Yiddishe kop, neshama, un mensch. I am not a Jew with trembling knees. Rooted Cosmopolitan. American, and proudly so.
Joined January 2017
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Jacob Ben-David Linker 🇺🇸🕎🇺🇸✡️🇺🇸🕎🇺🇸 retweeted
BREAKING: Brave UNRWA teacher in Gaza speaks out against the culture of death being cultivated in the schools. Teachers around her are “aggressively pushing” ideologies of killing and violence onto their students. (Source: @JusoorNews)
Will @UNLazzarini be held to account?
Jacob Ben-David Linker 🇺🇸🕎🇺🇸✡️🇺🇸🕎🇺🇸 retweeted
This.
Harvard poll of young voters out this week showed enthusiasm to vote *lower* than in recent midterms.
Jacob Ben-David Linker 🇺🇸🕎🇺🇸✡️🇺🇸🕎🇺🇸 retweeted
A new Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry 2025 annual report on reproductive health states that the neonatal mortality rate (meaning deaths within the first 28 days after birth) in 2025 was 9.1/1,000 births. That appears in line with pre-war World Bank data for Gaza and the West Bank, well below the Arab world average, and slightly below the figures for nearby countries like Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt.
However, previous MOH reports place the neonatal mortality rate for Gaza in 2018-2022 at between 6-7/1,000 births. It's not clear what accounts for the discrepancy: the MOH and World bank metrics could be slightly different or the West Bank may simply exhibit higher rates of all of these negative reproductive health metrics (pulling the World Bank figure, which includes both, up). The second explanation is unlikely, however, since the West Bank outperforms Gaza on almost all metrics.
Looking at MOH data alone, there is a clear increase in neonatal mortality between 2022 and 2025. In either case, neonatal mortality remains much higher than the rate in high-income countries, however, including Western countries, the Gulf monarchies, and Israel (2-3/1,000). 🧵
Jacob Ben-David Linker 🇺🇸🕎🇺🇸✡️🇺🇸🕎🇺🇸 retweeted
Fascinating, this is a good sign that conditions were not created to prevent births. Another good sign.
A new Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry 2025 annual report on reproductive health states that the neonatal mortality rate (meaning deaths within the first 28 days after birth) in 2025 was 9.1/1,000 births. That appears in line with pre-war World Bank data for Gaza and the West Bank, well below the Arab world average, and slightly below the figures for nearby countries like Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt.
However, previous MOH reports place the neonatal mortality rate for Gaza in 2018-2022 at between 6-7/1,000 births. It's not clear what accounts for the discrepancy: the MOH and World bank metrics could be slightly different or the West Bank may simply exhibit higher rates of all of these negative reproductive health metrics (pulling the World Bank figure, which includes both, up). The second explanation is unlikely, however, since the West Bank outperforms Gaza on almost all metrics.
Looking at MOH data alone, there is a clear increase in neonatal mortality between 2022 and 2025. In either case, neonatal mortality remains much higher than the rate in high-income countries, however, including Western countries, the Gulf monarchies, and Israel (2-3/1,000). 🧵
Jacob Ben-David Linker 🇺🇸🕎🇺🇸✡️🇺🇸🕎🇺🇸 retweeted
SCOOP: The State Dept has started asking career diplomats up for promotion if they voted for Trump in 16, 20, 24.
Federal law prohibits politically based hiring for career staff.
State tells @washingtonsun it's screening for "fidelity" and execution of the president's vision👇
Jacob Ben-David Linker 🇺🇸🕎🇺🇸✡️🇺🇸🕎🇺🇸 retweeted
באופן חריג: ישראל השיבה היום לעזה באמצעות הצלב האדום את גופתו של תושב הרצועה שמת בישראל בנסיבות לא ידועות כשהיה עצור שבוע לאחר 7 באוקטובר 2023, בתום מאבק משפטי שניהלה משפחתו באמצעות ארגון "גישה". לפי הארגון, רג'אא סמור עבד בהיתר בישראל ונעצר לאחר ה-7.10 כמו עזתים אחרים ששהו -->
The Arabs in the State of Israel are tremendously opposed to the idea of being put under Palestinian leaders’ rule because they don’t want to live in an authoritarian dump.
The Palestinian Authority, Gaza, and sovereign Israel are also three cantons de facto.
Since yesterday, Daniel Klein, professor of economics at George Mason University and Juan Cole, professor of history at the University of Michigan and the editor of Informed Comment, have signed our petition endorsing a Federal Israel Palestine based on the Swiss canton model.
petitions.com/statement_of_s…
Jacob Ben-David Linker 🇺🇸🕎🇺🇸✡️🇺🇸🕎🇺🇸 retweeted
Arabs from Awarta attempted to burn down the grave of Elazar Hacohen (Ahrons' son) located in their village.
Question: If they are the "real Jews", as some people online here claim, why are they burning down an ancient Jewish grave?
The Muslims got into Iberia because some Visigothic Christian Princes invited them in so as to get a leg up in their own internal squabbles.
Spanish Christians later blamed the Jews.
The extreme majority of Palestinians (93% to 94%) aren't denied regular access to their olive groves.
Restrictions currently apply only to 16% of Olive Groves in Area C, which only has 37% to 43% of groves (5% to 6% of all Palestinian groves). All are near settlements or bases.
This affects about 0.6% to 1.2% of West Bank Palestinians.
There are about 80,000 to 110,000 Palestinian families involved in olive cultivation. Average household size per the UN is 4.6 to 4.8 people, so that's 368,000 to 528,000 people. Israeli restrictions on 6% to 7% of lands thus affect about 22,000 to 37,000 people.
This is out of a total West Bank population of 3.2 million to 3.4 million.
If you're one of the people affected by the restrictions, you understandably find it unfair, annoying, and unduly burdensome. If you're an outsider you can agree with that.
On the whole these restrictions are a small thing though which have just taken on a lot of symbolic importance. They're a regular talking point for activists and the always-burgeoning industry of conflict-tourists because there's a near-universal romance to small farmers and because it's a very visible thing in the locales where it's an issue.
I made an error. The percentage is still very small though.
xitter.cf/JacobALinker/status/21…
I made an error. The 16% figure is for ALL Palestinian olive groves in the WB (per the Palestinians) and not just in Area C. Israelis claim it is 10%.
84% to 90% of Palestinian family farms have regular access to their olive groves.
Restrictions affect 1.1% to 2.6% of WB Pals.
The extreme majority of Palestinians (93% to 94%) aren't denied regular access to their olive groves.
Restrictions currently apply only to 16% of Olive Groves in Area C, which only has 37% to 43% of groves (5% to 6% of all Palestinian groves). All are near settlements or bases.
This affects about 0.6% to 1.2% of West Bank Palestinians.
There are about 80,000 to 110,000 Palestinian families involved in olive cultivation. Average household size per the UN is 4.6 to 4.8 people, so that's 368,000 to 528,000 people. Israeli restrictions on 6% to 7% of lands thus affect about 22,000 to 37,000 people.
This is out of a total West Bank population of 3.2 million to 3.4 million.
If you're one of the people affected by the restrictions, you understandably find it unfair, annoying, and unduly burdensome. If you're an outsider you can agree with that.
On the whole these restrictions are a small thing though which have just taken on a lot of symbolic importance. They're a regular talking point for activists and the always-burgeoning industry of conflict-tourists because there's a near-universal romance to small farmers and because it's a very visible thing in the locales where it's an issue.
Jacob Ben-David Linker 🇺🇸🕎🇺🇸✡️🇺🇸🕎🇺🇸 retweeted
Drop Site propaganda once again using internet troll and disgraced predator, Shaiel, as source to claim Hamas didn’t “execute” children, using such narrow definitions and wordplay, Shaiel excludes the Bibas Children saying they “survived October 7.”
I would compare it to the issue of H-2 in Hebron. It's objectively a really onerous and restrictive situation there with far greater burdens than any place else in the territories.
But the UN said in 2022 that just 7,000 Palestinians lived in closed or restricted areas of H-2.
That's really tiny! H-2 as a whole has 35,000 to 40,000 people, Hebron City has 200,000 people, and the Hebron metro area has 700,000 people. H-2's affected areas aren't representative of H-2 as a whole, and H-2 isn't representative of Hebron or its metro area as a whole. And none of this is really representative of the West Bank as a whole.
And yet the heavily restricted part of H-2 where 0.2% of Palestinians live becomes a routine stop for journalists, activists, and conflict tourists who want to "see the occupation for themselves" even though it's remarkably unrepresentative of the situation as a whole.
unrwa.org/sites/default/file…
Nadav’s solution is to have Shasnik Haredim do Chabad-style promotion of Tefillin to fellow Jews.
קטע טוב אתאלי. באמת. אבל יש לך פה מחסור בדמיון. ובחסדי השם נחה עליי הרוח ואם תקרא עד הסוף תבין איך התפילין של אריה דרעי יפתרו את סוגיית הגיוס. כולה.
עוד לפני כן - מישהו צריך לפקח על סופרי הסת"ם כי חלילה יתגלה פגם בתפילין, משהו שלעולם לא קורה כמובן, ואז יהיה אסון גדול. לכן צריך 20 שסניקים במנהלת שיפקחו על הסופרים, וצריך גם משגיחים מיוחד שיפקחו על העורות, כי זה כבר לא עסק פרטי, זו המדינה, וחס וחלילה שנכשיל את הרבים.
ולדעתי אתה גם לוקה בדמיון. ילד יהודי חילוני לא יודע מה זה תפילין. פשוט תזרוק עליו? לא. צריך להביא לבתי ספר מערכי שיעור מיוחדים וצוות הוראה של חינוך שיסביר לילדים מה זה שמע ישראל. זו לא מצווה? זה לא הכרחי? תאר לעצמך שיעשו עם התפילין מחסום לדלת.
ולכן אפשר לגייס שסניקים לשירות לאומי תפילין. יש בארץ מיליוני תלמידים. לא ראוי שיגייסו לשירות לאומי תפילין 10,000 תלמידי ישיבות ש"ס בשנה ? כדי לחנך לתפילין הם צריכים להמשיך ללמוד בישיבה. יעלה על הדעת שיפסיקו ללמוד ? ההפך. אם כי פעם בחודש הם יתרמו לציבור בזה שיעבירו סדנת תפילין בבית ספר. לא בגיל 13. זה יתחיל בגיל 11. מה לעשות, חילונים צריכים המון הכנה. הם לא יודעים כלום.
כאן מגיעה הפשרה ההיסטורית. זה שירות לאומי. איזו מתיקות, פשרנות של ש"ס; הבשורה הדובשנית.
שימו לב! בשירות לאומי מקבלים הטבות כמו חיילים בצה"ל. ומשכורות. בגלל שבחור ישיבה הוא *גם* בחור ישיבה וגם חונך תפילין - הוא לא יקבל כסף כמו מתנחלת שהולכת לשירות לאומי? הוא צריך לקבל גם וגם. גם קצבאות כבחור ישיבה, וגם כחייל בצה"ל.
ואם יסרבו לכפל קצבאות זה רע מאוד. על גופתו המתה של דרעי. זו אפליה נגד חרדים ספרדים.
והנה פתרתי לך את כל משבר הגיוס. אני קורא לזה לוחם תפילין.
וכך רבותיי, התפילין שהצילו את עם ישראל 3000 שנה יצילו את תלמידי הישיבה משמד של גיוס לצה"ל+קצבאות וכסף וג'ובים + לא לסכן אף בחור ישיבה ולא לבטל תורה+ אף אחד לא ייצא לעבודה.
*הכל בהפרדה בין בנים לבנות
**נדרשת כשרות בדץ הבית יוסף בכל ביהס ממלכתי בו מועבר מערך התפילין
***מסיים תיכון לא יכול לקבל תעודת בגרות ללא סיום סדנת תפילין.
****תוספת סיכון מיוחדת להוראת תפילין מעבר לקו הירוק, ביישובי קו עימות בצפון, בדרום ובמרכז
*****תיקבע נוסחה מיוחדת בין הזרמים האורתודוקסים לחלוקת מכסות לוחמי התפילין.
******יוקמו חדרי תפילין בכל בתי הספר להוראה (אי אפשר להכניס בחורי ישיבות לכתה רגילה עם כל התועבה על הקירות, נניח צילום של המשוררת רחל. משרד החינוך יקצה תקציב בינוי צנוע של 4.7 מיליארד ש"ח לתוספת הכתות. יהיו מכרזים ברשויות מקומיות. על הביצוע ימונה משרד הפנים. בשליטת ש"ס