AMSTERDAM (JTA) – Connoisseurs can find a wide range of products containing cannabis in the Netherlands, where it has long been practically legal: Cannabis popsicles, lollipops, chocolate and soap are but a few of the products available for purchase in the Dutch capital. But don’t expect to have an easy time of it if you’re […]

Despite Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau overcoming corruption allegations and winning re-election last month, he is set to govern with a minority government that will likely include support from parties to the left of his Liberal Party, such as the New Democratic Party (NDP) and the Green Party.
Whether this possible scenario could change the Canada-Israel relationship remains to be seen.

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert described the Shalit deal, in which Israel released more than 1,000 terrorists in exchange for the return of abducted soldier Gilad Shalit, as “a crime” in an interview with Kan 11 television.
“This issue of prisoner exchange – it’s a crime. I have no other word. I was really upset when I saw it,” Olmert said.
He noted the considerations that led him not to make a similar deal when he was Prime Minister. “Let there be no misunderstanding, I really wanted to free Gilad Shalit. But the endurance of a nation is measured precisely in those moments when the national interest stands against this tremendous passion of you wanting to bring your warrior home.”

“We have had more people die in America [from guns] in my lifetime than in every single war combined.” – Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., remarks on ” The View ,” Oct. 30, 2019
“We have had more people die due to gun violence in my lifetime than every single war in this country combined from the Revolutionary War until now.” – Booker, during the third Democratic primary debate, Sept. 12
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This is a favorite line of the 2020 Democratic hopeful, and we have never gotten around to fact-checking it. So we are going to make up for that now.
Our colleagues at PolitiFact have looked a previous iteration of this statement and deemed it “true.” (The Booker campaign defended the statement by referring us to the fact check.)

The dog that assisted in the mission that led to the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi will soon visit the White House, President Trump said Wednesday.
“He’s coming to the White House very soon,” Trump said at a rally in Monroe, La.
“I said, ‘bring him now,’ they said, ‘He’s on a mission.’ I said, ‘You gotta be kidding. Come on, give him couple of days rest, please,'” Trump added.
The dog, Conan, was injured in the U.S. mission that resulted in the ISIS leader’s death last month.
Read more at The Hill.
{Matzav.com}

The Chinese government has released new rules aimed at curbing video game addiction among young people, a problem that top officials believe is to blame for a rise in nearsightedness and poor academic performance across a broad swath of society.
The regulations, announced by the National Press and Publication Administration on Tuesday, ban users younger than 18 from playing games between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. They are not permitted to play more than 90 minutes on weekdays and three hours on weekends and holidays. There is also a policy which only allows $57 to be spent on in game purchases.

Prime Minster Binyamin Netanyahu has offered New Right leader Naftali Bennett a high-ranking place on the Likud list if new elections are held, the Walla news website reported.
Netanyahu met with Bennett and offered him the safe seat as well as a ministerial position and a spot on the Security Cabinet.
Bennett rejected the proposal, as it did not include any other MKs in his party, and was conditional on further elections being held.
Read more at Arutz Sheva.
{Matzav.com}

SAO PAUALO (JTA) – Players for one of Brazil’s most popular soccer teams wore Stars of David on their jerseys to remember Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass. Some 22,000 supporters watched the Corinthians team’s eleven players take the field in uniforms bearing a yellow star embroidered above the club’s emblem and beat Fortaleza by […]

An American Islamic scholar based in Chicago said in a video uploaded to his YouTube channel on Sept. 11, 2019, that the Islamic State (ISIS) is now fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan because “you will always find ISIS in places that are running a Zionist agenda [for] Greater Israel.”
Israel had created ISIS, said Sheikh Omar Baloch, to weaken Muslims by alienating them from ideas like an Islamic state, jihad and Muslim unity, without which he said Islam would not be the same. Showing pictures of ISIS fighters, Baloch said that the weaponry, uniforms and training that ISIS has are evidence that it is trained and armed by Israel, and predicted that Israel will use ISIS to destabilize Pakistan and Kashmir.

SIDI KACEM (AP) – Ivanka Trump says families, communities and countries flourish when women are invested in and included in the economy. President Donald Trump’s daughter and White House adviser saw real life examples in Morocco on Thursday when she met four women who are benefiting from changes that allow them to own land. Ivanka […]