Shabbat Hagadol
April 12, 2019 7 Nisan, 5779 Vol 18, No 14
JEWISH
STAR
Serving LI’s Orthodox communities
President Donald Trump at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting in Las Vegas on Saturday. Photo Ethan Miller for Getty Images
The
Metzorah
Trump’s Jewish jackpot
In Vegas, even some awkward words can’t break his bond with Jewish Republicans: P. 2
Bibi boasts ‘incredible’ win after a tight contest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared an “incredible victory” as emerging results for Israel’s general election on Tuesday showed Likud with a clear lead. “This is an unimaginable achievement,” Netanyahu told jubilant supporters — who sang “Bibi, melech Yisrael” — at Likud Party headquarters in Tel Aviv in the early hours of Wednesday morning. “I believe that G-d and history gave the Jewish people another opportunity to turn their country into a strong nation and that’s what I’m working for,” he said. Despite an emerging lead in the ballot results, Netanyahu recommended patience until the final results are in. However, Netanyahu said that he See Election on page 5
Israeli rivals —and their wives — voted on Tuesday: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Sara, and Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz with Revital. Haim Zach/GPO, Fenton/Flash90
Campus ‘Apartheid Week’ a stage for virulent anti-Semitic tactics By Jackson Richman and Sean Savage It’s no secret that college campuses have become some of the most hostile environments for pro-Israel and Jewish students. From BDS resolutions to anti-Israel speakers, young adults are often on the defensive for openly supporting Israel — or for simply displaying Jewish pride — on campus. Then one week each year — last week — many campuses are transformed into hotbeds of anti-Israel events known as “Is-
raeli Apartheid Week” (IAW). Beyond the now-routine pro-BDS and anti-Israel rhetoric, several campuses stood out for their activities, events and choice of speakers. Harvard University’s undergraduate council voted to give $2,050 to the Palestine Solidarity Committee to add to their IAW a physical “Wall of Resistance,” sponsored by 14 students groups, including Harvard College Democrats, Palestinian speakers and a
student panel, reported the school’s newspaper, The Harvard Crimson. The anti-Israel speakers included Princeton University professor and political activist Cornel West and Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill, who was fired by CNN in November as a contributor for calling for “a Free Palestine From the River to the Sea.” “This openly anti-Zionist event frequently crossed the line into outright antiSee Apartheid on page 14
City tightens rules in vaxlax Brooklyn New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency on Tuesday over the measles outbreak in Brooklyn’s haredi community. De Blasio ordered unvaccinated people living in four ZIP codes in the Williamsburg neighborhood to get the vaccine or face fines of up to $1,000. The order comes a day after the city’s Department of Health threatened to fine or even close yeshivas in Williamsburg if students who are not vaccinated against measles are allowed to attend classes. There have been 285 reported cases of measles in Brooklyn’s Orthodox community since October, including 246 children, the health department said. The areas covered by the order are where most of the city’s measles cases have originated. They are largely populated by haredi Jews. “The measles vaccine works. It is safe, it is effective, it is time-tested … the faster everyone heeds the order, the faster we can lift it,” deBlasio said. Numerous Orthodox rabbis and organizations have said that vaccinations may be halachically mandated. “There are no legitimate religious grounds to oppose vaccination,” Rabbi Hershel Billet said in an email to his congregants at the Young Israel of Woodmere last fall. “There are very clear religious grounds to make vaccination of children obligatory! Herd immunity only works if everyone is vaccinated.” In November, Rabbi Dr. Aaron Glatt, an assistant rabbi at YIW who is also chief of infectious diseases and hospital epidemiologist at South Nassau Communities Hospital., wrote in the Jewish Press that “there is absolutely no one who disagrees with the psak that a parent is required to remove one’s child to safety when a danger is present. Indeed, this is part of the basis for the halachic ruling of Harav Elyashiv zt”l who viewed normal childhood vaccinations as being an obligatory part of parental obligations.” Some 465 measles cases have been reported in 19 states this year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up from 387 the week before.