The heads of the authorities in the Yesha (Yehudah and Shomron) Council on Sunday evening sent a letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu demanding that he urgently convene a government meeting and act to close the Shin Bet’s Jewish Division in the wake of the Kan News report revealing disturbing statements made by the Division’s chief, who has since resigned. The letter stated that “for decades, the Jewish Division has not been a counter-terrorism division but an intelligence body that operates solely against the settlers and yishuvim in Yehudah and Shomron via illegitimate means.” “Last night we were clearly exposed to the positions and methods of the division chief, but these methods are unfortunately known to us from the division’s past activities, and therefore it has no right to exist.

Interior Minister Moshe Arbel on Monday stated that the initiative to evacuate civilians from the Gaza Strip is ongoing and 16 evacuation flights have already departed from Israel’s Ramon Airport. “Over 16 flights have already departed from Ramon Airport – this will increase in the near future,” Arabel said at a conference. Last month, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ordered the Mossad to locate countries willing to accept large numbers of Gazan residents. Israel has already begun discussions on the initiative with several countries, including Indonesia, Somalia, and South Sudan. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

The Army has reenlisted more than 23 soldiers who were discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, officials said Monday, rushing to implement President Donald Trump’s order that troops be rehired and given back pay. Three people rejoined active duty Army service, and more than 20 came back either to the National Guard or the Reserve, the Army said. The soldiers have signed their contracts and were sworn in, and the active duty troops were reporting to their units, the Army said. None of the other services has completed reenlistments yet, but all are reaching out to former troops. The Marine Corps, Air Force, Army and Navy set up new websites on Monday to provide information for service members looking to reenlist.

The Auschwitz Jewish Center (AJC) is bringing kosher food back to this once-flourishing Jewish community and adding tefillos to its program in time for the annual March of the Living pilgrimage of tens of thousands of Jews from around the world starting April 23rd. In addition to providing access to the shul and guided tours of its museum, the Auschwitz Jewish Center’s kosher concession will offer shelf-stable packaged kosher meals for purchase starting just after Pesach. The meals will be available for a nominal fee, and visitors wishing to reserve meals, participate in tours, or attend tefillos can contact the center via https://ajcfus.org/programs/#contact-popup.

Chief Justice John Roberts agreed Monday to pause a midnight deadline for the Trump administration to return a Maryland man mistakenly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador. The temporary order comes hours after a Justice Department emergency appeal to the Supreme Court arguing U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis overstepped her authority when she ordered Kilmar Abrego Garcia returned to the United States. The administration has conceded that Abrego Garcia should not have been sent to El Salvador because an immigration judge found he likely would face persecution by local gangs. But he is no longer in U.S. custody and the government has no way to get him back, the administration argued.

The National Weather Service is no longer providing language translations of its products, a change that experts say could put non-English speakers at risk of missing potentially life-saving warnings about extreme weather. The weather service has “paused” the translations because its contract with the provider has lapsed, NWS spokesman Michael Musher said. He declined further comment. Lilt, an artificial intelligence company, began providing translations in late 2023, replacing manual translations that the weather service had said were labor-intensive and not sustainable and eventually. It eventually provided them in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, French and Samoan.

Ten elected officials who once demanded Andrew Cuomo’s resignation from the governorship over harassment allegations are now endorsing his political comeback. The reversal includes several female lawmakers, sparking criticism from advocates who say the move undermines the Me Too movement and the fight against workplace harassment in government. “Electeds’ support for Cuomo is a slap-in-the-face betrayal to government workers everywhere, including their own staff,” said Erica Vladimer, founder of the Harassment Working Group.

There a stink rising over the United Kingdom’s second-largest city. Garbage has piled up for a month in Birmingham during a dispute between the city and its trash collectors. It is a sore sight for eyes and offensive to the nose. Mountains of garbage are said to be visible from space and people have complained of seeing rats as big as cats in the refuse. “You can see the juice flowing out of the bags onto the road. It stinks,” Naeem Yousef said. “It’s bringing down the areas. People are saying, ‘Look at these areas, how dirty these people are.’” Talks on Monday failed to reach an agreement, but they were scheduled to resume Tuesday as the strike enters its fifth week.