The Lakewood Rosh Yeshiva, Hagaon HaRav Malkiel Kotler was flown by Hatzolah Air to the Cleveland Clinic on Wednesday morning, where he will be seen by cardiac specialists. As YWN reported on Tuesday, the Rosh Yeshiva was taken to the Jersey Shore Medical Center by Lakewood Hatzolah. It was feared that he would require an emergency surgery, but doctors managed to stabilize the situation to provide some time so that a decision could be made where to treat the Rosh Yeshiva. An decision was made to fly him to Cleveland, and Lakewood Hatzolah transported him to the airport where a team from Hatzolah Air was touching down at 4:30AM ready for the emergency flight. The flight crew consisted of two specialized doctors and two Paramedics.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu promised on Sunday that Israel will soon offer direct flights from Tel Aviv to Mecca in Saudia Arabia. “We will have direct flights for Muslim Israeli pilgrims from Tel Aviv to Mecca,” Netanyahu told a number of Israelis media outlets in interviews on Sunday. The prime minister’s pledge was both a hint to a possible normalization of ties with Saudi Arabia and a pre-election pitch to Arab-Israelis. However, perhaps in response to Netanyahu’s comments, a former senior adviser to the Saudi government said on Monday that the Saudi kingdom would not normalize ties with Israel before the establishment of a “totally independent” Palestinian state.

A new Israeli study found that the Pfizer vaccine against the coronavirus is highly effective in protecting pregnant women. A Yisrael Hayom report last week said that the study, carried out by the Kupat Cholim Maccabi on two-thirds of the Kupah’s pregnant clients, shows that the vaccine is 97% effective in protecting pregnant women. The percentage of unvaccinated pregnant women who contracted the coronavirus while pregnant was 8.1% versus 0.05% of the vaccinated pregnant women. All of the 62 pregnant women who have been hospitalized with the coronavirus in Israel (of whom 41 are still hospitalized) were unvaccinated. Two Arab-Israeli sisters, aged 23 and 31, recently passed away within three weeks of each other after contracting the coronavirus while pregnant.

HaGaon HaRav Gershon Edelstein answered questions about voting in a video published on Motzei Shabbos by the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party. The campaign representatives began by saying: “After this difficult year of dealing with the coronavirus, many people feel that the Chareidi representatives weren’t there for them.” HaRav Edelstein: “Voting for Gimmel is a declaration, Hashem Hu HaElokim, Moshe Emes V’Toraso Emes. Not voting is saying that you’re unconcerned about making a Kiddush Hashem, you’re not sharing in making a Kiddush Hashem. They’re being oseik in Kiddush Hashem, and you’re running away from it.” “If you don’t vote Gimmel, you’re preventing a Kiddush Hashem.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump, suspended from Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, plans to launch his own platform in two to three months, one of his senior advisers told Fox News on Sunday. Jason Miller, a spokesman for Trump’s 2020 campaign, told the network that Trump would re-enter the social media space with a new platform of his own that would “completely redefine the game.” “I do think that we’re going to see President Trump returning to social media, probably in about two or three months here, with his own platform,” Miller told Fox News on Sunday. “This is something that I think will be the hottest ticket in social media. It’s going to completely redefine the game.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas traveled to the US-Mexico border on Friday with a group of bipartisan senators. Typically on such a trip, a cabinet secretary and lawmakers would be accompanied by reporters or a member of the White House press pool to feed notes back to newsrooms. But on this trip, the Biden administration blocked that from happening. It’s part of a larger pattern of restricted media access at the southern US border – despite promises of transparency and the fact that at least 14,000 migrant children are detained in federal custody amid a surge in migrants attempting to enter the country.

The final poll for Israel’s elections for the 24th Knesset, taking place in six days, was submitted Tuesday night by Kan News, with results showing that Prime Minister Netanyahu will be able to form a narrow right-wing government of 62 seats if Yamina leader Naftali Bennett agrees to join it. The poll predicts Likud rising in popularity and garnering 30 seats, one-quarter of the Knesset. Yesh Atid will also rise, winning 21 seats, and Yamina will win 12 seats. The poll shows the New Hope party of Gideon Sa’ar declining, winning only 11 seats. The Joint-Arab List will also decline, winning 8 seats, and Yisrael Beiteinu and Shas will each win 8 seats.

The pressure against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo over harassment allegations reached the White House on Tuesday, with President Joe Biden saying Cuomo should resign if the state attorney general’s investigation confirms the claims against him. Biden made the remarks in an interview with ABC News that is scheduled to air Wednesday. When asked by anchor George Stephanopoulos whether Cuomo should resign if the investigation confirms the women’s claims, Biden said “yes” and added, “I think he’d probably end up being prosecuted, too.” “It takes a lot of courage to come forward so the presumption is it should be taken seriously,” Biden said.

Sri Lanka on Saturday announced plans to ban the wearing of burqas and said it would close more than 1,000 Islamic schools known as madrassas, citing national security. Minister of Public Security Sarath Weerasekara said he signed a paper on Friday seeking the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers to ban burqas — outer garments that cover the body and face worn by some Muslim women. “The burqa has a direct impact on national security,” Weerasekara told a ceremony at a Buddhist temple on Saturday, without elaborating. “In our early days, we had a lot of Muslim friends, but Muslim women and girls never wore the burqa,” Weerasekara said, according to video footage sent by his ministry. “It is a sign of religious extremism that came about recently.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu canceled his trip to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday after his wife was hospitalized and in the wake of the Jordanian refusal to approve the prime minister’s flight over its airspace. Sara Netanyahu was hospitalized at Hadassah Medical Center on Thursday morning after feeling unwell and she was found to be suffering from appendicitis. She is expected to be hospitalized for several days. Media reports early Thursday morning said that Netanyahu may cancel his trip to the UAE due to his wife’s illness. However, later on Thursday, media reports said that Netanyahu canceled his trip due to Jordan’s refusal to approve his flight over its airspace.