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“The victims accuse the social media giants of knowingly providing services to groups like ISIS and Hezbollah.”

By JNS

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week against the families of terrorism victims in two separate cases in which the plaintiffs accused Google, Twitter and Facebook of “aiding and abetting” attacks by failing to block content promoting terrorism.

The court ruled 9-0 in Twitter v. Taamneh, a case brought by family members of Nawras Alassaf, who was killed in a 2017 ISIS attack in Istanbul.

The second case, Gonzalez v. Google, was sent back to a lower court. The plaintiffs asserted that the companies were liable for the death of American college student Nohemi Gonzalez, who was killed in a café during coordinated ISIS attacks in Paris in 2015.

The May 18 decisions handed a victory to the tech industry by declining to weigh in on the foundational U.S. internet law known as Section 230.

The law, a provision in the 1996 Communications Decency Act, protects online companies from liability for content posted by their users. It also gives internet companies the ability to remove content without liability.

Of the two cases, Gonzalez v. Google gave the Supreme Court the more direct opportunity to tackle Section 230. However, the court said the suit should be dismissed because the plaintiffs didn’t have a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act. It advised the lower court that there was no need to address Section 230.

Shurat HaDin-Israeli Law Center President Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, one of the attorneys for the Gonzalez family, said, “While we are disappointed that the Supreme Court refused to acknowledge the dangers of Section 230’s blanket immunity for the social media platforms and their facilitation of these vital internet services to designated terrorist organizations, we intend to continue to litigate the case when it is remanded.

“It is clearly understood that platforms like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook will never voluntarily act to self-regulate in any meaningful way that safeguards the lives of innocent people or protects the national security of the U.S. or other democratic states. The terror victims accuse the social media giants of knowingly providing their services to extremist groups like ISIS and Hezbollah and will continue to sue them for the devastation they caused to their families,” she added.

Policymakers from both the Democratic and Republican parties called for an overhaul of Section 230 in the wake of the court’s actions, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Not a get-out-of-jail-free card

“The Justices passed on their chance to clarify that Section 230 is not a get-out-of-jail-free card for online platforms when they cause harm,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to the newspaper.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) said the court’s decision in Gonzalez v. Google case showed “why we must update the law intended to hold these companies accountable.”

Said Darshan-Leitner, “The battle will now pass to the Congress as well, which can no longer hide on the sidelines. There is bipartisan support to rein in Section 230, and the Gonzalezes and other families of victims intend to press the Congress to amend this antiquated statute that aided in the murder of Noehmi Gonzalez.

“We lawyers see this decision as just another hurdle we need to navigate. It took decades to topple Big Tobacco; we’ll eventually rein in reckless and greed-driven Big Tech as well,” she said.

Republicans and Democrats have concluded that Section 230 gives too much leeway to online companies, though for different reasons. Democrats argue that the provision lets internet platforms avoid responsibility for hate speech and negative content. Republicans say it gives cover for Big Tech to censor conservative voices.

Tech companies argue that revamping Section 230 would lead to a flood of litigation and greater censorship as they block questionable content to avoid the increased liability.

The post US Supreme Court hands victory to Big Tech against victims of Islamic terror appeared first on World Israel News.

Housing, infrastructure, educational and health facilities among the budgeted items to improve life for the capital’s Arab residents.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

The Israeli cabinet on Sunday afternoon passed a new five-year plan to invest some NIS 2 billion in the eastern half of Jerusalem in order to improve the lives of its Arab residents, according to a report in Walla News.

The plan will affect several basic quality-of-life areas: improving basic infrastructure such as roads, public transportation, water, sewage and electricity provision, developing employment possibilities, and building additional educational, cultural, sports and health facilities.

A large portion of the money – NIS 300 million each from the finance and education ministries and NIS 200 million from the Jerusalem municipality – will go towards improving the quality of education in the city’s Arab schools. This includes more funding for the teaching of the Hebrew language and incentives for educational institutions that teach the Israeli curriculum rather than the Palestinian or even the Jordanian one.

These curricula are problematic in several ways, including their inclusion of anti-Israel material, and the poor instruction in Hebrew, which goes hand-in-hand with preparation for the Palestinian matriculation exams rather than the Israeli ones. The former encourages Palestinian radicalism and the latter prevents many Arabs from attending Israeli universities or forces them to take a preliminary year of studies first in order to make up the gaps in learning.

Last year, the Jerusalem and Heritage Ministry reported that just over half (51%) of official schools in eastern Jerusalem taught according to the Israeli curriculum. This was a sharp jump of 34% that took place over the course of the previous five-year plan, that had also been initiated by a Likud-led government with a similar amount of funding in many of the same areas as the current plan.

There are still many Arab schools in the capital that are “recognized” but “unofficial,” much like in the haredi Jewish educational system, so the overall percentage of schools teaching the Israeli curriculum is not as encouraging as the report might suggest.

The cabinet held its weekly meeting in the tunnels that run under the Western Wall that dip in points to the bedrock of the Temple Mount, to emphasize the importance of Jerusalem immediately following Thursday’s celebration of the capital’s reunification in 1967’s Six Day War.

When the previous plan was announced in 2018, various ministers said that the thinking was that the right-wing’s oft-repeated claim that Jerusalem is – and must remain – united under Israeli sovereignty should be backed by providing a more equitable amount of resources for its Arab residents. Nationalist Palestinians said they saw it as another way that Israel was “forcing its control” over Jerusalem.

The five-year plan is an extension of the government’s five-year-old plan, the “929 Decision,” first passed in 2015 to invest billions of shekels in Israel’s Arab sector.

After expiring in 2020, Yamina and Yesh Atid guaranteed to extend the program, as part of their coalition agreements with the United Arab List (Ra’am) – drawing criticism from then-Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

The post Netanyahu government backs plan to invest 2 billion shekels in Jerusalem’s Arab neighborhoods appeared first on World Israel News.

Former Shin Bet chiefs are demonizing the current government as terrorists and a threat to Israel’s continued existence. Here’s why that’s so dangerous.

By Adina Katz, World Israel News

The former head of the storied Shin Bet security agency made incendiary comments against religious Jewish lawmakers at a recent left-wing protest, painting them as a major threat to Israel’s continued existence.

Speaking to anti-government demonstrators gathered at the Pardes Hana-Karkur junction on Saturday evening, Carmi Gilon castigated Israeli politicians who are religiously observant.

“The ultra-Orthodox and Religious Zionist politicians are the Jewish jihad, they are an existential and certain threat to the State of Israel,” Gilon, who once served as Israel’s ambassador to Denmark, was reported by Haaretz as saying.

“Bibi – you have gone your political way with a mark of shame on your forehead, and you will forever be remembered as the prime minister who almost succeeded in bringing about the destruction of Israel,” he added, addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The remarks referring to religious politicians as jihadis are particularly notable when coming from Gilon, due to his reputation as one of Israel’s most significant figures in fighting terror.

But Gilon is not the only former Shin Bet head to equate the current right-wing government with Islamic terrorist groups.

Speaking to a crowd at a March anti-government rally in Tel Aviv, former Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin said that the current coalition “is not a fully right-wing government, it is a fully terrorist government.”

The demonization of the current government, by both Gilon and Diskin, is particularly concerning due to the men’s standing as anti-terror experts who nobly battled serious threats to Israel during their time leading the Shin Bet.

Both men served as a critical line of defense safeguarding the Israeli public from Arab terrorism. Their remarks could be interpreted as suggesting that it would be appropriate to leverage anti-terror techniques to mitigate the “threat” posed by the current government.

Beyond serving as a potential justification for left-wing political violence, the comments serve to further escalate tensions among an already-divided public. That’s not to mention that such blatantly partisan remarks from establishment figures likely do little to restore trust in government institutions, which is at an all-time low among nearly all sectors of the Israeli public.

Following a highly politicized Memorial Day and the 20th consecutive week of anti-government protests, it’s clear that Israeli society is at a breaking point.

Comments that further the “good guys vs. bad guys” narrative only serve to exacerbate an already untenable situation, and may pave the way for citizens to take the law into their own hands to “save” the country.

With political tensions so high and security agencies warning of internal divisions posing a security threat to the country, respected figures need to avoid fomenting hatred against specific groups within Israeli society.

Gilon and Carmi should know better.

The post ‘Jewish jihad, terrorists’: ex-Shin Bet heads’ wild incitement must stop – opinion appeared first on World Israel News.

“If the Likud wants to go to elections instead of giving a budget to the Negev and Galilee – go ahead,” Ben-Gvir warns Sunday.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

Several political parties are threatening to refuse to vote for the state budget should their demands for additional funding not be fulfilled, which could potentially trigger the collapse of the government and a fresh round of elections for the Jewish state.

The ruling right-wing government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must pass a state budget by May 29th, or else the current Knesset will automatically be dissolved.

The ultra-Orthodox Agudat Israel faction, Otzma Yehudit, and the Noam party are pressuring Netanyahu for additional funds, lest they refuse to vote for the budget and topple the government – much to the chagrin of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism).

Hebrew language media widely reported that Smotrich himself has threatened to resign from the government should Netanyahu cave to the last-minute demands, though his office formally denied that version of events in a statement.

However, despite the frenzied reports on the tensions within the coalition, it’s unclear if the parties are blustering in order to make the most of the leverage they currently hold, or if there is a real likelihood that they will follow through on their threats and bring down the government should their financial demands be refused.

Despite the largest-ever funding allocated to the ultra-Orthodox parties and community, the Agudat Israel faction within the United Torah Judaism party is demanding that Netanyahu give an additional 600 million shekels ($164 million) to subsidize yeshiva students by the end of the day on Sunday.

If not, the faction, led by Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, is threatening to vote against the budget and leave the coalition. The faction is encouraging the other faction in United Torah Judaism, Degel HaTorah, to support them in the move.

MK Rabbi Avi Maoz, who is the force behind the one-man Noam faction within Religious Zionism, has similarly threatened to oppose the budget and resign from the coalition should Netanyahu refuse to honor his coalition agreements, which would see millions of shekels in funding and the creation of a national Jewish Identity department.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and MKs from his Otzma Yehudit faction have publicly slammed the budget, saying that there is insufficient funding for residents of the peripheral Galilee and Negev regions.

For several days, Otzma Yehudit has been boycotting critical coalition votes due to their dissatisfaction with the budget. Netanyahu has met with Ben-Gvir several times in order to try to reach a compromise on the matter.

“If the Likud wants to go to elections instead of giving a budget to the Negev and Galilee – go ahead,” Ben-Gvir told Hebrew-language media in a statement on Sunday.

In a separate statement, a party spokesman added that “we don’t like to be tested when we stand up for our ideology. One of the main issues [of Otzma Yehudit’s platform] was strengthening personal security and governance in the Negev and Galilee…it can’t be that we secured a coalition agreement that budgeted 2 billion shekels ($549 billion)” and the allocation of the funds has not come to fruition.

“There are a thousand and one ways to solve the crisis without toppling the government,” the spokesman added.

The post Bluffing or real threats? Coalition clashes ahead of budget deadline appeared first on World Israel News.

Former finance minister accuses Netanyahu of intentionally keeping ultra-Orthodox community poor and ignorant.

By Adina Katz, World Israel News

Yisrael Beiteinu head and former finance minister Avigdor Liberman launched a blistering attack against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that the premier should be eternally damned for allocating funds to ultra-Orthodox schools that don’t teach the core academic curriculum.

“I agreed to give a lot of money [as finance minister] in exchange for core curriculum studies,” Liberman told Hebrew-language Channel 12 News on Saturday evening.

“What Netanyahu did, and for that he deserves to suffer in hell every day, is he took those people and said: ‘I will give you the same funds without the need to study core studies. I want you to remain in poverty, without education, and you will suffer,’” the MK continued.

“The fact that Netanyahu has prevented Israeli children from studying core studies is intolerable, unacceptable and unforgivable.

“The man is willing to sell out on all values in exchange for power,” he added.

Liberman has a long history of making comments hostile to ultra-Orthodox Jews, including saying in 2021 that the religious parties should be “carted off to the garbage dump, along with Netanyahu, in wheelbarrows.”

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, a close ally of Netanyahu, responded by referring to Liberman by his original Russian name, Yvette, and saying he was “jealous” of the premier.

Using Gematria, a Jewish practice of assigning numerical points to words or letters, Karhi wrote on Twitter that “Yvette” has the same value as the word “Satan” in Hebrew.

Israel’s ultra-Orthodox parties are currently slated to receive the largest-ever allocation of funds from the national budget in the history of the state, of which around 1.2 billion shekels ($328 million) will be routed to schools that do not teach English, math, or non-religious subjects.

Despite the large amount of funding, the Agudat Israel faction within the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party is threatening to vote against the state budget and topple the government, should Netanyahu not transfer them an additional 600 million shekels ($164 million) in subsidies for yeshiva students.

If the state budget is not passed by May 29th, the Knesset will automatically be resolved and the Israeli public will go to an unprecedented sixth round of national elections in seven years.

The post ‘Unforgivable, Netanyahu should suffer in hell’ – Liberman attacks PM appeared first on World Israel News.

Tracy Vanderhulst, a 38-year-old math teacher at Yucaipa High School in California, was taken into custody on Thursday night for allegedly having unlawful sexual contact with a 16-year-old male student.

She has been charged with statutory rape and booked into San Bernardino’s Central Detention Center, with her bail set at $30,000.

The arrest was made following a meticulous investigation conducted by detectives from the Sheriff’s Department’s Crimes Against Children Detail division and the Yucaipa Police Department.

Vanderhulst had been working at the school since 2013 and in 2017 received the prestigious “Teacher of the Year” award. In the description of why she deserved the honor, Vanderhulst was hailed as a “kind and innovative teacher from whom we hope our children will grow” and one who “strives to engage all of her students from her intervention classes to her honors classes.”

But the allegations against her present a starkly different picture. Detectives validated that there may be more victims and asked that anyone with further information come forward to aid the investigation.

Those with knowledge of any possible crimes in the teacher-student sexual misconduct case are encouraged to call Detective Rachel Young of the Specialized Investigations Division at (909) 890-4904 or submit anonymous tips to the We-Tip Hotline at 1-800-78-CRIME (27463).

This case is still under investigation, and anyone with knowledge must take action to ensure justice is served.

Terrorists wounded in gunbattle with IDF forces in Samaria.

By TPS

The IDF reported that gunmen fired from a passing vehicle at a military post during the night, near the village of Irtah in northwestern Samaria.

An IDF force that was engaged in what an army spokesperson described as “proactive activity” in the area identified the suspects and returned fire. Several terrorists in the vehicle were wounded, the army said.

After scanning the area, backpacks, presumably belonging to the shooters,  were located.

In separate operations overnight, IDF forces, the Shin Bet, and the Border Police arrested seven wanted terrorists throughout Judea and Samaria.

The security personnel arrested four wanted men in the Palestinian Authority-controlled city of Tulkarem and in the villages of Bala, Senor and Siris.

During the operation, Israeli forces located and confiscated a micro-Tavor assault rifle, cartridges, a military vest and a lathe for making weapons.

The forces arrested three more wanted men in the villages of Al Mughayyir and al-Eizariya.

IDF soldiers and Border Police officers also operated in the village of Beit Awa and confiscated Carlo style submachine guns, an air rifle and ammunition.

Israeli security forces also operated overnight in the city of Hebron, arresting a wanted terrorists.

During that operation, dozens of boxes of fireworks were located and confiscated.

The post Terrorist shooting attack in Samaria appeared first on World Israel News.

Army commander signs order ending prohibition on Israelis entering the site of the former town of Homesh – evacuated in the 2005 Disengagement – drawing criticism from the US Embassy in Jerusalem.

By World Israel News Staff

The United States lamented a decision by the Israeli military late last week ending an 18-year-old policy barring Israeli Jews from visiting the ruins of a former Israeli town in Samaria.

On Thursday, Major General Yehuda Fuchs, the chief of the IDF’s Central Command, granted final authorization to a Defense Ministry order dropping the ban on Israelis traveling to an area in northern Samaria which included the town of Homesh.

Homesh was one of four Israeli towns in northern Samaria which were evacuated by the Sharon government as part of the Disengagement Plan in August 2005.

Under the Disengagement Law, passed by the Knesset in the lead up to the evictions in northern Samaria and the Gaza Strip, Israeli civilians were barred from visiting the areas targeted for evacuation.

Over the past 18 years, groups of Israeli activists – including some former residents evacuated in 2005 – have attempted to visit or even resettle the former towns in northern Samaria.

A small outpost community – centered around a yeshiva – was established in Homesh, only to be demolished repeatedly by Israeli security forces.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party) celebrated the decision Saturday night.

“We promised to authorize the continued Torah study at the yeshiva in Homesh, and we are fulfilling that,” Smotrich tweeted.

Fuchs’ order also places Homesh back under Israeli municipal jurisdiction, Smotrich noted.

“It adds the town to the territory of the Samaria Regional Council to enable the renewed planning for the yeshiva.”

Yossi Dagan, the mayor of the Samaria Regional Council, celebrated the end of the ban.

“This is a holiday. An important day in the history of the State of Israel. A day when historical justice was done for one of the greatest injustices in this country to the Land of Israel and to Israeli citizens.”

Last week, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (Likud) signed the preliminary order authorizing Fuchs to end the ban on Israelis in Homesh.

The U.S. Embassy in Israel lamented the move, telling the Times of Israel in a report published early Sunday morning that the U.S. is “deeply troubled” by the decision.

“The United States strongly urges Israel to refrain from allowing the return of Israeli settlers to the area covered by the legislation passed in March, consistent with both former PM Sharon’s and the current Israeli government’s commitments to the United States.”

“We have been clear that advancing settlements is an obstacle to peace and the achievement of a two-state solution. This certainly includes creating new settlements, building or legalizing outposts, or allowing building of any kind on private Palestinian land or deep in the West Bank adjacent to Palestinian communities.”

In March, the Knesset voted to repeal the Disengagement Law in northern Samaria, paving the way for Fuchs’ order rescinding the ban.

Despite the end of the ban, the government has taken no steps to rebuild the town of Homesh, nor indicated it has any plans to do so in the near future.

The post US ‘deeply troubled’ as IDF ends ban on Israelis returning to demolished Samaria town of Homesh appeared first on World Israel News.

Israel’s national security minister also reiterated his call not to cut funding to the Negev and Galilee.

By JNS

During a visit to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Sunday, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said that despite Hamas threats, Israel remains sovereign of the holy site.

“I’m happy to go up to the Temple Mount, the most important place for the people of Israel,” the Otzma Yehudit Party head said in a statement. “It should be said that the police are doing a wonderful job here and once again prove who owns the [the Temple Mount] in Jerusalem. All the threats from Hamas will not help, we are the owners of Jerusalem and the whole Land of Israel,” he continued.

Rabbi Shimshon Elbaum, head of the Temple Mount Administration, said Ben-Gvir’s visit “gives meaning to the slogan ‘The Temple Mount is in our hands’ which recently turned 56 years old.” Elbaum was referring to the message broadcast from Israel Defense Forces commander Mordechai Gur after his brigade liberated the Old City from the Jordanians in 1967.

Around 1,200 Jews visited the Temple Mount on Thursday ahead of Jerusalem Day, which began on Thursday evening. The annual flag march through the Old City and other festivities associated with the holiday, which marks the reunification of Israel’s capital during the 1967 Six-Day War, were also held on Thursday so as not to run up against the start of Shabbat.

Among those who visited the site on Thursday were several Knesset members, including Development of the Periphery, the Negev and the Galilee Minister Yitzhak Shimon Wasserlauf of Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit Party.

In his statement on Sunday, Ben-Gvir also addressed the Knesset vote on Wednesday boycotted by his party in protest against budget cuts to programs for the Galilee and the Negev

“We must remember our brothers in the Negev and the Galilee. In the upcoming budget we must invest in the Negev and the Galilee. Jerusalem is our soul, the Negev and the Galilee is our soul, we must invest, we must act there, we must be the owners of the Negev, also of the Galilee, and the basis is the budget,” he said.

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Nearly a decade after the body of 5-year-old Jeremiah Oliver was found stuffed in a suitcase off of I-190 in Massachusetts, prosecutors have finally identified a suspect in the boy’s murder.

Alberto L. Sierra Jr., 32, was indicted by a grand jury on charges of “homicidal violence” and pleaded not guilty in court on Thursday. At the time of the boy’s death, Sierra was the boyfriend of Jeremiah’s mother, Elsa Oliver.

The news of Sierra’s arrest was welcomed by police chief Ernest Martineau, a sergeant when the investigation into Jeremiah’s disappearance and death began. Martineau said the case was “haunting to any parent,” and the police department had committed ten years ago never to give up or forget.

The medical examiner concluded that Oliver was the victim of “homicidal violence of undetermined etiology,” the case exposed serious issues in the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families. An independent report found that DCF staff had not done their jobs and that DCF and the adults in Jeremiah’s life had failed to protect him. One DCF worker even lied about visiting Oliver’s home in September 2013, the month and year that the boy was first considered missing and last seen alive.

Jeremiah’s mother and Alberto Sierra have served prison time recently, but not for abusing the 5-year-old boy. While Sierra was convicted as recently as 2017 of abusing Jeremiah’s siblings, and the boy’s mother, Elsa Oliver, pleaded guilty to abusing and endangering her two other children the same year. Sierra now faces charges of murder and disinterring of a body and was ordered held without bail at his Thursday arraignment. The suspect is expected back in court next Thursday, May 25.

The death of Jeremiah Oliver is a tragedy that has haunted the Massachusetts community for nearly a decade. The indictment of Alberto L. Sierra Jr. is a step in the right direction for justice, and hopefully, the case will bring closure to the Oliver family and the community.