Rubin Schron, Orthodox Jewish Real Estate Mogul offers $2B for Empire State Building

New York - An attorney for a high-profile New York City real-estate mogul has made a $2B offer to buy the Empire State Building in a letter sent to the firm currently controlling the national landmark.

The REAL DEAL is reporting that, in a letter sent to the controlling firm Malkin Holdings on Tuesday, Stephen Meister, an attorney representing Rubin Schron and Cammeby’s International, said Schron is offering to put down a $50M non-refundable deposit upon receipt of a signed agreement, and hopes to close within 90 days.

Schron also pitched a a re-structuring option that would allow current owners to retain partial ownership of the building.

The proposal comes on the heels of a vote last month which saw a required 80% of the tower’s current investors approve the creation of a publicly traded trust for it and 20 other buildings.

Some reports estimate the tower’s worth at as much as $2.5B.

The Real Deal

Michelle Obama and her daughters visit Berlin Wall, Holocaust memorial

First lady Michelle Obama and her daughters toured some of Berlin's most iconic sites on Wednesday as President Obama prepared to make a major speech at the Brandenburg Gate. 

The first family landed in the German capital on Tuesday evening to a red carpet and honor guard welcome.

Barack Obama's half sister, Auma Obama, who lived in Germany for many years, joined Michelle, Malia and Sasha as they paid respects at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and visited a remaining segment of the Berlin Wall.

TWA Flight 800 Investigators Claim the Official Crash Story Is a Lie

A new film claims the official government report on the crash of TWA Flight 800 in 1996 is an elaborate fabrication, but the most shocking part of the story is that charges are being leveled by some of the very investigators who put the report together. 

Six experts who appear in the film were members of the National Transportation Safety Board investigation team that concluded the crash was an accident, but they now claim they were silenced by their superiors. The movies, "TWA Flight 800" will debut on EPIX TV next month, on the 17-year anniversary of the crash.

TWA Flight 800 was en route from JFK Airport in New York to Paris, France, when it exploded and crashed off the coast of Long Island, killing all 230 people on board. From the very beginning, there were some who speculated that the plane was the victim of a terrorist attack, leading the FBI to conduct its own criminal investigation. 

Among the possibilities that were suggested as the cause were a bomb in the cargo hold, or an anti-aircraft missile. Several witnesses even claimed they saw an object or streak of light that looked liked a missile or rocket moving toward the plane before it exploded.

The final NTSB reported said that faulty wiring connected to a central fuel tank caused a blast that destroyed the fuesalage, however, there were still many skeptics and conspiracy theorists who have long doubted that official story. 

In one particularly famous example, Pierre Salinger, a former Press Secretary for President John Kennedy and reporter for ABC News, claimed he'd seen proof that the U.S. Navy shot down the plane and then covered it up.

Now, those theories are likely to get a new airing, thanks to accident investigators who worked on the TWA 800 case, but say they were not allowed to speak up at the time of the official report. 

The experts include NTSB and TWA accident investigators, who say they are only able to speak up now that they are retired. According their statements in the film, they believe the official explanation is wrong and the damage was caused by an explosion that came from outside the plane.

The filmmakers won't speculate on what could have caused such an explosion, and haven't yet offered up evidence to support their theory (you'll have to watch on July 17), but they are asking the NTSB to re-open the investigation. Whether or not that happens, or even if a follow-up reaches the same conclusions as the original, this new film will ensure that the alternate theories and claims up a cover will probably never be put to rest.

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Egyptian politician revives Passover blood libel

Anti-Semitic speech is alive and well in the Arab world, as recent televised examples highlighted and translated this week by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

In one instance, Egyptian politician Khaled Zaafrani, during a May 12 interview on al-Hafez TV, a Salafist Egyptian station, makes a series of anti-Semitic statements seemingly culled directly from the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”

“It is the Jews who have instigated wars in the world,” said Zaafrani, who founded a obscure political party that broke away from the Muslim Brotherhood in the years before the 2011 revolution. He blamed “the Jews” for World War I and World War II and added that they “cannot live without wars, conspiracies, deceit and deception” and will “not seek or uphold peace.”

Zaafrani, smiling eagerly, then said that “it is well-known that during Passover they make matzos called the ‘Blood of Zion.’ They take a Christian child, slit his throat, and slaughter him…they never forgo this rite.”

When asked by the show’s host if the Jews still do this, Zaafrani responded “absolutely” and then repeated a story, based on the infamous Damascus blood libel of 1840, of how a group of Jews killed a kindly Christian priest in order to use his blood for Passover matzos because “they didn’t have any children available.”

“When this subject is raised,” he noted in closing, “the Jews consider it to be a problem, just like the problem of Hitler and the Holocaust.”

The Zaafrani interview was one of several clips showing televised anti-Semitic statements by Egyptian public figures uploaded this week by MEMRI.

Another recent example from elsewhere in the Arab world comes from the Syrian TV show “Khaybar,” a historical drama which aims to show the struggles of the early Muslims with the Jews of Arabia. Yusri al-Jindy, the writer of “Khaybar,” told Egyptian newspaper al-Masry al-Youm earlier this year that ”the goal of the series is to expose the naked truth about the Jews and stress that they cannot be trusted.”

In the excerpts, a group of Jewish elders are shown plotting to instigate discord among the Muslim Arab tribes of the region. In several scenes, it is shown how the Jews profit from warfare and strife and plan to hire mercenaries to carry out their schemes.

Later, when a noble Arab prisoner refuses to murder women and children and burn down a village in order to be set free, the Jews end up doing the deed themselves, while wearing masks.

“Khaybar” is scheduled to be broadcast throughout the Muslim world during the month of Ramadan celebrations, which began June 9.

Israeli diplomat's family flees anti-Semitism in Cyprus

An Israeli diplomat serving in Cyprus was left with no choice but to cut her mission two years short after her 15-year-old son found himself the target of ostracization at school because he was a Jew and Israeli. 

The situation ended with bullies punching him, kicking him, and shocking him on the back with an electric shocker.

The diplomat had already served in the Israeli consulate in Nicosia for two years, when one of her sons enrolled in a local private school became the target of intense ostracization by other kids in his class, led by a Palestinian classmate.

  

The situation developed quickly into violence. During a soccer game, the Palestinian boy initiated fisticuffs. About two weeks later, the diplomat’s son went out to the city’s center, where he as approached by a group of bullies looking for “the Israeli.” The Palestinian pointed him out, and the group attacked. 

They beat him, kicked him and even shocked him with an electric shocker on the back.

A Turkish friend who was with the Israeli boy managed to help him flee to a nearby kiosk.

“My son returned home with his face covered in blood. He was frightened, crying and hysterical. I almost fainted from the sight,” the diplomat said.

The mother quickly filed a complaint with police. Cyprus law enforcement was cooperative, and arrested the boys who appeared on security cameras. They confiscated the electric shocker and remanded the boys, who will be tried for their actions.

The Israeli boy remains traumatized. Since the incident, he is afraid to go to school, and has nightmares. After consulting with the Foreign Ministry, the family decided to shorten their overseas mission, and return home.

“What is important to me is what is good for my son. After speaking with professionals, we decided it was best for us is to return to the family. You must understand that as diplomats, we are under personal and security dangers.”

The Foreign Ministry worker’s union responded to the situation: “This shows the many challenges which face diplomatic families. 

In our current situation we want to ensure good service conditions to those on missions outside of the country, with the understanding that this is not only made up of the private individual, but also by the family effort, and the willingness to sacrifice in every sense.”

Ex-Defense Minister Moshe Arens: Israel can get by without US security aid

A legislative caucus created to educate Israeli lawmakers to the basic realities of the American system of government was launched on Tuesday in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. 

Although a discussion of whether the United States should reduce its financial support for Israel seems like a strange subject for a group that seeks to foster bilateral relations, Israeli lawmakers representing seven political parties and a former American ambassador to Israel did just that as they celebrated the launch of the new Knesset Caucus on Israel-US Relations.

“We may be reaching a point that after discussion of how to assure the security and intelligence cooperation (between the US and Israel), we can actually phase out the security assistance,” former US Ambassador Dan Kurtzer told The Media Line. “It represents a very small part of Israel’s GDP. Israel needs access to the technology and needs assurances that R-and-D and other join projects will continue, but standing on its own two feet may be healthy for Israel.”

Support came from Moshe Arens, a former minister of defense, who also served as Israel’s Ambassador to Washington. Arens reminded the assembled parliamentarians and representatives of American Jewish organizations present that there was a time when US aid to Israel made up more than 20% of Israel’s GDP, while today it represents only 1.5% of the total budget.

“We love to get it, and our finance minister would probably kill me if he heard me say this, but we could get along without it,” Arens said. The United States is going through a financial crisis with debts in the trillions of dollars. We would be unhappy to find that aid is being cut but we could survive without it.”

By the same token, Knesset member Nachman Shai of the Labor party, who is the initiator of the caucus, disagreed.

“We do need the three billion dollars a year for defense and military purposes because we are still in a terrible arms race,” he told The Media Line. “If we want to maintain our qualitative edge over our enemies, the only way is to rely on America. At least in the next ten years I can see Israel totally dependent on America for this.”

In 1987, the US assistance package was created with an annual allocation of $1.8 billion in economic aid and $1.2 billion in military aid. In his first term in office in the late 1990s, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu agreed to gradually relinquish economic aid at a rate of $120 million per year over a 10-year period while military aid grew to its current level of $3 billion a year, almost three-quarters of which must be spent in the United States on the acquisition of American defense equipment, services and training.

Despite the close alliance between the two nations, many on both sides believe that there are still fundamental misunderstandings about each other’s governments. The caucus had actually been formed during the previous government headed by Ronit Tirosh, who represented a party no longer in the Knesset. Following her exit, Jay Ruderman, the president of the Ruderman Family Foundation, approached Nachman Shai.

“I’ve been living in Israel for seven years and as I got to meet Knesset members and government ministers, I realized they didn’t understand the American Jewish community,” Ruderman told The Media Line.

He also said that the generation of American Jews who remember Israel’s early history as an embattled nation, is being replaced by a younger generation with a different perspective.

“The connection of the younger generation with Israel is changing,” Ruderman said. “They are more integrated into American society. If that relationship is changing, Israeli leaders have to be aware of those changes because they will impact the relationship.”

Nachman Shai, who has extensive experience with the American Jewish community, said many of his fellow lawmakers don’t have a clue about the United States or its Jewish community.

“I think there is a deep lack of information and understanding of America,” Shai told The Media Line. “I think I can use my knowledge to deepen their understanding and knowledge of the political system there; the culture of the US; and the Jewish community there.

The Ruderman Family Foundation has already sent two delegations of Knesset members to the United States to learn about the American Jewish community. However, some of those who participated with the foundation are no longer members of parliament following the January election which saw 48-new faces sweep into the 120-member legislative body.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Ofir Akunis told The Media Line of his experience as a participant with the Ruderman Family Foundation delegation. “Such visits are, in my opinion, the best way to build and support the mutual understanding between our nations.”

Among the caucus’s first time lawmakers is Rabbi Dov Lipman of the Yesh Atid party, an immigrant from the state of Maryland who had to give up his American citizenship in order to become a member of the Israeli parliament.

“I’ve only been in the Knesset four and a half months,” Lipman told The Media Line. “I can definitely say that in terms of the misinformation about Israel, there is a lack of education here in terms of what we need to do in order to better portray ourselves in the (American) national arena.”

Along with all of the positive sentiment, some of the tensions in the US-Israeli relationship were also on display.

“What happens when there are differences of opinion between partners and allies?” former Defense Minister Arens asked. “If the subject at issue is of vital importance to one of the partners in the alliance, the other partner will defer. 

The issue of Judea and Samaria, of Israel’s borders, is of vital importance to the State of Israel. It’s not of vital importance to the US,” Arens said using the Biblical names for land Israel acquired in the 1967 war and remain the primary bone of contention between Israel and the Arab nations.

Kurtzer spoke to the American side of the issue, explaining how pressure to reduce spending, which makes foreign assistance a natural target for trimming the US budget, can arguably be expected to affect Israel. 

He suggested to The Media Line that while so far Israel has been immune from the cutbacks resulting when “the American population sees their lifestyle declining...It is part of our dialogue to focus on areas where Israel has significant requirements and give back something to the US in budgetary distress.”

In Shai’s estimation, “We have three or four years for this. At the end of this Knesset term I can tell you whether it worked or didn’t work. We have a lot of work to do.”

Monsey - Sex offender, Shumel Dym in jail for breaking parole

Shumel Dym, 32, of Monsey was sentenced to six months in the county jail on June 13 for violating his probationary sentence. He had refused to take sex offender remediation classes and meet other conditions of his probation.

Dym has been classified as a Level 2 sex offender based on his admission in court that he improperly touched an 8-year-old boy between May 2010 and July 2011, and a 6-year-old boy between September 2010 and July 2011. He was sentenced to 10 years probation.

He is appealing, contending Judge William Kelly should have allowed him to withdraw his guilty plea. 

The judge told Dym he’d face state prison if he violated his probation.

Paul Mannina, Labor Department attorney dies inside D.C. jail

WASHINGTON — A U.S. Department of Labor lawyer who was accused of a home invasion at a co-worker's home has been found dead in his cell at the D.C. Jail.

The Department of Corrections said in a statement that 58-year-old Paul Mannina of Ashton, Md., was found unresponsive on the bunk in his cell early Tuesday. The cause of death is under investigation.

Mannina had been in jail since last week. He was charged with attacking a co-worker at her northwest Washington home. According to court documents, the woman told police Mannina had a "crush" on her and that he used a stun gun on her during the attack. 

He was charged with first-degree burglary while armed and third-degree sexual abuse.

Mannina worked at the Labor Department's Division of Plan Benefits Security.

FBI, NYPD Release new video in 2008 Times Sq. offer $65K to bust bike bomber

Manhattan, NY - Authorities are trying to generate leads in the 2008 bombing at a Times Square military recruitment station with new video footage and a higher reward.

On Tuesday, authorities released videos of the bomber riding a blue bicycle to the scene on March 6, 2008. The bike was later recovered in a trash bin.

The FBI and the New York Police Department also are now offering a $65,000 reward.

No one was injured in the attack, but Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the bomber narrowly missed killing or wounding bystanders.

Officials say the suspect and possible accomplices may be connected to earlier bombings at the British and Mexican consulates.

Pearl Perry Reich: The Hasidic Hottie Tells All

Meet Pearl Perry Reich. She comes to the studio to talk to Dr. Gluck about her transition from a Hasidic subservient wife to an outspoken critic of the orthodox religion. While still in her early twenties, she managed to leave what she called the "cult" of Hasidic Judaism, but it wasn't easy. She went through a contentious custody battle for her four kids, and her former community ostracized her. In addition to being a model, Pearlperry is now on a crusade to spill the dirt on Hasidism and help others who are in her situation. 

Follow her @PearlperryReich

Sharon Stone visits Jerusalem hospital

A day after landing in Israel as part of 90th birthday celebrations for President Shimon Peres, actress Sharon Stone visited Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center to visit sick children in the hospital’s different departments. 

The visit was supposed to take an hour, but lasted longer than expected due to Stone's desire to meet privately with every child.

  

Stone, a known AIDS activist, came as a guest of Professor Dan Engelhard, head of Pediatrics Infectious Diseases and in charge of treatment of AIDS infected children, who developed an integrative method to treat HIV-positive children in Israel and abroad. This was the third time that Stone had visited the Israeli hospital, and this time she also met the medical staff and clowns.

The star was greeted by the Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization, and spent a long hour with the children, hugging and talking with them.

At a press conference held at the hospital, Stone said she loves Israel, "Peace is like a marriage, as it is between Jews and Palestinians. 

Better to see married people hugging and kissing and enjoying their children and grandchildren than couples whose lives are miserable and they waste their time in wars and fights. 

That is the coward's way. We could have peace now if we do not make mistakes, but there are always mistakes in life. "

Stone will participate on Tuesday evening at the festivities honoring Peres on his 90th birthday, along with other international stars including Barbra Streisand and Robert De Niro.

Bill Clinton at Kotel: 'Eye Opening Experience'

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, in Jerusalem for the 90th birthday celebration of Israeli President Shimon Peres, visited the Western Wall and expressed “continued admiration” for Jewish heritage.

Clinton prayed, placed a note in the Kotel, and toured the Western Wall tunnels.

He was also given a warm welcome by Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch.

  

"I love this place,” Clinton said.

“Here we see the many different lives that have been in Jerusalem through the different periods.”

“There are layers to each period and each layer represents a world of life," he said.

After the visit the President wrote in the visitors book, and expressed his appreciation and gratitude for his "amazing visit to this place that continues to be an eye opening experience."

Clinton is one of an array of celebrities, politicians and public figures are in Jerusalem to take part in Israeli President Shimon Peres's 90th birthday celebrations to be held later on Tuesday.

Israeli Planes Missile-Proofed with C-MUSIC

For the first time, an El Al plane has been outfitted with a C-MUSIC system to protect it against shoulder-fired missiles. The plane, a Boeing 737, conducted test flights with the new system in place.

  

The MUSIC DIRCM systems are to be installed in every civilian plane traveling to a high-risk area.

Arkia and Israir planes will get C-MUSIC systems as well.

Several terrorist groups have threatened to fire missiles at Israeli planes in recent years. 

Terrorists in Sinai are a particular concern, as they are known to have armed themselves with man-portable air-defense systems.

In 2002 terrorists tried to shoot down an Israeli plane in Kenya using surface-to-air missiles.

Image of ‘Nazi’ Yair Lapid appears on web

The protests against Finance Minister Yair Lapid and against the State Budget Bill which was passed Monday have gone viral: Tuesday morning the country woke to find a picture of Lapid as Hitler, mustached and in Nazi uniform. Under the image, which also included dollar signs, a caption read, “Enemy of the Israeli economy.”

Members of Yesh Atid turned to the relevant Knesset authorities, following the image’s publication, and Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino ordered the head of investigations to look into the incident.

  

Party MKs expressed shock at the picture, labeling it incitement: "It seems we have not learned anything. We must stop this craziness before disaster occurs."

  

Condemnations of the image came Tuesday from all sides of the political spectrum. Within the opposition, calls continued scrutiny of Lapid in matters of economic measures, while at the same time, distancing themselves from the image, saying it was going down a dangerous track.

Also on Tuesday, police were investigating the appearance of a swastika painted on a building in Bat Yam with the tag, “Peres shame on you.”

NY - RCA Slams Rav Ovadia Yosef For Criticism Of Rabbi Stav

The Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) is standing by Rabbi David Stav and slamming Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who called him "evil."

In a letter published Monday night, the organization's leaders, on behalf of more than 1,000 members, expressed their "encouragement and support" for the moderate chief rabbi candidate, while harshly criticizing Shas' spiritual leader for lashing out at him during his weekly sermon on Saturday night.

"We trembled upon hearing the terrible things Rabbi Ovadia Yosef said in regards to his honor," RCA President Shmuel Goldin and Vice President Leonard Matanky wrote in Hebrew to Rabbi Stav, "and also when we heard of the events in Bnei Brak at the wedding of the daughter of Rabbi Rabinowitz," referring to a verbal and physical assault on Stav by ultra-Orthodox teens Sunday evening.

This is the most significant support Stav has received so far following the attacks against him, as the RCA is the largest organization of Orthodox rabbis in America.

'Woe to his rabbi who taught him Torah'

The letter praised Rabbi Stav, quoting Chazal (our Sages of Blessed Memory): "Look at how pleasant his ways are, how proper his deeds are."

Yet in regards to Rabbi Yosef, the US rabbis quoted contradicting statements: "Is this Torah and are these its scholars? Woe to so-and-so who learned Torah, woe to his father who taught him Torah, woe to his rabbi who taught him Torah. So-and-so who learned Torah—look at how destructive his deeds are, and how ugly his ways are."

They concluded by telling Stav that they were grateful for everything he had done "for the good of all the people of Israel, the Land of Israel and the State of Israel." They said they expected to work with him for many years "to expand and glorify the Torah, and to bring hearts closer to our Father in Heaven."

During his weekly sermon on Saturday night, Rabbi Yosef said that Stav, chairman of the national-religious rabbinical association Tzohar, was "an evil man" and that appointing him to the Chief Rabbinate was like bringing idolatry into the Temple.

"I don't know Stav, I don't know this man, I haven't seen him, but all his friends the National Religious Party leaders come to me and say: 'Beware, this man is a danger to Judaism…' People in his party testified that this man is a danger to Judaism, a danger to the Rabbinate, a danger to Torah – and I should keep silent? They want to make him a chief rabbi? This man unworthy of anything! Can they do such a thing?"

The Tzohar rabbinical association issued a statement a harsh statement in response, referring to Rabbi Yosef's remarks as "incitement" and calling on him to "repent and ask for forgiveness after humiliating a person in public."

Prominent religious-Zionist Rabbi Chaim Druckman told Ynet that Rabbi Yosef had gone too far and that he was "extremely shocked by the blatant remarks" against Rabbi Stav.

Attack during wedding

The battle against Rabbi Stav escalated on Sunday evening when he was attacked during the wedding of Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz's daughter.

Rabbi Stav arrived at the wedding and was even seated on the dignitaries' stage alongside other rabbis, but when he got up to join the dancing circle, several haredi teens tried to get him to trip and kept swearing at him, calling him "evil" and "abomination."

When he turned to leave the banquet hall they continued to harass him, shoving him and splashing water.

Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman, whose faction announced its support for Rabbi Stav as chief rabbi, said in response to the attack: "We expect a spiritual leadership, regardless of its outlook, to condemn decisively – and certainly not encourage – harm caused to a another religious leader."

According to Lieberman, "It's a shame that as part of a political race, and certainly for the position of chief rabbi, there are those leading the public to such dark corners. The Torah has 70 faces, and not a single one of them is of violence and incitement by one rabbi against another rabbi."