Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana called a special press conference on Tuesday and announced a series of comprehensive kashrus reforms in Israel. According to the new reforms, the Rabbanut will no longer grant kashrus certification but will serve as a regulatory body instead. The kashrus market will open to independent kashrus organizations that will issue hechsherim and employ and oversee their own mashgichim. In general, the Rabbanut will set the standards of the hechsherim but eateries that do not meet the standards of the Rabbanut can receive a hechsher from three Rabbanim who are qualified to serve as municipal Rabbanim, if they approve the restaurant’s standards. This includes eateries that operate on Shabbos.

Israel’s coronavirus rate continues to rise, with over 1,300 new cases confirmed on Tuesday, the highest number in four months, and 7,924 active cases, up from just 200 a month ago. All of Israel’s “red zones” are in secular areas as only 2% of infections are in the Chareidi sector versus 93% of the infections found in the general sector. Despite this fact, the left-wing Haaretz newspaper felt it was appropriate to publish a cartoon by artist Amos Biderman on Monday morning with the age-old theme of Chareidim spreading disease. Biderman completely ignored the tens of thousands of Israelis crowded at Ben-Gurion Airport on Monday morning, instead publishing an illustration of frum Jews crowding together at the Kosel on Tisha B’Av.

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that three Brooklyn men have been charged in a 30-count indictment in connection with two incidents in which they allegedly targeted Jewish individuals. The defendants allegedly stated, “Kill all the Jews,” demanded that a Jewish man say, “Free Palestine,” punched him when he refused, and then chased him and a friend while holding a cricket bat. District Attorney Gonzalez said, “All members of Brooklyn’s diverse communities should feel free to go about their day and observe their religion without fear of being targeted.

YWN regrets to inform you of the Petira of HaRav Menashe Tzvi Winkler ZT”L. He was around 103 years old. He was Niftar on Tuesday where he lived in Lakewood, NJ. The Niftar was one of the last people alive to have seen the Chofetz Chaim, learned in the Mir in Poland, in Baranovitch under Reb Elchonon Wasserman HY”D, and in Kaminetz under Reb Boruch Ber Leibeowitz ZT”L. Rav Menashe Tzvi Z”L was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, and after the sudden passing of his father, he went to learn in Radin under the Chofetz Chaim. He arrived there three weeks before his Petira. He was Zoche to shake the Chofetz Chaim’s hand and receive a Bracha from him to succeed in shteiging in yeshivah with simchah, serve Hashem in good health, and merit arichus yamim.

As the backlash against Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream continues to grow, NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio is suggesting that he may join the boycott against the company, after they joined the anti-Semitic BDS movement. At a press conference on Tuesday, Veteran Hamodia reporter Reuvain Borchardt asked DeBlasio the following question: “Ben Jerry’s yesterday announced it’s joining the BDS movement,” the reporter asked. “A bunch of stores in the New York area in response said they’re taking Ben & Jerry’s off their shelves. As a prominent progressive anti-BDS figure, I’m just wondering what you think, if you want to comment on this, and whether you’ll be sticking to Häagen-Dazs?” DEBLASIO RESPONSE: “I can say I will not be eating anymore Cherry Garcia for a while,” de Blasio replied.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday spoke with the CEO of Unilever, Ben & Jerry’s parent company, and made it clear that he will take legal action against the company in the wake of the ice cream company’s announcement that it is boycotting Jewish communities in Yehudah and the Shomron. Bennett made it clear to Unilever CEO Alan Jope that Israel views the boycott with the utmost severity and will take aggressive action against any boycott against their citizens. “As far as the State of Israel is concerned, this move will have serious repercussions, both legal and otherwise, and Israel will act aggressively against any effort to boycott its citizens,” Bennett told Jope. Ben & Jerry's You picked the wrong side.

Jeff Bezos blasted into space Tuesday on his rocket company’s first flight with people on board, becoming the second billionaire in just over a week to ride his own spacecraft. The Amazon founder was accompanied by a hand-picked group: his brother, an 18-year-old from the Netherlands and an 82-year-old aviation pioneer from Texas — the youngest and oldest to ever fly in space. “Best day ever,” Bezos said after the capsule touched down on the desert floor at the end of the 10-minute flight. Named after America’s first astronaut, Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket soared from remote West Texas on the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, a date chosen by Bezos for its historical significance.

Clashes between Arabs and Israel Police broke out on Sunday at Har Habayis when Arabs violently protested against Religous Zionist Jews visiting the site on Tisha B’Av, with Arabs throwing rocks and other objects at Jews and the police. Dem. Rep. Rashida Tlaib quickly grabbed the opportunity for another hate-filled tweet against the Jewish state, claiming that Israel is “attacking Al Aqsa on Eid Al Adha in order to continue dehumanizing Palestinians even in prayer. It’s not enough to bomb them while they sleep or demolish their homes,” she wrote. Apart from Tlaib’s usual lies and omissions, not even mentioning that the Arabs were engaging in violence that forced the police to restore order, she even lied about her own festival, Eid al-Ada.

The outrage at Foreign Minister Yair Lapid’s speech “redefining” anti-Semitism as a general phenomenon of hating anyone who is different has grown, with many slamming his speech as “irresponsible.” The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) said that Lapid’s speech harmed their efforts at combatting anti-Semitism. “As the Foreign Minister of the State of Israel, you delivered a speech that was completely contrary to the interests of the Jewish people,” wrote Dan Illuz, the director of the ZOA’s Israel branch. “You harmed our ability to continue fighting anti-Semitism on campuses and at international forums.

There were extremely long lines at Ben-Gurion Airport on Monday as about 37,000 Israelis left the country for summer vacations, joining tens of thousands of Israelis who already left in recent days. According to a Kan News report, over 8,000 Israelis are traveling to countries that are slated to be designated red due to high coronavirus rates by the end of the week. The coronavirus rate has continued to soar, with 93% of the infections found in the general sector and only 2% in the Chareidi sector. Despite this, Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman felt it was appropriate to mention the topic of flights to Uman for Rosh Hashanah, which won’t take place for another month and a half, at the cabinet meeting on Sunday morning.