According to a bombshell report in the NY Post, a top aide to New York Governor Cuomo told leading state Democratic lawmakers that the administration had withheld data on COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes to avoid federal scrutiny. Melissa DeRosa, secretary to the governor, admitted they had hidden the COVID numbers in a Thursday call obtained by New York Post. State Democrats in August had asked for the exact figures for nursing home deaths from COVID since March 1. In the call on Thursday, DeRosa admitted they deliberately hid the data, after the Trump administration began asking questions. State Democrats asked for the data in August, ‘right around the same time, [then-President Donald Trump] turns this into a giant political football,’ she said.

The top US infectious diseases expert said Thursday that “open season” for Covid-19 vaccination could begin in April, and that the country may be able to vaccinate the majority of Americans by the middle or end of summer. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie on the Today show that he thought the pace of vaccination was going to pick up going into March and April. “The number of available doses will allow for much more of a mass vaccination approach, which is really much more accelerated than what you’re seeing now,” he said.

Health Ministry Yuli Edelstein said on Wednesday that health regulations will be enforced on Purim in order to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus. The government is formulating a plan, which reportedly will divide shuls into capsules of up to ten people, with a maximum number of 100 people allowed in each shul. Parties, parades and other gatherings will be prohibited and Purim seudos will be allowed only at home with nuclear families. Yeshivos will be permitted to hold Purim mesibos in accordance with the capsule system. “In order for Purim not to become the Tisha B’Av of infection, this year’s joy will be very limited,” Edelstein said.

On Tuesday, the High Court of Justice accepted the government’s request to delay the deadline of passing a law that would regulate the conscription of Chareidim, until the summer. The previous law that allowed for exemptions of Chareidi Israelis to avoid participating in the IDF, was overturned by the High Court in 2017. Since then, no government has been able to issue a new law in its place and the issue has been a point of coalition tension ever since. The High Court overturned the on the grounds that the exemption was unconstitutional, due to its unequal treatment of Chareidi and non-Chareidi people. The court demanded that the government either pass new legislation or begin conscripting Chareidi men into the IDF.

President Joe Biden has announced he issued a proclamation on Thursday to terminate the national emergency declaration the former administration issued for the US-Mexico border as part of its effort to fund border wall construction. Former President Donald Trump declared a national emergency along the southern border in 2019, invoking emergency powers that allowed him to use more money on his long-promised border wall than Congress had approved in its spending deal. By terminating the declaration, Biden was effectively taking one step further towards reversing his predecessor’s hardline immigration agenda for the southern border after having previously signed multiple executive orders aimed at reforming the immigration system.

Two NYPD horses were seen running wild through the streets of Flatbush on Thursday. It happened when an NYPD Officer had a medical issue at the corner of Quentin Road and East 8th Street. Flatbush Hatzolah was called to the scene and was treating him, while another officer who was riding a second horse was holding both horses. Suddenly, something spooked the horses, prompting them both to gallop away at full speed. After a brief pursuit by NYPD, both horses were apprehended. The officer was transported by Flatbush Hatzolah to the hospital in stable condition. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Today, Andrew Yang, Democratic candidate for Mayor of NYC, announced the appointment of David Schwartz as Yang for NY’s Jewish Community Outreach Director. Schwartz, a Democratic District Leader for New York State’s 48th Assembly District, is also First Vice Chair to the Brooklyn Democratic County Committee, one of the largest Democratic committees in the country. In 2016, Schwartz became Brooklyn’s youngest District Leader after winning his election, running on a platform of getting more residents more politically engaged and building diverse coalitions within the borough. Schwartz has also been a strong voice against all hate crimes and for speaking out against anti-Semitism – priorities for a Yang administration. “I’m incredibly excited to join Andrew Yang’s campaign for mayor.

Chaim V’Chessed has been incessantly lobbying for additional emergency flights between Israel and the United States, and have just informed YWN that El Al will operate more emergency flights to and from the USA. They will operate a total of six flights between TLV and JFK. El Al is set to operate a number of flights from Ben Gurion Airport on Feb 13, Feb 15, and Feb 18th. Flights from New York to Tel Aviv are scheduled for Feb 15 & 17th, taking off at 12 noon from JFK Airport & Feb 20 at 11pm EST. TICKETS FOR THIS FLIGHT SHOULD BE AVAILABLE BY THURSDAY AFTERNOON. TO PURCHASE A TICKET CONTACT A TRAVEL AGENT OR TRY EL AL’S WHATSAPP AT: +972 3-977-1111. Enter code 15684. Book fast, as earlier flights were sold out within hours.

Senior Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh’s assassination in November was carried out by a Mossad team via a one-ton remote-controlled gun that had been smuggled into Iran in pieces, the London-based Jewish Chronicle (JC) reported on Wednesday. The 20 members of the “hit-team,” comprised of both Israeli and Iranian nationals, prepared for the fateful moment over eight months of “painstaking surveillance.” The report said it has confirmed through “intelligence sources” that the Mossad was behind the hit, which was carried out by mounting the one-ton gun on a Nissan pickup. “The bespoke weapon, operated remotely by agents on the ground as they observed the target, was so heavy because it included a bomb that destroyed the evidence after the killing,” the report said.

As Israel’s vaccination drive slows down to a crawl, with vaccination centers sitting empty in recent days, the city of Bnei Brak decided to offer an incentive to city residents who show up to be vaccinated on Thursday night – a yeshivah bochur’s dream – free cholent. Vaccination centers in Bnei Brak will stay open until midnight on Thursday and cholent and snacks will be offered. Only 17% of the resident of Bnei Brak have received the first dose of the vaccine and 9% have received both doses, according to Health Ministry data. Optica Halperin, a popular optical chain in Israel, recently published an advertisement offering a free pair of frames to anyone who was fully vaccinated. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)