Dear Readers,

Some people don’t enjoy going to mother-daughter or father-son programs at their children’s schools. I, for one, welcome the opportunity. Sure, it’s hard to leave work in middle of the day (I know I’m lucky that my job allows for me to be able to step out for a bit), but when you step into the halls that your child walks each day, you get a sense of what takes place within its walls. You hear the singing and the davening; you see the brightly decorated classrooms and the smiles on their teachers’ faces. You begin to understand what it would be like to spend your days in the building.

Today, I had the privilege of attending my third grader’s Shemoneh Esrei performance. Seeing those young girls sing so purely about davening was so heart-warming. Their teachers prepared them so well – not just with practicing the motions and singing the songs but also about understanding what each bracha is about. I know that those songs that they sung and the lessons they’ve imbibed this morning will carry them for many years.

As parents, we are a given a monumental task. Our job is so multifaceted – and every aspect is so important. There is so much that is needed to bring up children these days. We’re busy with the physical aspects – making sure they’re clothed and fed, their laundry is done, and the house is clean. We want to help them academically, clarifying concepts that they’re taught in school and doing homework with them each night. We want them to be emotionally healthy and grow up to become confident, secure individuals.

But the list does not end there. As frum Jews, our responsibility is to transmit to our children the mesorah that has kept our nation intact throughout the millennia. We try to impart those lessons in our homes by modeling the chessed and kindness that we wish to instill within them. From the time that they’re young, we’re demonstrating through our actions the beauty of Yiddishkeit. They see us say our brachos, sing zemiros at the Shabbos table, light candles before Shabbos. But we need help in providing a full Torah education to our children, and the schools that we send our precious children to are our partners in this mission. We ask that they help us to inculcate our children with the proper values – values that are so rare (and are getting rarer) these days.

And so, when I enter the doors of my children’s schools, I offer a prayer of gratitude for all the mechanchim and mechanchos and for all their effort and love that they pour into my children. Together, with Hashem’s help, we are raising another generation of Jews devoted and dedicated to Yiddishkeit. Wishing you a wonderful week, Shoshana

Yitzy Halpern, PUBLISHER publisher@fivetownsjewishhome.com

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Friday, February 10 Parshas Yisro

Candle Lighting: 5:05 pm

Shabbos Ends: 6:07 pm

Rabbeinu Tam: 6:37 pm

Dear Editor, I am writing to urge the community to go out and vote on the referendum for the February 16th special election for the sale of the Number 5 building to Shulamith School.

As a parent of several alumnae, one current student, and the spouse of a teacher, Shulamith needs to have a home of its own. This building is a school and has been used by Shulamith for many years already, and it needs to remain a school building.

We do not need more luxury residential housing, which will add to traffic, and place a further burden on our already strained infrastructure such as garbage collection, water and sewer, and emergency services. Once this building is developed, it will be impossible to have it revert back to a school. There is a limited amount of commercial space in the 5 Towns, and to find another location that will be suitable for over 500 students will simply be impossible.

Shulamith is educating the next generation of our female leaders, and it is important that we all come out to support their need for a permanent building. Sincerely,

Binyamin Lipsky

Dear District 15 Residents, On Thursday, February 16, we will have the opportunity to make a lasting difference in our community. There will be a Referendum on the sale of the former Number 5 School, now home to Shulamith School for Girls.

I have watched Shulamith grow since the school moved to the Five Towns from Brooklyn 22 years ago, a small school with only 22 students. Fast forward to 2023, there are now over 700 students from K-12th grade. Shulamith has moved around over the years, existing in three different small locations.

As the school grew, it was apparent that a larger space was needed. Eight years ago, the opportunity arose for Shulamith to rent the Number 5 School building. It has been a wonderful home for Shulamith, a safe and nurturing space for its students to learn and grow.

By voting YES on Thursday, February 16, we can ensure that Shulamith can finally own and make it a permanent home, with the resources necessary to continue providing quality education for young girls in our community. Your vote will also ensure that the property remains a school and is not handed over to developers.

The vote will take place from 7am10pm on Thursday, February 16, in the Lawrence High School, 2 Reilly Rd. Please join me in voting in favor of Shulamith on this important issue.

Sam Gross

Dear Editor,

I would like to urge everyone to watch a new five-part docu-series called “Never Again Is Now Global” by Vera Sharav, an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor. No matter your political affiliation, nationality, or religious level, this groundbreaking documentary will touch you, educate you, and empower you. If Ms. Sharav felt it important enough at her age to spend a year or so of her life traveling the globe to conduct the interviews necessary to produce this monumental work, it behooves each of us to take the time to watch the finished product. Each part is approximately one hour and can be viewed for

Continued on page 10

Continued from page 8 free at https://live.childrenshealthdefense.org/chd-tv/events/never-again-isnow-global/ Debbie

Meisels

Dear Editor,

For those that are spending (literally) thousands of dollars on Moose Knuckles coats, please be aware of what the logo on your coat is displaying/advertising. I’m not even talking about the ridiculous amount of money spent, or the pathetic attempt to fit it just because everyone else is buying them.

I’m referring to the crassness of the brand name and logo. Do yourselves a favor and google what it means and what the logo is.

Signed, Tznius is Multifaceted

Dear Editor,

Every week, I look forward to reading your “note to readers,” and this week you did not disappoint. In fact, I think more people should write and talk about this phenomenon. Our generation is becoming a mindless one, forgetting how to think for themselves. They brainlessly listen to those who hawk their products and ideologies.

And look at who are our “leaders” on social media. Are those people who you feel should be role models for our next generation?

If more people took a step back and spent more times off their phones and more time with their minds, thinking about their priorities, then I think they would remember how to think for themselves.

Sincerely,

P. Laurent

Dear Editor,

My son recently said to Alexa, “I love you, Alexa.” Alexa responded that she really appreciated that.

One could make the argument that if a machine that has no feelings can verbalize appreciation for love (though it’s programmed), then certainly we can show appreciation as well for any good done to us.

Steven Genack

Dear Editor,

Something is missing from the Long Island Railroad East Side Access to Grand Central Madison. There is only one waiting room with only has a 29-seat capacity plus 7 stools for WiFi connections. There are no benches on platforms, mezzanine or Madison concourse to sit while waiting for your train.

When it comes to disposal of newspa- pers, beverage containers, garbage or other waste, there doesn’t appear to be any options for recycling. Are riders supposed to carry all of this to street level before being able to throw out? Many enjoy visiting a newsstand to purchase a paper or periodical. I didn’t see any potential newsstands or newspaper vending machines.

No retail space has opened to date. How much lost revenue will be incurred until all retail space is occupied? Ten years after the original completion date of 2013 as promised in the 2006 Federal Transit Administration $6.3 billion Capital Investment Grant Full Funding Grant Agreement (which capped the federal share at $2.6 billion) and $5 billion over budget, not including $1 billion more for the cost of financing for a total of $12.6 billion, LIRR commuters deserve better.

Sincerely,

Larry Penner

Dear Editor,

The fascination of change in the political arena is evident from patterns in modern American history, whether that was Bill Clinton as the “comeback kid,” George Bush’s promise of restoring “the integrity of the office,” Barack Obama’s “yes we can!” Donald Trump’s “drain the swamp” mentality, or even Joe Biden’s message of “getting the adults back in charge.” Getting rid of the status quo has a taste of liberation and hope for restoration. Time after time, promises were made, but promises weren’t kept; that was until Donald J. Trump came down that historic golden escalator.

Donald Trump was and is a reaction to the constant failures of Washington, D.C., of both parties refusing to defend the interests of their voters. Trump answered the call, and as we all remember to much shock, Donald Trump became the 45th president of the USA. Trump did a lot of what he promised, including cutting taxes, deregulation, appointing conservative judges and justices, defending American interests first, exposing the bureaucracy and the “deep state,” making substantial progress in peace in the Middle East, and many other accomplishments, however, to say that he did all that he promised and that he continues to live up to the standard he fought for in 2016 would be a lie.

I was one of President Trump’s first supporters in 2015. Yeah, you read that correctly, 2015! I still am a supporter of President Donald Trump, but just because I support Donald Trump doesn’t mean that I support “Trump 2024.” The Donald Trump that I fiercely defended in the face of much opposition from family and friends in 2015/16 was someone that sincerely did not care what political consultants, politi- cians, or even party members would think, say or do. The Donald Trump of 2023 is unfortunately not that. The present Donald Trump is someone who supports a classic establishment failure to lead the Republican National Committee. The Trump of today supports the establishment’s pick for Speaker of the House without question or resistance. In addition, many of the problems that our movement and country face today are ironically Trump-related. Furthermore, Trump’s political influence in the GOP has for years been incredibly dominant and powerful, but many times he endorses the same people that in the past or even later backstab him and more importantly, his voters. Trump told us in 2016 that we would “win so much, that we are gonna get sick of winning” to the extent that Trump said jovially, that we would call the White House and ask Mike Pence to stop the winning. I am proud of what was accomplished in the Trump White House, but as a Trump Republican, the disappointment of what Trump has become has set in.

As a Trump supporter, I am disappointed with the leader of my party, Donald Trump, the man that I put so much hope in and trust in.

The 2024 election is quite some time away, and things may change, but I think it is time for a new leader of our party who will fight for all the things that the Trump of 2016 fought for. A full primary awaits, but at this point, Ron DeSantis is that leader.

Ron DeSantis has been a leader in so many issues against the establishment on both sides of the aisle, from Covid to education to immigration to even the way he governs. Ron DeSantis clearly has an understanding of the game of power and it would do so much good for the country to get a taste.

Donald Trump will always have a special place in my heart. His candor, humor, and controversies are what make his brand real. Ron DeSantis is his own person with his own style, but as much as we have to hold Trump to account, DeSantis must also be faced with tough questions in the primary. A primary makes the best candidate for the party. It isn’t a coincidence that in 2016 or in 2020, the GOP/Democrat primaries were huge and divisive, but they produced the next presidents of the United States.

The state of our union is in a horrendous mess, despite what Joe Biden says in his address. The country needs a populist, working-class Republican party like the one Trump 2016 fought for. Trump is owed credit for building the foundation, but it’s time to build the building. May the best Ron or Don win!

Sincerely,

Donny Simcha Guttman

Thousands Killed in Earthquake in Turkey

One of the strongest earthquakes to hit the region in a century shook residents from their beds at around 4 a.m. on Monday morning, sending tremors as far away as Lebanon and Israel.

In Turkey, at least 2,921 people were killed and more than 15,800 others injured, according to Turkey’s head of disaster services, Yunus Sezer.

In neighboring Syria, at least 1,451 people have died. According to the Syrian state news agency SANA, 711 people have died across government-controlled areas, mostly in the regions of Aleppo, Hama, Latakia, and Tartus.

The “White Helmets” group, officially known as the Syria Civil Defense, reported 740 deaths in opposition-controlled areas. Much of northwestern Syria, which borders Turkey, is controlled by anti-government forces amid a bloody civil war that began in 2011.

Every day it seems like the death toll in Monday’s earthquake rises dramatically. As of Tuesday, more than 7,000 people were reported to have been killed after a devastating 7.8-magnitude quake ripped through Turkey and Syria, leaving chaos and destruction on each side of the border.

Since the initial quake, whose epicenter was 23 kilometers (14.2 miles) east of Nurdagi, in Turkey’s Gaziantep province, the surrounding areas felt a series of aftershocks, one of which measured 7.5 in magnitude.

Rescuers are desperately attempting to locate survivors amidst the rubble in the freezing cold. A host of countries have sent aid – including Israel which sent dozens of rescuers to aid in search and rescue.

After the quake, buildings were still collapsing from the tremors. Famous landmarks were flattened.

Monday’s quake is believed to be the strongest to hit Turkey since 1939, when an earthquake of the same magnitude killed 30,000 people, according to the USGS. Earthquakes of this magnitude are rare, with fewer than five occurring each year on average, anywhere in the world. Seven quakes with magnitude 7.0 or greater have struck Turkey in the past 25 years – but Monday’s is the most powerful.

Entire buildings have been crushed, with metal rods scattered across the streets. Cars have toppled over, while bulldozers work to clear the debris. Gaziantep Castle has been heavily damaged.

In neighboring Syria, the situation appears to be dire. More than 4 million people rely on humanitarian assistance in the region of northwest Syria where the deadly earthquake struck, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The majority of these people are women and children. Along with the devastation from the earthquake, Syrian communities are battling an ongo - ing cholera outbreak amid a harsh winter with heavy rain and snow over the weekend.

Eyewitnesses in northwest Syria said that the conditions in northwest Syria are “terrifying” in the aftermath of the quake, leaving “entire families dead” and “survivors sleeping on the streets in the freezing cold.”

The quake damaged several archeological sites in Syria, according to Syria’s Directorate-General for Antiquities and Museums (DGAM), including Imam Ismail Mosque and the Shmemis Castle in the Hama Governorate, and the 13th century Aleppo Citadel.

Recycling Setback

Despite global efforts to recycle, the world is churning out more plastic waste than ever before.

The second Plastic Waste Makers Index, compiled by the philanthropic Minderoo Foundation, found the world generated 139 million metric tons of single-use plastic waste in 2021 – 6 million metric tons more than in 2019, when the first index was released.

The additional plastic waste littering the planet over those two years is equivalent to one kilogram more per person on the planet.

In recent years, governments around the world have announced policies to reduce the volume of single-use plastic, banning products like single-use straws, disposable cutlery, food containers, cotton swabs, bags and balloons.

In July, California became the first U.S. state to announce its own targets — including a drop of 25% in the sale of plastic packaging by 2032. In December, the UK extended its list of banned items to include single-use trays, balloon sticks and some types of polystyrene cups and food containers. Bans are also in place in the European Union, Australia and India, among other places.

But all these efforts are falling short. And all that extra plastic being pro - duced will most likely end up in landfills and beaches than recycling plants.

Last year, the United Nations Environment Assembly, the world’s highest-level decision-making body on the environment, agreed to create the world’s first-ever global plastic pollution treaty.

Elían Gonzalez in Cuban Congress

his post in the 470-seat National Assembly that meets several times a year to discuss proposed laws, which the body usually votes unanimously to approve.

On Thanksgiving Day 1999, González, then six years old, shot to fame after he was rescued from the Florida straits.

His mother and nine other people who were trying to make their way to American waters drowned after their rickety boat capsized in high seas. It seemed miraculous that Elían survived and he was sent to distant relatives in Miami who vowed to keep him in the United States.

Back in Cuba, though, Elían’s father, Juan Miguel, fought to bring the boy home. Cold War politics soon dominated the fight over his custody as Cuban leader Fidel Castro led massive demonstrations on the island demanding Elían’s return.

Elían Gonzalez, the Cuban boy whose custody battle made headlines worldwide and dominated a Cold War narrative two decades ago, has been nominated to serve in the island’s National Assembly. The 29-year-old will be “representing the most worthy of the Cuban youth.”

González’s nomination all but secures

The case became a new flashpoint in the already boiling feud between supporters and opponents of Castro’s revolution.

As the two sides fought out the high-profile case in court, U.S. immigration officials decided to put Elían in the custody of his father, who had traveled to the United States to press for his son’s return. But Elían’s relatives refused to hand him over. Armed federal agents stormed their home in middle of the night and seized the boy.

Rioting broke out in Miami as many in the Cuban-American community reacted angrily to federal agents taking the boy.

Elían was reunited with his father and following more court proceedings – ending with the Supreme Court rejecting the Miami relatives’ efforts to get him back – father and son flew home to Cuba.

Cuba’s government celebrated Elían’s return with a massive demonstration.

For years to follow, he was surrounded by government bodyguards, and said later that they became some of his best friends during his childhood.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro was the guest of honor at Elían’s seventh birthday. Images of Elían and Castro celebrating were first shown on the island’s state-run TV and then transmitted around the world.

“I don’t profess to have any religion, but if I did, my G-d would be Fidel Castro. He is like a ship that knew to take his crew on the right path,” González said in an interview with Cuba’s staterun media in 2013.

González often said Castro was like a second father to him.

A Mobster Making Pizza

After the arrest of Matteo Messina Denaro, 60, police found that, while on the run, Italy’s most wanted mobster had expensive tastes, dressing in designer duds, and favoring expensive perfumes. When he was taken into custody at a clinic in Palermo, Sicily, he was wearing a watch estimated to cost about $35,000, prosecutors later said.

Life on the lam was less glamorous for Edgardo Greco, 63, a lesser-known mobster linked to the Calabrian ’Ndrangheta crime syndicate, who was arrested on Thursday. French police captured him in the early hours in St.-Étienne, a city in east-central France, as he was going to work for his night shift in a pizzeria, where he prepared dough, tomato sauces, and pastas.

Greco had been living in a small apartment in the center of the city. “A modest lifestyle, not glitzy at all,” said Lt. Col. Dario Pini, commander of the Italian carabinieri unit whose investigation led to his arrest.

Greco was convicted in Italy of the 1991 murder of two members of a criminal organization during what prosecutors described as a “mafia war” between competing gangs in the city of Cosenza, in the Calabria region of the country. Greco eluded capture when a warrant for his arrest was issued in 2006, but he was later convicted in absentia. A European arrest warrant was issued in 2014.

Tracking down Greco was not easy, Pini said. Often fugitives give themselves away when they contact close relatives, but Greco was not in touch with his wife and two sons, who live in Austria, or with relatives in Calabria, Pini said.

Investigators got a break late last year when, plumbing the internet for images of people who looked like Greco, they came across two articles. One, from 2014, showed a man whom they matched with Greco “to 95%” accuracy. They also came across a July 2021 interview in a

St.-Étienne newspaper announcing the opening of an Italian restaurant, Caffè Rossini. Its owner, Paolo Dimitrio, said in the interview that his goal was to “create an elaborate Italian cuisine, only with fresh and homemade products.”

Comparing photographs they had of Greco, investigators determined that Dimitrio was, in fact, the fugitive mobster. (Incidentally, Caffè Rossini went under a few months after opening. “COVID didn’t help,” Pini said.)

Armed with the photographs, Italian investigators looped in their French colleagues, and Greco was arrested as he was beginning a shift. (© The New York Times)

Pakistan’s Former Pres. Dies

Pakistan’s former President General Pervez Musharraf died over the weekend in Dubai; he was 79 years old. marred by controversy, and he was accused of widespread human rights abuses and oppression.

Musharraf had seized power from Prime Minster Nawaz Sharif in a military coup in 1999. He appointed himself president in 2001, while remaining head of the army. He continued to lead Pakistan as president until 2008.

Musharraf became a key ally of the United States following the 9/11 terror attacks, and he tried to become an indispensable figure in combating Islamic extremism. But his time in power was

In November 2007, Musharraf declared a state of emergency, suspended Pakistan’s constitution, replaced the chief judge, and blacked out independent TV outlets. He said he had to implement those measures to stabilize the country and to fight rising Islamist extremism. But the action drew sharp criticism from the United States and democracy advocates. Pakistanis openly called for his removal.

Under pressure from the West, Musharraf later lifted the state of emergency and called elections, held in February 2008, in which his party fared badly. He stepped down in August 2008. In 2019, he was sentenced to death in absentia for high treason. The ruling was later overturned.

Musharraf had been living in Dubai since March 2016, when Pakistan’s Supreme Court lifted a travel ban, allowing him to leave the country to seek medical treatment there.

S. Korea to Blame for Vietnam War Massacre

This week, a South Korean court ordered the government to pay 30 million won ($24,000) to a Vietnamese woman who survived a gunshot wound but lost several relatives when South Korean marines rampaged through her village during the Vietnam War in 1968.

The Seoul Central District Court dismissed the government’s argument that it was unclear whether South Korean troops were responsible for the slaughter in the village of Phong Nhi in central Vietnam.

The court also rejected the government’s argument that civilian killings were unavoidable because the South Korean troops were dealing with Viet Cong guerrillas who often blended with villagers. The government’s lawyers were also unsuccessful in invoking a statute of limitations.

The ruling for Nguyen Thi Thanh, 62, marks the first time a South Korean court has found the government responsible for mass killings of Vietnamese civilians during the war and could potentially open the way for similar lawsuits. During the Vietnam War, South Korea was ruled by anti-communist military leaders and sent more than 320,000 troops to Vietnam – the largest foreign contingent fighting alongside U.S. troops.

The South Korean government has never officially acknowledged responsibility for civilian massacres linked to South Korean soldiers in Vietnam, which some experts say were possibly responsi- ble for thousands of deaths.

According to U.S. military documents and survivors, more than 70 people were killed and around 20 others were injured when South Korean marines allegedly fired at unarmed civilians as they swept through Phong Nhi and the nearby village of Phong Nhut on February 12, 1968. The action came after least one South Korean soldier got struck and injured by nearby enemy fire.

Subsequently, U.S. Marines and

South Vietnamese militia provided medical treatment to villagers who fled as South Korean soldiers continued to shoot inside the villages.

U.S. Marines later entered the villages and found piles of bodies in different areas, many burned or buried in ash. One U.S. soldier took photos which were used as evidence during Thanh’s trial. Thanh, who awaited the ruling in Vietnam, said she was “overjoyed” by her court victory.

“I think that the souls (of those who died in Phong Nhi) were always with me and supported me,” she said in a video message translated by her legal team. “I am overjoyed because I think that the souls can now rest easy.”

Wildfires Sweep Chile

At least 270,000 hectares of land have been consumed by wildfires that have been sweeping through south-central Chile over the past few days. Even more concerning is that at least 26 people have been killed by the forest fires that firefighters are struggling to hold back and which are raging due to the hot and dry weather the country is experiencing.

So far, 2023 is the second worst year in terms of hectares burned after the socalled “fire storm” that hit the country in 2017.

The state National Forestry Corporation reported that as of Monday morning there were 275 active fires, of which 69 were currently in combat.

“Unity to face the tragedy, unity to rebuild ourselves,” President Gabriel Boric wrote on Twitter.

Chile is in the grip of an over decade-long period of dry weather, which the World Meteorological Organization called a “mega drought” last year. The heat wave and strong winds have caused a rapid spread of the flames during the Southern Hemisphere summer season.

Other nations have been sending aid and support to Chile to battle the fires.

The fires have not affected the mining industry in the world’s top copper producing nation, with mines located mostly in the north of the country, but they have hit Chile’s agricultural and major forestry sector.

Annual Amnesty in Iran

an regime has a “documented history of making lofty declarations about releasing political prisoners and not following through.”

“What we expect is that some will be released while many others, especially prominent political prisoners who’ve been unjustly jailed for years, will remain imprisoned,” Ramsey said.

“This is a PR stunt that has no grounding in reality by a regime that has lost legitimacy amongst its people. The political repression, the imprisonments after sham ‘trials’ led by kangaroo courts, the criminalization of dissent remain,” she continued.

It’s annual amnesty time in Iran and large numbers of prisoners are going to be the beneficiaries of the government’s “largesse.”

The nation said that it will pardon or commute the sentences of thousands of prisoners as part of an annual amnesty, as approved by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

According to semi-official Tasnim, the amnesty does not apply to those sentenced or facing charges of “espionage for outsiders, direct links with the foreign intelligence services, murder or intentional injuries, as well as vandalism or arson attack on governmental, military and public sites” – all charges regularly levied against protesters and foreign nationals imprisoned in Iran.

Referring to protesters, Chief Justice Gholam -Hossein Mohseni -Ejei said, “a number of convicts jailed following the recent riots in Iran had been deceived into wrongdoing under the influence of the enemy’s propaganda campaign” and have “asked for forgiveness,” Tasnim reported.

At least one Iranian human rights organization dismissed the move as “propaganda.”

“The #HypocriticalPardoning of protesters by Khamenei is an act of propaganda. They used their selfright to protest and their arrests and sentences are not justified. Not only should all protesters be released, but in the path of justice, the trials of the perpetrators and agents of repression is also a universal right,” Iran Human Rights said on Twitter.

Similarly, a New York based NGO, the Center for Human Rights (CHRI) in Iran, described the move by Khamenei as a “PR stunt” with “no grounding in reality.”

The deputy director of the CHRI, Jasmin Ramsey, noted that the Irani -

Khamenei made the announcement ahead of the 44th anniversary of the “victory of the Islamic Revolution” marked on February 11. It is customary for Khamenei to grant amnesty to some prisoners to mark this occasion.

Fatal Landslide in Peru

At least eight people were killed and five more are missing after landslides triggered by heavy rains in southern Peru swept through the town of Secocha in Peru on Monday. Twenty other people were injured in the disaster.

Located on the banks of the Ocoña River in Camaná province, Secocha is one of the areas that was suspected to be affected by the swollen river after heavy rains swept through the area.

The government has sent healthcare workers and medications to help with the rescue and recovery. The Peruvian army has also deployed helicopters to the region, transporting humanitarian aid, drinking water and sandbags to the emergency site.

“Search and rescue efforts continue,” the Ministry of Defense said in a tweet that called out misinformation surrounding the landslide. With some media reports setting the death toll as high as 36, the ministry wrote it recommended that members of the public “obtain information from official sources.”

Peru is also being rocked by strikes, which started in December when then-President Pedro Castillo attempted to dissolve Congress ahead of his third impeachment hearing. The move led Congress to overwhelmingly impeach Castillo, who has since been detained on charges of rebellion and conspiracy.

His former vice president, Dina Boluarte, was sworn in as Peru’s first female president that same day.

The demonstrations against Castillo’s detention have continued for more than two months, with protesters calling for Castillo’s release, Boluarte’s removal, the dissolution of Congress, new elections, and a revised constitution.

Israel Aids in Earthquake Disaster

with the forces there and to try to save lives,” Cohen told the delegation shortly before takeoff.

After landing in Gaziantep, the delegation planned to meet up with an IDF Home Front unit operating nearby and join in their efforts.

The vice president of operations for United Hatzalah, Dovi Maisel, who has taken part in many missions to disaster-stricken sites over the years, stressed to the volunteers the significance of their efforts.

“In the midst of this horrible disaster, you may feel small in such a big event, but believe me that your impact is enormous. This is true for you as individuals, for the organization and for the flag of Israel on your shoulder,” he said.

In addition to the United Hatzalah volunteers, a team from Israel’s national search-and-rescue unit was on the flight, bringing the equipment needed for the delicate, complicated and dangerous work of excavating people from collapsed or collapsing buildings.

A small group from the IsraAID organization, including trauma experts, also traveled to Gaziantep on the United Hatzalah flight with a number of water purification systems. The delegation planned to assess the needs on the ground in order to determine what other help was needed going forward, a member of the group said.

A group of physicians and psychotrauma specialists from Israel flew to southern Turkey on Tuesday to aid in rescue efforts after the devastating earthquake that shook the area and killed thousands of people.

The flight was organized by the United Hatzalah emergency response organization and was scheduled to land in Gaziantep, one of the cities hardest hit by the tremors.

Earlier in the day, a larger delegation of roughly 150 people from the Israel Defense Force’s Home Front Command landed in the city of Adana to begin operations there and in surrounding areas.

The United Hatzalah delegation was led by Yossi Cohen, a reserve officer in the Home Front Command. This was Cohen’s first time leading such a delegation. The other two dozen or so volunteers on the trip also had ample experience in search-and-rescue missions around the world. Many of them took part in rescue operations on the Ukrainian border last year following Russia’s invasion in February, as well as the deadly earthquake in Nepal in 2015.

“Our primary mission is to join up

The earthquake death toll had passed 7,000 people in both Turkey and Syria as of Tuesday afternoon. The toll was expected to rise, as rescue workers searched mounds of wreckage in cities and towns across the area.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel also plans to send aid to Syria, including tents, medication, and blankets. Syrian sources have vigorously denied requesting aid from Israel, and IDF spokesman Ran Kochav told reporters that the military was not involved in potential aid to Syria.

Israel considers Syria a hostile state, and the two do not have diplomatic ties. However, during the neighboring country’s bloody civil war, the IDF carried out a massive humanitarian operation to aid Syrian civilians.

Bibi: We’ll Keep on Building

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected a call by the Biden administration to temporarily freeze construction in Judea and Samaria and halt demolitions of illegal Arab structures in those territories as well as the eastern part of Jerusalem.

However, while Israeli officials stressed that these activities would not be stopped completely, ad hoc concessions would be made.

According to Axios, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the request during his visit to Israel last week, in a bid to de-escalate tensions amid rampant Palestinian terrorism.

Washington reportedly asked that Jerusalem “pause” the actions for several months, and also requested that the Palestinian Authority fully resume security coordination with Israel and postpone any additional steps against it at U.N. institutions and other international bodies.

P.A. chief Mahmoud Abbas announced on January 26 that Ramallah would cease security cooperation following an IDF raid in Jenin in which nine people were killed during fierce clashes.

The decision by Israeli security forces to conduct a large-scale counter-terrorism operation in Jenin during daylight hours was unusual, reflecting the urgent need to prevent a major terror plot from moving ahead.

That plot, according to security sources, involved a Palestinian Islamic Jihad attack against Israelis to be carried out in the immediate future.

In a meeting days later with CIA Director William Burns in Ramallah,

Abbas reportedly relayed a four-part message: 1) Intelligence cooperation with Israel continues; 2) the P.A. will continue to work to prevent acts of terror; 3) security cooperation with Israel will be renewed to calm tensions; and 4) he cannot condemn the recent attacks in Jerusalem as doing so would be “political suicide.”

On Monday, Netanyahu reportedly intervened to delay the demolition of an illegally constructed building in eastern Jerusalem due to American pressure. The large building houses 100 persons and is located in the Wadi Qaddum section of Silwan/Shiloah, an Arab neighborhood in the Israeli capital’s southeast.

The illegal structure has been slated for demolition for years, but the demolition has been put off amid an international outcry.

Axios also reported that during his meeting last week with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, Netanyahu said he would not suspend all building across the Green Line, but that the amount of construction would be “much less” than what is being demanded by various coalition partners.

Earlier this month, the Israeli government asked the Supreme Court for a four-month extension for submitting its response to a ruling demanding the implementation of demolition orders against the illegal Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar.

It was the ninth time the state has requested a postponement.

The legal battle over the issue began in 2009, when Israeli NGO Regavim filed its first petition against what it called “the Palestinian Authority’s flagship outpost in the systematic takeover of Area C” of Judea and Samaria. The encampment is built on state land belonging to the city of Ma’ale Adumim, east of Jerusalem.

While the Supreme Court has rejected the residents’ appeal and upheld lower courts’ rulings ordering Khan al-Ahmar be evacuated, previous governments, including those led by Netanyahu, have asked for and received deferments. (JNS)