Many students at a university in Tehran have openly avoided walking over US and Israeli flags in an apparent show of defiance again the Iranian government. Video shows the students walking around, rather than across, the flags at Shahid Beheshti University campus. The flags were painted on the ground so that those walking along the route would thereby insult both countries – which Iran considers staunch enemies. Watch in the second video below what happens when Iranians walk on the Israeli and American flags (most likely of the regime’s IRGC Basij members): They are booed & people begin chanting: “Shame on you!” Thousands of protesters chanting anti-government slogans have taken to the streets after Iran’s military admitted it had mistakenly downed a passenger plane.

Israeli intelligence helped the US to pinpoint the location of Quds Force leader Qassem Soleimani before he was eliminated by a US airstrike in Iraq last Friday, NBC News reported on Saturday night. The report added that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who spoke to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo before the US drone attack, was probably the only world leader who knew about the strike before it happened. Israel intelligence confirmed the exact departure time of Soleimani’s flight from Damascus to Baghdad. Soleimani traveled on a commercial plane rather than a private plane due to security concerns but was not registered on the passenger list.

One of the speakers at the Siyum Hashas of the Kollel “Rina shel Torah” in the Pardes Katz neighborhood of Bnei Brak was the grandson of Hagaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky, Rav Gedaliah Honigsberg, who told a story about his illustrious grandfather, Kikar Shabbos reported. “Dozens of delegations have come to my grandfather’s house recently to update us and invite us to the many Siyumei Hashas in the hundreds of communities throughout Israel,” Rav Honigsberg said in his speech. “A few days ago, when the delegations left my grandfather’s house and only close family remained, my grandfather said to us: ‘Do you want to know what true yegias haTorah is? It’s only Rav Dovid Karliner.'” “My grandfather continued, saying: ‘Rav Dovid Karliner was a big masmid who was baki in the entire Torah.

A 10-year-old boy was R”L struck and killd by a bus in Modi’in Illit on Chofetz Chaim Street on Sunday night. EMS  teams that arrived attempted to save the boy’s life but at the end of their efforts were forced to pronounce the boy’s death. According to a report that was given to the police, the boy was hit by a bus while crossing the street. Police traffic investigators were called to the scene to open an investigation. The child was identified as Avi Besser Z”L. He was a student at the Talmid Torah Nesivos Hatorah. He is a son of HaRav Yosef Besser, a Rebbe in Talmid Torah Pri Hatorah in Brachfeld. United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Moshe Miller who was one of the first responders at the scene relayed: “When I arrived at the scene I found a 10-year-old boy who was hit by a bus.

MK Rabbi Yisroel Eichler was hospitalized on Sunday after undergoing a routine medical checkup in the Knesset that showed an irregular result. The medical staff of the Knesset recommended that Eichler be taken to the hospital to have a full battery of tests done. Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital Spokesperson Hadar Elboim issued a statement on Sunday that said: “MK Rabbi Yisrael Eichler was admitted to the emergency room upon the instructions of the Knesset medical staff after routine cardiac tests raised concerns about an unusual finding. MK Eichler is undergoing extensive tests by the emergency room staff and cardiology experts. He is stable and in good condition.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

The number of residents seeking to own handguns has risen sharply in a New York community shaken last month by a machete attack that injured five men during a Hanukkah celebration. The Journal News reports 73 pistol permit applications have been filed with the Rockland County Clerk’s Office since the Dec. 28 attack at a rabbi’s home in Monsey, a hamlet in the town of Ramapo northwest of New York City. That compares to 51 applications the office received during the eight weeks prior to the stabbing, County Clerk Paul Piperato told the newspaper. Sixty-eight of the new applications came from Ramapo residents, including 31 from Monsey. “It’s definitely because of this incident,” Piperato told the newspaper, referring to the attack.

New York City police are investigating anti-Semitic graffiti, including a swastika, found sprayed in a stairwell of a local high school. An employee of Brooklyn Tech High School found the message scribbled in black marker inside the third-floor stairwell, police said. No arrests have been made. Meanwhile, in Williamsburg, YWN was provided with a video of another disturbing incident. On the video (posted below), the viewr will see a group of young non-Jewish teens on bikes stopping in front of Hasidic-owned homes, and throwing rocks at them. This happened on Shabbos afternoon on Skillman between DeKalb & Lafayette. The discovery of the graffiti Thursday followed a wave of anti-Semitic attacks in and around New York City.

A few days ago, Chasidic singer Chananye Schnitzler visited Sloan Kettering Hospital in Manhattan to sing for a cancer patient. As he was singing, Schnitzler noticed a non-Jewish man stood at the door watching the performance. When Schnitzler was finished, the stranger went over to Schnitzler and told him he was moved by the music and asked is he could come into a nearby hospital room to sing and give a blessing to his relative – also a cancer patient. A relative of Schnitzler told YWN that “Hatzadik Chanaya, without hesitation immediately went into the next room and performed an incredible Kiddush Hashem!” Mi K’amcha Yisroel! (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

A Vermont state senator looking to make a point about cellphone use is calling for people under the age of 21 to face $1,000 fines and jail time if they are caught using the devices. Sen. John Rodgers, a Democrat, has introduced a bill to the state legislature that would ban cellphones for anybody under the legal drinking age. “In light of the dangerous and life-threatening consequences of cellphone use by young people, it is clear that persons under 21 years of age are not developmentally mature enough to safely possess them,” the bill says. “The Internet and social media, accessed primarily through cell phones, are used to radicalize and recruit terrorists, fascists, and other extremists,” it continues, according to the Times Argus newspaper.

After a fast-moving blaze which destroyed the headquarters of the Palisades Interstate Parkway Police Department on New Year’s Day, Chaverim of Rockland County came to the rescue. With the intervention of Rabbi Abe Friedman, Chaplain of the PIP Police Department, Chaverim of Rockland County generously agreed to provide their state-of-the-art Mobile Command center, to serve as the temporary location of the PIP Police Headquarters until a more permanent location will be arranged. The Chaverim Mobile command post is equipped with state of the art communications and IT equipment, and is perfectly suited to serve as a temporary Police Headquarters.