Israel’s national anthem “Hatikvah” was played in an Abu Dhabi arena on Saturday after Alon Leviev, 17, took home the gold in the junior category at the Ju-jitsu World Championship.
Leviev, who competed in the 55-kilogram-and-under weight category, beat an athlete from Abu Dhabi in the final round of the competition, according to The Times of Israel. Following the medal distribution, “Hatikvah” was blasted in the arena.
After the medal ceremony, Leviev wrote on Instagram, “For me it was very special to compet [sic] here in Abu dhabi, leave politics behind and do what we love to do. Amazing feeling to sing the israeli national anthem in Abu dhabi. It was great experience and im looking forword [sic] for the next year.”

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, criticized Vermont Senator and presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders on Sunday, excoriating the senator’s proposal to ‘leverage’ US military aid to Israel.
Speaking at a gala event held by the Zionist Organization of America in New York City Sunday evening, Danon mocked Sanders references to his brief stint working on a kibbutz, and accusing the senator of ignorance on Middle East issues.
“Mr. Sanders, a few months on a kibbutz in 1963 can only teach you so much,” Danon said, according to the Jewish Insider.

CZECHOSLOVAKIA (Czech News Agency) – Prague will remove the sett pavement cobblestones from several streets in the city’s center made from old Jewish gravestones during the communist era and return them to the Jewish community, the City Hall and the Technical Road Administration (TSK) representatives agreed today. The Jewish community, who initiated the project, will […]

[COMMUNICATED]
In today’s increasingly complex business environment, it is imperative to be aware of halachic issues relating to running a business. Topics like employing Jewish employees, ribbis, or making profits on Shabbos are just a few examples of subjects one can run into on a daily basis.
Last year, the Midwest Agudah created a Business Halacha Summit, an event that was met with an outpouring of positive feedback. In response to the popular request, this year’s Summit has been expanded to include tracks for those in the medical and legal fields as well, and accordingly, the name of the event has been changed to the H3 Summit.

As rockets fell on southern and central Israel last week, a team of U.S. firefighters worked side by side with their Israeli counterparts to extinguish brush and building fires, and deal with other emergencies.
The U.S. firefighters are part of the Emergency Volunteer Project (EVP), which trains U.S. firefighters and medical personnel, and then deploys them to Israel in times of need.
However, according to EVP Emergency Deployment Director Eitan Charnoff, they were already in the country when the flare-up in hostilities between Israel and Gaza-based terrorist groups broke out.
“They were originally deployed because of anticipated high winds later in the week,” said Charnoff. ”We were fortunate to have them here given the unexpected rocket attacks.”

A number of Jewish WhatsApp news accounts have been closed down and banned by the app’s administration.
The shutdown, which has not affected Matzav.com, was done without warning. Belaaz News has been affected and is now non-operational.
It is not yet clear what the reason was for the closure blitz, but emails requesting an explanation stated that there was an excessive number of complaints regarding the accounts.
Many people are questioning this explanation and the claim that so many complaints about so many accounts occurred at the same time.
The nature of the complaints and the identities of those who submitted them are unknown.
{Matzav.com Newscenter}

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump summoned Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to the White House on Monday to discuss the economy and interest rates — issues on which Trump has repeatedly attacked the Fed. The Fed said in a statement that Powell’s message Monday to Trump was similar to his congressional testimony last week, […]

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a surprise military drill in northern Israel on Monday, warning local residents to expect increased troop and vehicle movements in the area, as well as sirens and the sound of explosions.
According to the IDF, reserve forces have been called up for the drill, which will test “the Northern Command’s readiness and operational capabilities” by simulating an attack on Israel by Iran, Syria or Lebanon.

GAZA CITY (AP) – Relatives of a Palestinian freelance photographer said Sunday that he has lost vision in one eye after apparently being struck by Israeli fire while covering a demonstration last week in the occupied West Bank. Muath Amarneh’s case has drawn significant attention among Palestinians and in several Arab countries, with journalists voicing […]

“Once the Siyum seats are gone, they are gone,” Rabbi Shlomo Gertzulin, Executive VP of The Siyum told us this morning. “There are only limited seats available, and many sections are already completely reserved. Once the remaining seats sell out, it will just be too late. Please, don’t wait any longer to get your seats, so you will not be disappointed.”

Some of us like waiting till the last minute, well, guess what? – IT IS THE LAST MINUTE!