Following French President Emmanuel Macron’s outburst at Israeli Shin Bet security officers outside the Church of St. Anne on Wednesday, several Israeli news outlets said his anger about Israeli security officials entering the church was due to the pro-BDS and anti-Semitic organization that is housed in the church. No one really knows whether that prompted Macron’s anger or he just has a bad temper but is there is a genuine reason he is so territorial about the church? The Church of St. Anne is a Roman Catholic church in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem which was given to France by the Ottoman Empire in 1856. There definitely is a reason and it’s not pretty. What is indeed known about the Church of St.

Rep. Ilhan Omar’s congressional career got off to a rocky start just a year ago, with her blatantly anti-Semitic remarks on Israel and Jews stirring anger across the country and raising speculation that some other Minnesota Democrat might step forward to challenge her in 2020. That was then. Omar was kicking off her reelection campaign Thursday night with a massive bank account and no challengers who pose a serious threat from either party. Her campaign slogan – “Send her back to Congress!” – gleefully evokes President Donald Trump’s personal attacks on her. In an overwhelmingly Democratic district that where Omar took 78% of the vote in 2018, University of Minnesota political scientist Larry Jacobs gives her opponents no chance.

The White House said Thursday it has invited Israel’s prime minister and his main political rival to Washington next week to discuss the “prospect of peace” with the Palestinians, who have already rejected the administration’s long-awaited peace plan. Vice President Mike Pence announced the invitation at a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem after addressing an international forum on the Holocaust. He said that at Netanyahu’s request an invitation has also been issued to Benny Gantz, a former army chief and Netanyahu’s main rival in March 2 elections. The announcement indicated that the White House may be ready to release its peace plan after several delays.

Airports around the world have begun taking precautions to deal with an anticipated influx of Chinese tourists taking Lunar New Year holidays, just as the outbreak of a pneumonia-like virus in China has prompted officials there to take drastic measures to prevent its spread. Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, announced on Thursday that, following government guidance, all passengers arriving on direct flights from China will receive thermal screening at the gate upon arrival and be provided with informational brochures.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier began his speech at the World Holocaust Forum on Thursday by reciting the bracha of Shehechyanu in Hebrew with shem and malchus. In his emotional speech, Steinmeier expressed concern over continued anti-Semitism, noting a pattern of attacks on Jews in Germany, highlighting a shooting in October on a synagogue in the German city of Halle. “I wish I could say that we Germans have learnt from history once and for all. But I cannot say that when hatred is spreading,” he said. “I cannot say that when Jewish children are spat on in the schoolyard. I cannot say that when crude anti-Semitism is cloaked in supposed criticism of Israeli policy.

Mike Pence was making headlines on Thursday while on his visit to Israel where he delivered a stirring speech at the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem. While walking into the event, Pence was greeted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Thanks to hot mic, Pence was heard saying “We are contending. He’s unstoppable, like someone else I know.” It is unclear what Pence and Netanyahu were discussing or the context of the remarks captured on the microphone, but all assume Pence was referring to President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Russian President Vladimir Putin landed in Israel on Thursday morning and was greeted by Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with Putin at the Prime Minister’s Residence on Balfour Street when the Russian President arrived in Jerusalem. Later, Naama Issachar’s mother, Yaffa Issachar, joined the meeting together with the Patriarch Theophilus III of the Orthodox Church in Jerusalem, who arranged the meeting between Putin and Issachar. “Everything will be okay,” Putin said to Issachar. After the meeting, Putin stated: “I met with Naama’s mother and it’s clear that she’s from a good family. We will take all factors into account when we make the decision.

On Erev Shabbos Hagadol last year, a woman who is Shomer Shabbos parked in a zone that was preferential parking only for local residents in Herzliya. She was a guest and received a parking ticket for 100 NIS on Friday. When she came back to retrieve her car on Motzei Shabbos, she was shocked to find not one, but two parking tickets, the second being issued on Shabbos morning by a Jewish parking inspector. The owner of the car issued a letter to the city of Herzliya stating that she wished to fight the second ticket in court. “I can’t move my car on Shabbos and the second ticket was written on Shabbos when the parking inspector knew full well that I couldn’t move my car,” she told Israeli media. She had paid the ticket that she received for the infraction on Friday.

Firefighters are fighting a massive fire at the Yeshiva of South Fallsburg Campus on Laurel Park Road, in Sullivan County, NY. The fire is located at 84 Laurel Park Road, which is the location of the brand new girls school being built. The building was not yet completed, and was still under construction. Smoke and the smell of fire is reported miles away, and it is now a third alarm fire. Sources tell YWN that the entire building appears to have been destroyed. Additional details to follow. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

An increasingly growing amount of Gerrer chassidim are leaving the city of Haifa in recent months, and others are planning to move in the near future, B’Chadrei Chareidim reported. The report said that a source told them that the Gerrer exodus from Haifa is due to a recent Ministry of Health report on the dangerous level of pollution in the city. A few chassidim who spoke to the Gerrer Rebbe about moving from the city received his bracha and many began following in their footsteps. However, no one was specifically instructed by the Rebbe to leave. “It’s reminiscent of the wave of Gerrer chassidim who left Tel Aviv over a decade ago, when many of them moved to Bnei Brak for their chinuch of their children,” a Gerrer chassid told B’Chadrei Chareidim.