MK Yinon Magal Resigns From the Knesset

That was quick:

Jewish Home MK Yinon Magal handed in his resignation to step down from the Knesset on Monday, as the testimony of a third woman accusing him of sexual harassment was revealed.

Party chairman Naftali Bennett responded on Monday, saying, "I received Yinon's resignation announcement, this is a fitting action. I hope that the process he is in will end as quickly as possible and he will be able to devote himself to his family and to his path ahead."

I'd like to jot down a few notes about this:

1) "The God of these (the Jews) hates lewdness" (Sanhedrin 106A) - the acts attributed to Magal, some of which he admitted to, are totally unacceptable.

2) On the other hand, "Nothing can stand in the way of Teshuvah "(Laws of Teshuvah 3:14). Indeed, God's mercy is everlasting...the political system not so much.

3) Kudos for Magal for resigning and not "grabbing the horns of the altar".

4) It looks like Yinon Magal will be replaced by Avi Wortzman, who in my eyes proved to be a worthy representative in the previous Knesset.

5) It is interesting to note that the chain of events leading up to Yinon Magal's resignation was a post on Facebook, which gives us another example of the power of the Social Networking Sites.

Yinon Magal Addresses the Knesset in Arabic

Moshe Feiglin's 180 Degree Turn

David Rubin takes note:

Interviewed today on the “Galei Yisrael” radio station, Feiglin was asked if he might be interested in running as a candidate in one of the existing faith-based parties that are loyal to the land and heritage of Israel. He replied that he wasn’t interested, that what is important is not the party, rather its vision, and therefore he plans to form his own party.

One has to wonder what he is talking about and why. For nearly twenty years, Feiglin has been endlessly promoting the concept of influencing the political process from within the ruling party, the Likud. Often denouncing the smaller sectarian/nationalistic parties, he boldly proclaimed that he would achieve his national-religious objectives and achieve leadership within the Likud. Not satisfied with simply becoming a member of Knesset and increasing the national-religious membership in a party that was not religious at its ideological core, Feiglin inexplicably declared that he would eventually become the leader of the Likud, and he ran several expensive, but failed campaigns to achieve that objective.

To now establish a new political party and to say that “this is a continuation of the mission” sounds disingenuous and even hypocritical. In the above interview, Feiglin even disparaged those who told him that starting a new political party would split the national-religious vote, even though this is in fact what it would do.

The tragic irony is that the great champion of the “big party system” has taken a 180-degree turn, as a result of his personal failure to get reelected. To his credit, Feiglin’s policy goals have always been serious and consistent, and he has proven himself effective at explaining and getting publicity for those views, but his grand political strategy to change and take over the Likud from within has been a disaster. Despite a slight rightward shift in the composition of the party over the past few years, the Likud has remained basically the same Likud that talks about the land of Israel, yet freezes Jewish building in Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem; that threatens the Palestinian Authority, yet doesn’t follow through on those threats; that starts wars, but doesn’t follow through or allow the IDF to win decisive victories.

I would like to mention that I know of an important rabbi, who also joined the Likud way back when, perhaps even before Moshe Feiglin, who also thought that the only way to really influence Israeli policy was to be a part of the ruling party.

It seems that politics has little room for ideological purists. If you are not ready to compromise on certain matters you will find yourself in the opposition or outside of the Knesset entirely.

MDA Blood Drive in the Knesset Cancelled After Ethiopian MK Discouraged From Donating

Not to long ago I donated blood and posted about it on this blog. I mentioned that giving blood is a big mitzvah. I also mentioned that Magen David Adom has very strict criteria with regards to who can give blood.

Well, today MDA and those criteria made the news:

An MDA blood donation stand was removed from the Knesset after volunteers told MK Pnina Tamano-Shata (Yesh Atid), the Knesset's first female Ethiopian member, that her blood would not be used on Wednesday.

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein spoke to Tamano-Shata and expressed shock and displeasure at the incident.

"I thought this was behind us, but now it turns out I was wrong. This unacceptable phenomenon that has no place in the Knesset," Edelstein said.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke with Tamano-Shato saying that the incident was unacceptable and that it demanded investigation, Israel Radio reported.

Several ministers and MKs called the Yesh Atid MK to express solidarity. Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat said that she hopes that something good will come out of the story and change the "racist and humiliating policy."

MDA's policy is not to take blood from people who were born or have lived for more than a year since 1977 in a country where HIV is prevalent, such as Africa, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean Islands. They also do not take blood from people who lived in Great Britain for six consecutive months or more between 1980 and 1996.

Disgusting! That is to say, it is disgusting how the politicians are trying to get political mileage out of this incident. They seem to care more about getting a headline than the public's health.

The MDA website (in Hebrew) explains the policy:

הנהלים הקובעים את מדיניות התרמות הדם בישראל, לפיהם עובדים בשירותי הדם של מד"א, נקבעים ע"י משרד הבריאות, בהסתמך על המלצותיה של וועדת מומחים מקצועית בנושא רפואת עירויים. הם מבוססים על נהלים והנחיות הקיימים בארצות המפותחות בעולם, ושנקבעים שם ע"י גופים כמו ה-FDA והרשויות האירופאיות.

מטרתם לסייע למערכת הבריאות לעשות ככל שביכולתה כדי לצמצם סיכונים הנובעים משימוש במנות שעלולות לגרום לנזק בריאותי חמור למקבלי הדם.

גם הבדיקות המתקדמות ביותר שמבוצעות, בישראל ובעולם, לכל מנת דם במטרה לזהות מחלות שעלולות לעבור בעירוי (ובמיוחד דלקת כבד נגיפית ו-(HIV אינן מסוגלות לזהות תורם שנמצא ב"תקופת החלון", שהיא התקופה ממועד ההדבקה ועד לזיהוי קיום הנגיפים בדם. הסיכון שתיתרם מנה כזו גבוה יותר בקרב אוכלוסיות ופרטים שנמצאות בסיכון גבוה להידבקות, כאוכלוסיית הגברים המקיימים יחסי מין עם גברים.

היות ומכל מנת דם מכינים 3 מרכיבים, הניתנים ל-3 חולים שונים, הפוטנציאל לנזק הוא משמעותי ביותר. לא ניתן יהיה להצדיק, בשום פנים ואופן, כלפי החולים שנפגעו , את השימוש במנות דם נגועות אם יסתבר שהמערכת לא נקטה בכל אמצעי הזהירות המקובלים בעולם למניעת ההדבקה.

In translation:

Procedures that determine the blood donor policy in Israel , according to which the employees MDA blood services work, are set by the Ministry of Health , based on the recommendations of a committee of professional experts on the subject of medical transfusions. They are based on existing procedures and guidelines in the developed world , and determined there by bodies such as the FDA and European authorities .

Their purpose is to help the healthcare system to do its utmost to reduce risks arising from the use of (infected) units that may cause severe health damage to recipients of blood .

Even the most advanced tests carried out in Israel and around the world, to all the blood in order to identify diseases that may be transmitted through a transfusion (especially hepatitis and HIV) are not able to identify a donator who is in the "window period", which is the time from infection until the identification of the existence of viruses in the blood. Risk that such a unit will be donated is higher among populations and individuals who are at high risk of infection , such as the population of men who have sex with men.

Since all blood is made up of three components , which are given to 3 different patients , the potential for damage is significant. It can not be justified under any circumstances , to the affected patients ,the use of infected units of blood if it turns out that the (health) system has not taken all the accepted precautions to prevent infection.

MDA is right, and the politicians are wrong! Update: See what the Elder of Zion wrote on this.

Update: This may have been an intentional provocation by MK Pnina Tamano-Shata:

MK Tamano-Shata had approached the MDA's mobile unit, which came to the Knesset on a blood drive, and asked to donate blood.

She was allegedly told that she cannot donate blood because Health Ministry guidelines specify that blood should not be taken from people who were born in countries with a high incidence of HIV, or who spent more than one year in those countries. An MDA representative told her that donors from Britain and Ireland are also turned away, as are homosexuals.

Tamano-Shata told the MDA team that she has been in Israel since age 3 and served in the army. The MDA representative reportedly told her that if she insists that she wants to donate blood, it will be taken, but the blood might not be used. Tamano-Shata told the MDA representative that this was insulting.

The policy regarding blood donations by Ethiopian Jews was set many years ago, when it was determined that the immigrants have an especially high rate of HIV infection, compared to other Israelis. It is intended to protect blood donation recipients from infection with the dreaded disease.

Tamano-Shata may have known that she would be turned away: her entire conversation with the MDA representative was recorded with a cellphone camera, by a companion.

MDA spokesman Zaki Heller said following the incident that MK Tamano-Shata is a member of a committee that is currently discussing changing the criteria for blood donations, and therefore had to have known that she would be refused.

הריסת העתיקות בחפירות הוואקף בהר הבית

Where's the Money?

MK Moshe Feiglin tells the Knesset where the money is:

I Don't Get It

What in the world was so funny?

Obama's Act of Cowardice

The President of the United States came to Israel for a visit. Instead of addressing the legally elected representatives of the nation in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, he chose to talk to a different crowd. The people who were lucky enough to be present at Obama's speech were college students chosen by the United States Embassy in Israel. The Embassy tellingly excluded students from the university in Ariel.

You can read what he said here. I will not comment on particulars of the speech. In general, he regurgitated typical leftist talking points, complete with references to "settler violence" and "occupation". Obama knew that the nonsense that he wanted to utter would not go unanswered in the Knesset. Therefore he instructed the Embassy to choose a crowd to his liking: star-struck students who would come to cheer the celebrity who came from overseas. What an act of cowardice! What a fake! This is what has become of the United States presidency.

For me, this speech ruined the good impression that he made at the airport. It was almost as bad as the infamous Cairo speech. To quote the late Yitzchak Shamir, "They are the same Arabs, and it is the same sea." We can now add, "And he is the same Obama."

Avi Wortzman's First Speech in the Knesset

Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan's First Speech in the Knesset

Talking About Pollard in the Knesset

MKs Yoni Shetbon and Nachman Shai initiated a special discussion in the Knesset today regarding Jonathan Pollard. MK Moshe Feiglin reiterated that if President Obama comes to Israel before releasing Pollard from prison, he (Moshe Feiglin) will boycott Obama's speech in the Knesset. Her urged other MKs to do the same:

ח"כ יעקב כץ - כצל'ה מסיים שירות בכנסת לישראל

Moti Yogev's First Speech in the Knesset

Yoni Shetbon's First Speech in the Knesset

Boycott Obama!

Moshe Feiglin has come up with an excellent idea. The continued incarceration of Jonathan Pollard should not be tolerated. Therefore, if President Obama does not do the right thing, that is to say pardon Jonathan Pollard, he should be boycotted here in Israel:

When an American President visits the Knesset, it's an event, and all members of the plenum want to be there to hear what their esteemed guest has to say. But at least one Knesset member is likely to be absent next month when President Barack H. Obama speaks to MKs. Likud Knesset member Moshe Feiglin said that he would not attend the speech – unless Obama brought Jonathan Pollard with him.

“We are losing Pollard,” Feiglin wrote on his Facebook page Thursday. “Today, on the Fast of Esther, I realized that we have reached a 'red line' on Pollard.

“President Barack Hussein Obama is due to arrive in Israel on the eve of Passover,” Feiglin wrote. “We welcome him. But we want to welcome our brother, Jonathan Pollard, too. G-d willing, when Obama releases our brother Jonathan, we will gladly welcome Obama and listen to his speech” - but not before, Feiglin wrote.

Feiglin called on fellow MKs to follow his example. According to Feiglin, an empty Knesset during the time of Obama's speech will impress upon the President how Knesset members and Israelis feel about “the government that continues to hold our brother prisoner for 28 years.”

If Obama does not release Pollared, I would just love to see him ascend to the Knesset podium, and read from his teleprompter to an empty chamber.

Moshe Feiglin's First Speech in the Knesset

Naftali Bennett's First Speech in the Knesset

A Couple of Links

Obituary: Rav Yishayahu "Nitzan Or" Rotter, Founder of Rotter Net - Nice work, Jameel!

MK Protests Pro-Gay TV Content, is Bashed - Arutz 7 puts the whole thing in proportion. I would advise Anastassia Michaeli to get rid of her television set.

Democracy Bites the Dust

The rabbis taught us that the redemption comes gradually. If the Jewish people were to be redeemed in a sudden fashion, it would be too much to handle. Imagine a person who was imprisoned for a long period of time in a dark cell. Immediately exposing him to bright light would be harmful to him.

One of the good things about the Shalit deal is that it causes to realize just how lame the current system of government is. However, going immediately from the ashes of the Holocaust to the restoration of David's Kingdom would have been too much for the Jewish people to bear. So, in the meantime we have this Knesset with Bibi and Tibi. I'm grateful that we have it but I am ready to move on to the next stage.



"afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall come trembling unto the LORD and to His goodness in the end of days.(Hosea Chapter 3) "

The Law for Preventing the Harming the State of Israel By Means of Boycott – 2011

The Israeli left and MSM are having a fit, shrieking away at this law . Unfortunately, the media does not provide enough objective information about the law for one to form an informed opinion about it. Feeling the frustration of many, I have translated the law into English. Now you can decide if the law is good or bad:

The Law for Preventing the Harming the State of Israel By Means of Boycott – 2011

1. Definition

In this law, "a boycott on the State of Israel" - intentional abstention from having an economic, cultural, or academic relationship with a person or other responsible body, only because of its connection to the State of Israel, one of its institutions or an area that is under its control, that has the ability to harm it economically, culturally or academically.

2. Boycott – Civil Injustice

a.) one who knowingly advertises a public call to place a boycott on the State of Israel, and according to the contents of the call and the circumstances under which it was advertised there is a reasonable possibility that the call will bring about the placing of a boycott, and the advertiser is aware of the mentioned possibility, has committed a civil injustice and the laws of damages will apply to him.

b.) With regards to paragraph 62a of the laws of damages [new version] one who caused the breaking of an obligatory contract by means of calling for the placing of a boycott on the State of Israel will not be seen as one who acted with adequate justification.

c.) If the court finds that an injustice was committed intentionally according to this law, it may obligate the perpetrator of the injustice with the payment of compensation that is not dependent on the amount of damage (in this paragraph, exemplary damages); in its coming to determine the amount of exemplary damages, the court will take into consideration, among other things, the circumstances of the committing of the injustice, its graveness and scope.

3.) Instructions Concerning to Limiting Tenders

The Minister of Finance, with the agreement of the Minister of Justice and with the approval of the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee, is allowed to set instructions with respects to limiting the participation in a tender of one who has knowingly advertised a public call for the placement of a boycott on the State of Israel or of one who obligated himself to take part of the mentioned boycott, including an obligation not to purchase goods or services that are produced or provided in the State of Israel, in one of its institutions, or in any area under its control; in this paragraph "tender" – a tender that must be conducted according to the law of the obligation of tenders, 1992.

4) Instructions Concerning Preventing Benefits

a) The Minister of Finance, with the counsel of the Minister of Justice, is permitted with respect to one who knowingly advertised a public call to place a boycott on the State of Israel, or with respect to one who obligated himself to take part of the mentioned boycott, that

1) It will not be seen as a public institution with regards to paragraph 46 of the income tax law.

2) It will not be eligible to receive funding from the Council of the Arrangement of Sport Gambling according to paragraph 9 of the Law to Arrange Gambling in Sports, 1967. The activation of the authority according to this subsection requires the agreement of the Minister of Culture and Sport.

3) It will not be considered a public institution according to paragraph 3a of the Law of the Foundations of the Budget, 1985 with respect to receiving support according to a paragraph of the budget; the activation of the authority according to this subsection requires the agreement of the Minister that the government has determined to be responsible for that paragraph of the budget, as is specified in subsection (2) of the definition of "responsible for paragraph of the budget" that is in the mentioned law.

4) He will not be eligible for guarantees according to the Law of Guarantees from the State, 1958.

5) He will not be eligible for benefits according to the Law of Encouraging Capital Investments, 1959 or the Law to Encourage Research and Development in Industry, 1984; the activation of the authority according to this subsection requires the agreement of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Employment.

b. in the activation of his authority according to subsection (a), the Finance Minister will work in accordance to the guidelines established for this matter with the agreement of the Justice Minister and the approval of the Knesset's Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee. However, if the mentioned guidelines were not established, that does not harm the authority according to subsection (a)

5. Implementation

The Minister of Justice is responsible for the implementation of this law.

6. Inception

The inception of paragraph 4 is 90 days from the day of this law's publication.

I think that the law is excellent and long overdue. How about you?