An uproar took place in an Israeli hospital on Tuesday when Joint Arab List Ayman Odeh physically attacked Otzma Yehudit chairman Ben-Gvir in Kaplan Hospital in Rechovot. Ben-Gvir was at Kaplan Hospital to “visit” a Hamas terrorist prisoner who is currently on a hunger strike. Hamas operative Miqdad al-Qawasme is a member of a large Arab clan that is a radical faction within Hamas in Hebron and has frequently sabotaged Hamas ceasefires with bombings and attacks. (One of its members was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of the three Jewish teens in 2014.) Al-Qawasme is on the 91st day of his hunger strike in protest of his administrative detention.

An Israeli businessman in his 40s was shot to death on Friday morning in Rechovot as he left shul after davening Shacharis. The niftar, a well-known entrepreneur in the real estate industry who was later identifed as Eldad Peri, 44, was shot at point-blank range and was found lying lifeless on the ground of the parking lot outside the shul. Paramedics who arrived at the scene could do nothing but determine his death. Police forces who arrived at the scene pursued the gunman as he fled the scene by motorcycle. An investigation has been opened into the circumstances of the incident. According to initial reports, Peri had encountered financial difficulties and was in the process of declaring bankruptcy, a fact that is likely related to his murder.

Israel’s Ambassador to the United States and United Nations Gilad Erdan responded on Monday to the Axios interview with the founders of Ben and Jerry’s aired on Sunday on HBO. “The ignorance and hypocrisy of Ben and his partner Jerry cries out to the heavens,” Erdan said. “Part of the definition of anti-Semitism is precisely to demand from Israel what isn’t demanded of any other country in the world, and Misters Ben and Jerry have no problem with their ice cream being sold to supporters of terrorism but they are boycotting Israel.” “So I will continue to work that as many states as possible put Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever on their blacklist until this despicable boycott is stopped,” Erdan said firmly.

Two yeshivah bochurim testified to the state commission of inquiry in the Meron disaster on Sunday. Michoel Shimon Friedman was in the “passageway of death” during those terrible moments on the night of the disaster. “Suddenly you couldn’t get out because everyone was pushing you,” he said. “I felt like I was being held up in the air. I started moving inside the passageway and there was an insane amount of pressure. I wanted to catch hold of the railing. I felt like I couldn’t move left or right. I had a bottle of water and I dropped it so I could manage to hold myself up.” At this point, Friedman burst into tears and struggled to continue. He was offered water and he managed to compose himself and continue. “There was a gate that I tried to grab hold of but I didn’t succeed.

Earlier this week, new rules went into effect regarding quarantine exemptions for vaccinated travelers entering Israel. These rules also altered the eligibility requirement for receiving a Tav Yarok (Green Pass). New regulations have often confounded and confused both native Israelis, as well as visitors. Additionally, the Health Ministry online system actually crashed on the first day of the new program, delaying implementation by several days. Now, Chaim V’Chessed clarifies the new system, below. RULES FOR THOSE VACCINATED IN NON-EU COUNTRIES Travelers entering Israel who are recovered or vaccinated abroad, may take a serological test to be exempt from quarantine. This includes Israelis who were vaccinated or recovered in foreign countries.

Rav Shlomo Yehudah Zilbiger, z’l, the grandson of the Gaon Av Beis Din of the Eidah HaChareidis, HaGaon HaRav Tuvia Weiss, was niftar of the coronavirus on Simchas Torah at the age of 43 at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem. The niftar was born in Manchester to his father, HaRav Avraham Zilbiger, the Rav of the Beis Hamedrash HaChadash in Manchester, and his mother, the daughter of HaRav Weiss. After he married his wife, a resident of Ganei Geula whose grandfather learned with HaRav Weiss in London, Rav Zilbiger, z’l, settled in the Givat Moshe neighborhood of Jerusalem, near his illustrious grandfather. Rav Zilbiger was very close to his grandfather and learned in his kollel until the end of his life. He also assisted in transcribing and publishing HaRav Weiss’s divrei Torah.

The famed philanthropist Reb Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz spent Sukkos in Yerushalayim, staying in his new apartment, located near Shefa Mall and the Chassidic courts of Gur and Belz, for the first time. On Leil Simchas Torah, Reb Rechnitz purchased the Belzer Rebbe’s Aliyah L’Torah for a quarter of a million dollars. It was arranged beforehand that the funds will be used for “Mercaz Mosdos Belz’ and the Belzer kollelim. Rechnitz also purchased all the chashuve kibbudim in honor of the Belzer Rebbe, including “Ata Hareisa,” Chasan Torah and Chasan Bereishis. Rechnitz did the same for the Gerrer Rebbe, purchasing his Aliyah L’Torah for a quarter of a million dollars as well as “Ata Hareisa,” Chasan Torah and Chasan Bereishis.

As Prime Minister Naftali Bennett lauded Israel’s response to the coronavirus at the UN General Assembly in New York, overloaded hospitals in Israel were running out of ECMO machines. On Wednesday, Channel 13 News reported that Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, Israel’s second-largest hospital, used its last ECMO machine for a 22-year-old coronavirus patient. The patient has no history of preexisting illnesses but was not vaccinated. In an unprecedented move, the report said that Rambam Hospital in Haifa will “lend” an ECMO machine to Ichilov to prevent patients from dying due to a lack of the life-saving machine. Senior officials in the health system are saying that most hospitals in Israel have almost no ECMO machines left, both in central Israel and the rest of the country.

Thousands of people attended Birchas Kohanim at the Kosel on Wednesday, the first day of Chol Hamoed in Israel. The Israeli public is free to visit the Kosel on Sukkos without a Green Pass in accordance with the outline formulated by the coronavirus cabinet prior to Yom Tov. However, due to the large number of people who regularly attend Birkas Kohanim, the ceremony was divided over two days in order to prevent overcrowding. Additionally, the Kosel plaza is divided into capsules in order to limit the number of people crowded in one area. The first Birkas Kohanim was held on Wednesday, and the second will be held on Thursday, the second day of Chol Hamoed.

The legendary Simchas Beis HaShoeva at Toldos Aharon in Mea Sheaim, which normally draws thousands of visitors on Sukkos, is closed to the general public this year. The chassidus announced the day before Yom Tov that due to the overcrowding every year at the Simchas Beis HaShoeva and the Hakafos Sheniyos, entrance to these events will be permitted this year to community members only. The restriction applies to both men and women. The Beis Medrash was also closed last year since Israel was in lockdown over Sukkos due to a coronavirus wave. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)