman] started firing, [they were about to] slaughter him, and he [the officer] started firing in the air.”

 

US Ship Fires Warning Shots In Encounter With Iranian Boats

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US Ship Fires Warning Shots In Encounter With Iranian Boats

A U.S. Coast Guard cutter fired two volleys of warning shots Monday as a group of 13 Iranian fast boats sped toward U.S. Navy vessels in the Persian Gulf’s Strait of Hormuz in what the Pentagon called “unsafe and unprofessional” maneuvers by the naval arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

It was the second time in two weeks that a U.S. ship opened fire to warn off vessels of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. The encounters come as the United States and Iran are in indirect talks in Vienna aimed at reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which the United States left in 2018.

Asked whether it appeared the Revolutionary Guard are trying to pick a fight with the U.S. Navy, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby declined to comment on the Iranians’ intentions.

“Sadly, harassment by the IRGC Navy is not a new phenomenon. It is something that all of our commanding officers and the crews of our vessels are trained to for,” Kirby said. “This activity is the kind of activity that could lead to somebody getting hurt and could lead to a real miscalculation there in the region, and that doesn’t serve anybody’s interests.”

On April 26, an American warship fired warning shots when vessels of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard came too close to a patrol in the Persian Gulf. That was the first such shooting in nearly four years. The Navy released black-and-white footage of that encounter in international waters of the northern reaches of the Persian Gulf near Kuwait, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

In the latest incident, Kirby said Iranian vessels maneuvered at high speed toward six Navy ships that were escorting the guided missile submarine USS Georgia through the Strait on Monday. After the Coast Guard cutter Maui unleashed a second volley of warning shots, the Iranian boats backed off, Kirby said.

“They were acting very aggressively,” Kirby told reporters at the Pentagon. He said they got within 150 yards of the U.S. ships, which included the guided missile cruiser USS Monterey. A day earlier, the Monterey had intercepted an arms shipment aboard a dhow in the Arabian Sea apparently headed for Yemen, whose Houthi rebels are supported by Iran.

Kirby said the Maui fired two rounds of warning shots from its .50-caliber machine gun — the first round when the Iranian boats got to within 300 yards of the U.S. ships, and the second when they got within 150 yards.

“After the second round of warning shots the 13 fast attack craft from the IRGC-N broke contact,” he said, ending the encounter.

Kirby said he had no further details about the incident.

(AP)

Source: Yeshiva World News

Giant fire bursts out on Temple Mount near Western Wall

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Giant fire bursts out on Temple Mount near Western Wall

The fire on Judaism’s holiest site puts an exclamation point on a quickly escalating security situation.

By David Isaac, World Israel News 

A huge fire broke out on the Temple Mount on Monday night. Fireworks launched by Arab rioters has been blamed.

A police spokesman said, “Police forces and the Border Police are making preparations at the Western Wall plaza following a fire that started on the Temple Mount near the Western Wall, apparently as a result of fireworks fired by [the Arab rioters].”

The fire caused the Western Wall plaza to be evacuated for the second time on Monday, the first following the rocket attack launched by Hamas around 6:00 p.m. when one rocket landed in a settlement near the capital.

However, a large crowd of Jewish celebrants had returned to dance at the Western Wall to mark Jerusalem Day, which commemorates the reunification of the city after the Six Day War.

Netanyahu: ‘A struggle is now being waged for the heart of Jerusalem’

The fire on Judaism’s holiest site puts an exclamation point on a quickly escalating security situation that began with the start of Ramadan on April 13 when Arab youths rioted and continued to do so in the following weeks.

Foreign governments, including the Biden administration, began calling for calm, in some cases, expressing displeasure with Israel. (Israel reportedly told the U.S. that its comments weren’t helping.)

The worst came this weekend with violence on the Temple Mount and in Sheikh Jarrah, a Jerusalem neighborhood. That violence spilled over into Monday which saw a Jewish driver nearly lynched by Arab stone-throwers.

Israeli security services have expressed concerns that the situation is sensitive and could lead to a larger conflagration where violence would spread to Judea and Samaria and even parts of Israel with heavy Arab populations.

In preparation for possible violence, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi ordered three more brigades to reinforce the Judea and Samaria region. That is on top of four additional brigades that were called up as reinforcements in recent days.

Israel launches largest-ever multi-front war exercise

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Israel launches largest-ever multi-front war exercise

The month-long simulation, called “Chariots of Fire,” will see the
IDF test its responses to combat scenarios in northern and southern Israel, as well as in Judea and Samaria.

The Israel Defense Forces launched a month-long war exercise on Sunday—the largest in its history—simulating a multi-front conflict.

The wargames, dubbed “Chariots of Fire,” will see the IDF test its responses to combat scenarios in northern and southern Israel, as well as in Judea and Samaria, Kan reported on Sunday.

After consultations on Saturday, in light of heightened tensions in Jerusalem, the West Bank (Judea and Samara) and Gaza, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi decided to proceed with the exercise, the report said.

This exercise, which involves large-scale drills, will be undertaken by conscripted and reserve units, with the participation of the ministries of defense and foreign affairs, as well as all security agencies, the report added.

In response to the launch of the exercise, Hezbollah has raised its level of alert in southern Lebanon and Syria to heights “not seen since the Second Lebanon War,” Lebanon’s El-Neshra newspaper reported.

During a televised speech on Friday to mark “International Quds (Jerusalem) Day”—an annual Iran-initiated anti-Israel event held on the last Friday of Ramadan—Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel, “Any folly or any attempt to change rules of engagement won’t go unanswered. We are ready to defend our country …”

“If the Israeli army were strong enough, it would not need all these maneuvers”, Nasrallah claimed.

Change bloc renews coalition talks: ‘New government by next week’

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Change bloc renews coalition talks: ‘New government by next week’

Gantz is expected to remain Defense Minister in new government,
with Avidgor Liberman becoming Finance Minister, Lapid to be Foreign Minister.

Opposition leaders resumed coalition talks Sunday, days after Opposition Leader Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) was tasked by President Reuven Rivlin with forming a new coalition government.

Representatives of parties from the “change bloc” gathered at the Kfar Maccabiah hotel in Ramat Gan Sunday to negotiate terms for an alternative government.

The talks have reportedly made significant progress, with two opposition lawmakers saying a new government will likely be sworn in within the next 14 days.

According to a report by Yediot Aharnot Sunday afternoon, Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded
Forer and Blue and White MK Michael Biton said negotiations were on track to lead to the formation of a government “in a week to two weeks.”

“I’m hoping that we’ll be able to reach an agreement very quickly,” said Forer. “There is a good chance that this will make progress – that means no one will get exactly what they want, but then again, no one got 61 seats.”

“By next week we’ll have a new government.”

Blue and White chief Benny Gantz is expected to retain the Defense Ministry, Ma’ariv reported Sunday afternoon. Yisrael Beytenu chief Avidgor Liberman is likely to receive the Finance Ministry portfolio. Yair Lapid is expected to serve as Foreign Minister, with Naftali Bennett as premier.

Other details remain unresolved, however, including the size of the government and the allocation of other ministries and key committee positions.

Furthermore, the two center-right parties involved in the negotiations – Yamina and the New Hope – have yet to reach an accord with the center-left and left-wing parties on key issues, including the status quo on matters of religion and state.

Amid the progress towards an alternative government, the Likud has ramped up its attacks on Yamina and the New Hope, accusing them of ‘betraying’ the Right.

“Bennett and Sa’ar are betraying all the right-wing values they held for so long,” Likud MK Shlomo Karhi said in an interview with Yediot Aharonot Sunday.

“Bennett stole 200,000 votes from the Right and is using them to form a government which will do what no left-wing government would have dared to do.”

(Arutz 7).

 

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