FailedMessiah.com

IDF Police Investigating Alleged Financial Crimes By Officers Involved In Haredi Recruitment

The IDF’s Military Police has opened an investigation into IDF officers suspected of financial offenses involving the draft of haredim.

US Ambassador To Israel Points To Double Standard Of Justice In The West Bank

"Too much Israeli vigilantism in the West Bank goes on unchecked…there is a lack of thorough investigations… at times it seems Israel has two standards of adherence to rule of law in the West Bank - one for Jews and one for Palestinians."

Haredi Sefardi Chief Rabbi Allegedly Tries To Gain Exclusive Control Over Senior Rabbi-Judge Appointments In Order To Block Zionist Orthodox Candidates

The haredi Sefardi Chief Rabbi of Israel Yitzhak Yosef allegedly tried to rig the appointment process for rabbi-judges to the Supreme Rabbinical Court in order to block a Sefardi Zionist Orthodox rabbi who is supportive of women, Yair Ben-Menachem, from being appointed.

Shame: Shocking New Video Shows Eritrean Asylum Seeker Mistaken For Terrorist And Killed Lay Untreated For 18 Minutes After Security Forces Shot Him

Three months after Eritrean asylum seeker Haftom Zarhum was killed in Beersheba’s bus station by a Bedouin security guard, members of Israel’s security services, and a Jewish mob – all of whom allegedly mistook him for a terrorist – newly-obtained security camera footage shows Zarhum lay critically wounded on the floor and gasping for breath for 18 minutes without being helped by Magen David Adom, Israel’s version of the Red Cross, even though Magen David Adom was at the scene 10 minutes before Zarhum was shot and beaten.

Haredi Mob Attacks 80 IDF Soldiers In Jerusalem

It was, for a few brief moments, the wild, wild east. A haredi mob leaving a hasidic rebbe’s Shabbat tisch on the edge of the über-haredi Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea Shearim Friday night reportedly attacked a large group of IDF soldiers who were themselves on their way to a Shabbat meal in a prominent haredi kiruv rabbi's home.

Parents Shocked When Tony Tel Aviv Suburb Posts Posters Showing Temple Mount With Muslim Shrine Photoshopped Out

Parents in the tony Tel Aviv suburb Givatayim were shocked and angry this weekend after the suburb’s schools were given a poster-sized photograph of the (Kotel) Western Wall and Temple Mount with the Muslim Dome of the Rock photoshopped out.

IDF Refuses To Turn Over Incriminating Video Evidence To Military Police As Jewish Settlers Who Attacked Palestinian Photographer Reportedly Set To Be Indicted

IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Moti Almoz said “the [IDF's] documentary unit does not exist to incriminate IDF soldiers.”

Jerusalem Christian Abbey Hit With Hate Crime Attack – Again

Overnight, hate crime vandals thought likely to be Orthodox Jewish extremists vandalized Jerusalem's Dormition Abbey, a Benedictine monastery adjacent to Jerusalem’s Old City.

To Stop Children From Getting Cancer Or Going OTD, Pray Clothing Manufacturers Repent, Haredi Ad Says

A haredi newspaper ad in Lakewood, New Jersey asks haredim to pray that clothing manufacturers repent and only produce "modest" clothing, in the hope that causing this to happen will stop "all sicknesses including…cancer… and children who go off the Derech [i.e., who become non-Orthodox]."

Rabbis Again Claim King David’s Tomb Threatened By Government, Say Temple Artifacts And Davidic Kings’ Graves In Danger

"In the history books about King Herod, it is written that, at the time, he and his soldiers tried to enter the tombs of King David and a heavenly fire consumed them. How is it that there is no protest? This is a scandal and a disgrace to dig among the tombs of the Davidic kings. There is a hidden hand here that is trying to hide it all - maybe someone is trying to win favors with the Christians."

Misrepresenting The Holocaust Yet Again

"A…point of contention is the gross underrepresentation of Orthodox survivors among the videotaped testimonies that appear throughout the museum. There are approximately 50-60 video monitors of varying sizes in the Holocaust History Museum, which continually play prerecorded personal testimonies of survivors. When the Holocaust History Museum first opened in 2005, only one of the dozens of men, and none of the dozens of women, speaking on these videos were identifiably religious. Chassidic and Chareidi survivors were not represented at all. This denied visitors the opportunity to hear from survivors who view the Holocaust from a Torah perspective. After all, the purpose of a museum is to present an honest and complete picture of its subject. If any museum omits a significant segment of its theme, it is simply not doing its job."

Federal Court Rules Against 'Mainstream' Chabad Faction

“…For the foregoing reasons, the Court dismisses Merkos’s counterclaims. This memorandum and order, in conjunction with the Court’s grant of summary judgment to Merkos on Vaad’s appeal of the TTAB’s decision, disposes of all the claims brought in this case. The Court hopes that the parties and the Chabad Lubavitch community can now put an end to litigation over the Rebbe’s passing, and let the Rebbe rest—even if only physically—in peace.”

Israeli Discount Supermarket Chain Allegedly Fires Jewish Women For Dating Palestinians

Supermarket mogul Rami Levy’s chain allegedly fired Jewish female workers who were discovered to be dating Palestinians.

Haredi Yeshiva Offers Parents Intentionally Fake Report Cards

A haredi yeshiva in the greater New York City area offers to give parents altered report cards showing better grades than the student(s) actually received so the parents can hide their kids' poor grades from those same children.

Illegal British Haredi School Ordered To Close For Failure To Teach Secular Subjects

Talmud Torah Tashbar, an unlicensed haredi school in the Stamford Hill neighborhood of London, operated illegally for 40 years. But now it has been ordered by the British government to close its doors by February 12.

Give African Asylum Seekers Legal Status, Work Permits And Health Insurance, Opposition Bill Says

“If the migrants cannot be deported to their home states, we must give them a legal status and enable them to work and live in dignity. We don’t have to turn them into such a terrible problem as the right [wing] has done. Many places in Israel need working hands, from nursing to farming.”

Haredi Leader Calls For Nationwide Protests Over Arrests Of Haredi Who Incited Against Haredi Soldiers

The arrested haredi men allegedly created pashkvils (wall posters) and pamphlets with the names, photos, home addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and IDF assignments of haredi soldiers and recruiters and who published other similar material depicting haredi soldiers as soul-snatching pigs who entice innocent haredi youths to sin by luring them into the IDF. Haredi soldiers and recruiters received waves of harassing and threatening calls and emails, and some haredi soldiers were harassed in person and physically attacked.

Chief Rabbi Lashes Out At Gender Integrated Grammar Schools

The haredi Sefardi Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef said male and female 9-year-olds cannot be properly educated in together in the same school and doing so is against halakha (Orthodox Jewish law).

Atheists Not Likely to Win Votes, New Study Finds

Open atheists are unlikely to win votes, new research shows, but Jews are a subgroup of Americans who are most likely to vote for an open atheist.

Religious Decline Does Not Equal Moral Decline, New Research Finds

Morality is not rooted in religion and religion matters less for moral values now than it did thirty years ago new research has found.

Academics, Rabbis, Leaders Issue Declaration On Ethics In Jewish Leadership

"Unethical behavior among Jewish leaders has reached crisis levels in the American Jewish community. It seems hardly a week passes without news of yet another scandal involving rabbis, Jewish organizational professionals, or other individuals in leadership positions. These disturbing developments make a mockery of Jewish values, shatter the trust that we have placed in our community’s leaders, and alienate young people from Judaism.…"

Haredi Schools Still Use Corporal Punishment, Ex-Haredim Tell Government

A charity and support group for ex-haredim has warned the British government that corporal punishment is widely used in unregistered haredi schools.

Haredim Protest, Arrests Made, As Haredi Men Who Incited Against Haredi IDF Soldiers Arraigned

Dozens of haredim staged a protest this morning outside the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court where three haredi men who were arrested yesterday for their alleged roles in harassing haredi IDF soldiers were being arraigned.

Report: Secular Soldiers Were Forced To Undergo Religious Brainwashing By IDF Chief Rabbinate

Internal documents distributed by the IDF’s Zionist Orthodox-controlled Chief Rabbinate and the Manpower Department to various IDF units show the IDF’s Jewish Awareness section, which was under the direct control of the rabbis, forced secular Jewish combat soldiers to have monthly “conversations” with IDF rabbis “on the subject of acquaintance with and connection to Jewish heritage, tradition and sources, strengthening the fighting spirit, mission and motivation to serve."

Rivky Stein's RICO Lawsuit Against Recalcitrant Husband, His Family And Business Dismissed

Rivky Stein repeatedly failed to respond to discovery ordered by the court, and yesterday a federal judge tossed out her RICO lawsuit as a result. 

Members Of Marc Gafni's Former Havurah Community Come Out Against Him

Members of ex-rabbi Marc Gafni's Elat Chayyim community come out in support of the change.org petition called Stop Marc Gafni from Abusing Again.

Haredi Health Minister Releases Plan To Legalize Medical Marijuana

Israel’s haredi Minister of Health Rabbi Yaakov Litzman published a plan today to legalize the widespread production and sale of medical marijuana.

Haredi Get Kidnapper-Torturer Gets 7-Year Sentence

Rabbi David Wax was arrested for kidnapping and torturing a recalcitrant husband until the husband agreed to give his wife a Jewish bill of divorce known as a get. Wax later informed on Rabbi Mendel Epstein, leading to Epstein and nine others being arrested for a similar Jewish divorce kidnapping ring. Today, Wax was sentenced in federal court.

IDF’s Jewish Identity Section Taken From Exclusive Control Of Zionist Orthodox Rabbis After Repeated Abuses

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot has moved the IDF’s controversial Jewish Identity Section from the direct control of the IDF’s Chief Rabbinate to the Manpower Directorate in order to "preserve the IDF as a national army in a democratic state” after Zionist Orthodox IDF rabbis repeatedly abused the section to use it to teach highly sectarian religio-political theology.

Police Bust 2 Haredim For Alleged Incitement To Violence Against Haredi IDF Soldiers

The two arrested haredim are accused of violating privacy laws and “insulting public servants in the performance of their duty,” police said in a statement, by publicizing their names and personal contact information in an effort to facilitate harassment of the haredi IDF soldiers and their supporters and to allegedly incite violence against them.

The Brainwasher

"…The first inclination of many observers is to label young people who seek out nativist causes like ISIS or the Hilltop Youth as “crazy,” “lunatics,” or “hormone-laden kids.” But behind this perceived lunacy is a certain philosophy, or a general tendency, that we can trace back to leaders who either taught fundamentalist and nativist philosophies or whose teachings have been interpreted to support violence and terror. One such leader affiliates with the Chabad movement in Israel. His name is Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, and many Hilltop Youth attended the yeshiva Od Yosef Chai [which he founded and] where he serves as president…”

Sullivan County Ends Fight To Block Hasidic Votes

The Sullivan County, New York Board of Elections has ended its fight to disqualify votes cast by newly registered hasidic residents of the tiny village of Bloomingburg.

Report: Israeli Government Accidentally Funded Pro-Price Tag Hate Crime Groups

The Knesset's Transparency Committee has proof that various government ministries “unwittingly” funded groups that promote Jewish “price tag” hate crimes against Christians and Palestinians and which fund illegal West Bank Jewish settler outposts.

Report: 666,000 Israelis Cannot Legally Marry in Israel Due To Jewish Status Issues

The Knesset caucus on Religion and State was told today that there are now 666,000 Israelis who are unable to marry in Israel because they don’t fit into one of the official state-mandated religious categories. Almost all of those people consider themselves to be Jewish but are not Jewish according to halakha (Orthodox Jewish law). 

Kosher Industry PR Flack Argues Medical Marijuana – And Water – Both Need Kosher Supervision

"…I have long learned that even the most benign products like water do need certification because of the complexities of modern mass production. Second, in a generation that is seeking to ingest everything kosher, why not offer the kosher certification, especially if the manufacturer seeks and desires the kosher certification as a marketing tool? …I wonder whether those whose knee-jerk reaction is to mock the kosher certification of a product that on the surface may not require kosher certification are in fact doing a disservice to kosher as a whole.…"

'Modesty' Israeli Haredi-Style: A Court Order Isn't A Court Order – Even Though It Is

For years, the Sefardi haredi mayor of Beit Shemesh, Rabbi Moshe Abutbol, has refused to order city workers to remove illegal gender-segregation and modesty signs posted by haredim. Last year, a court was so fed up with Abutbol's behavior that it fined the city. Abutbol still refused to remove the signs and, because this is Israel where rule of law isn't always followed, nothing happened – until now.

Satmar Continues To Illegally Gender-Segregate Kiryas Joel Park

The Satmar hasidic village of Kiryas Joel's illegally gender-segregated playground is still gender-segregated, as these signs show. The Yiddish sign warns men and women to stay on their respective sides of the park divider and not mingle or stop to talk with the opposite at the park's the dividers. The New York Civil Liberties Union promoted its out of court settlement with Kiryas Joel over this behavior – a settlement FailedMessiah.com immediately said would not hold. And it hasn't – despite NYCLU insistence that it was a good deal that would last. The English sign warns non-residents that the park is private and they are not welcome to use it. Failure to leave could result in an arrest for trespassing. 

In Israel, It’s George Orwell’s 1984 All Over Again

In all of 2015, Israel processed only 909 asylum requests out of the thousands of requests it got. Only two were approved – despite the fact that most African asylum seekers qualify as refugees under the international law Israel is supposed to be using to determine their status.

Alleged Sex Abuser Hasidic Rabbi Allegedly Given South African Citizenship, Diplomatic Immunity

Rabbi Eliezer Berland, the head of the Shuvu Banim Breslov hasidic sect, likely now has “a kind of diplomatic status, making him criminally immune" and is holed up in the sect’s secret compound “somewhere between Midrand and Pretoria." Berland is wanted in Israel for a string of alleged sex assaults against female followers, at least one of whom was only 15 when the alleged assault took place.

Nathan Lewin Spins For The “Prodfather”

Ashkenazi haredi Rabbi Mendel Epstein bragged he would use an electric cattle prod on the genitals of a recalcitrant husband to force him to give his wife a Jewish bill of divorce known as a get. Now Nathan Lewin claims Epstein did no wrong – at least no wrong that deserved FBI intervention.

Do Playgrounds Tell Israel’s Story Of (Dis)Integration?

Israel’s unequal treatment of Palestinians in Jerusalem and other areas was highlighted today when an Israeli court ruled in a case about…playgrounds.

Netanyahu Government Unanimously Approves Twice-Convicted Unrepentant Bribe-Taking Haredi Felon As Interior Minister

If Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government get their way, twice-convicted unrepentant haredi felon Aryeh Deri will be Israel's new Interior Minister. 

Video: Non-Orthodox Israeli Soldiers Will Go To Hell, Even If They're Killed Protecting Israel, Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi Says

Sefardi haredi kiruv (missionary outreach) Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi (also spelled: "Mizrahi") says that even when non-Orthodox Israeli soldiers die in battle protecting Jews, they go directly to hell. To 'prove' this, Mizrachi cites seances done by haredi kabbalists.

Catholic Cemetery In Israel Vandalized In Possible Hate Crime

The Catholic Church issued a statement condemning the most recent vandalism. The Church statement also called on Israel Police to find the attackers and bring them to justice. But the Church noted that police had failed to do so after similar incidents.

Haredim Buy Guns As Top Haredi Rabbis Try To Find Ways To Explain Recent Wave Of Terror And Death

Why are so many haredim victims of terror or suffering other deaths of late? Haredi rabbis try to answer that question.

Iconic Manhattan Modern Orthodox Synagogue Threatens NYC’s Most Prominent Kosher Restauranteur That It Will Have The OU Pull Its Kosher Supervision Unless The Restauranteur Withdraws A $1.8 Million Civil Suit Against It

Lincoln Square Synagogue, the iconic Modern Orthodox Upper West Side congregation founded decades ago by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, allegedly told Joseph Allaham, the owner of Prime Grill and several other high-end kosher eateries in the city, that if he doesn’t withdraw his $1.8 million civil suit against Lincoln Square Synagogue, it will make sure that all of those eateries and their related catering operations lose their Orthodox Union OU Kosher supervision.

Ex-Rabbi Marc Gafni Talks With Advisors About Suing The Forward For Defamation

Ex-rabbi Marc Gafni's alleged affairs (clergy abuse, according to some observers) and his earlier predatory sexual behavior toward two teen girls have put him in the hot seat again after the New York Times published an exposé on Gafni. But now Gafni and his team are talking about suing a publication for defamation to essentially warn other media outlets that writing anything but a fluff piece or praise of Gafni will cost you dearly. How do we know this? Gafni's team mistakenly sent a recording of Gafni's conversation with advisors, including his attorney, to the Forward. And that quickly led to a threat from Gafni's attorney to sue the Forward if it published the recording. The Forward published it anyway.

Haredi City Demolishes Building Because African Asylum Seekers Were Living There

The administration of the City of Bnei Brak, Israel demolished a building in the Pardes Katz neighborhood after it found out the building was being used as housing by African asylum seekers. The demolition was reportedly part of an ongoing plan to force Africans out of the haredi city.

High Court Orders Baby's Immediate “Limited” Autopsy Despite Haredi Riots

Moshe Mizrahi, the 4-month-old grandson of Beit Shemesh’s haredi mayor Rabbi Moshe Abutbol, was buried Thursday night – but not before his body was autopsied against the wishes of his family and the haredi community.

Chief Rabbinate’s Behavior “Inhumane,” Judge Says

“This is a person’s life, we’re talking about very serious matters,” Ben-Or said after first describing the situation many people have found themselves in through no fault of their own: waiting for extended periods of time for the Chief Rabbinate to decide if they are Jewish enough to marry in Israel without the Chief Rabbinate even answering questions regarding the inordinate delays.“It is a right to start a family. I am ashamed that in a functioning state this information cannot be provided. It is an unprecedented scandal. It is not Jewish, and [is] inhumane.”