Israel confirmed 125 new coronavirus cases on Monday, the highest number of daily cases since April and over double the number of cases confirmed on Sunday. Health officials say that the surge in cases has been spurred by Israelis returning from abroad and violating quarantine, with a number of school outbreaks tied to Israelis who recently returned from abroad, some of whom violated quarantine rules. According to a Kan report, the number of coronavirus cases in the school system has tripled over the past week. Health Ministry Director-General Chezy Levy said that the Indian variant, now called the Delta variant, is spurring the outbreaks, with about 70% of the new cases in Israel identified as the Delta variant.

Very preliminary tallies of early voting ballots showed Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams with a slim lead over former sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia. The votes tonight include early voting as well as first choice ballots from election day. Adams- 29.55% Garcia- 21.88% Wiley- 20.99%. Yang- 11.83%. 11.1% of votes counted. As the numbers come in, the top contenders may have a long, anxious wait ahead of them for accurate results in NYC’s mayoral primary, the first citywide election to use ranked choice voting.

Yanky Kanievsky, the influential grandson of HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky, said that the Chareidi parties never received an offer to join the Bennett-Lapid government and the possibility wasn’t ruled out, according to a Kan News report on Monday night. In a recording publicized by Kan, Yanky explains why the Chareidi parties didn’t join the new government. “The real answer is that no one offered it. That’s the true answer and I’m saying this as someone who was somewhat involved.

Despite Yamina’s promises, the Bennett-Lapid government continues to chip away at the religious status quo in Israel and this time a Yamina minister is implementing the changes, with Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana moving forward with a plan to minimize  Chareidi influence on the appointment of dayanim by as early as next week, Yediot Acharanot reported on Tuesday. Kahana’s goal is to increase the number of Dati Leumi Rabbanim appointed to official positions and he intends to accomplish that by ensuring that more secular and Dati Leumi people are appointed to the Judicial Appointments Committee, outnumbering the Chareidi members on the committee.

Voters are heading to the polls today in NYC, and in Flatbush, they will decide who will be the next Councilman in the 48th Council District to replace Chaim Deutsch. Heshy Tischler has been campaigning alot and even has videos and promotional articles on YWN the past few weeks. Those videos portray Tischler as a quasi-refined individual. We won’t discuss the fact that Tischler lives in Boro Park and is running for a seat that represents Flatbush. But before you think about voting for this man, remember who the real Tischler is. While Tischler claims to “stand up for the community”, this walking Chillul Hashem has done nothing of the sort.

Frontrunner Eric Adams visited the Orthodox Jewish communities of Flatbush, Boro Park and Crown Heights the night before the NYC Mayoral Primary Election. Adams told YWN that he was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support he received from the Jewish community, and would be forever grateful, and felt he owed it to the community to make it his final stop on the campaign trail. Adams continues to lead in the polls, as crime is the single most important issue facing voters in this election. But despite consistently leading in the polls, voters should make sure to go vote. Due to “rank choice voting”, nothing can be for certain. As an NYPD Captain for many years, Adams has vowed to put “Anti-Crime” cops back on the streets of NYC.

Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday slammed Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, accusing him of endangering Israel by giving in to the demands of the US regarding nuclear Iran. “Last Thursday, Acting Prime Minister Lapid promised US Secretary of State Blinken to adhere to a mutual policy of ‘no surprises’ regarding Iran,” Netanyahu said at the start of a Likud party meeting. “This is an astounding Israeli commitment which severely damages the heart of our national security.” “If [Menachem] Begin would have behaved in this manner, we wouldn’t have bombed the reactor in Iraq. I was asked for many years to make this commitment – and I always refused.

Following reports of new coronavirus outbreaks in Israel over the past week and amid fears of the spread of the Indian virus variant, a Kan News report on Monday said that 168 coronavirus carriers entered Israel in the past month alone. Around 100 of the travelers who tested positive for the coronavirus were vaccinated. The largest amount of coronavirus carriers, 31, traveled from Russia, followed by 24 carriers who traveled from the United Arab Emirates, 12 from the US, and 10 from France. A Channel 12 News report said that 40% of coronavirus cases in Israel this month originated abroad, with 112 of the 264 coronavirus carriers identified since the beginning of June catching the virus while traveling.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is leading the field of Democrats vying to become New York City’s next mayor ahead of Tuesday’s primary, but ranked-choice voting means the race is far from decided. A new Ipsos poll released on Monday found Adams as the top choice for 28% of New Yorkers, while former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang comes in second place with 20% support. They are followed by NYC Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia with 15% and former City Hall lawyer Maya Wiley in fourth with 13%. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Israeli health officials are considering reimplementing some coronavirus restrictions amid new coronavirus outbreaks around the country which are believed to be caused by the Indian variant. Some of the outbreaks in schools have been linked to Israelis who have returned from abroad, even those who have been vaccinated, and some of the Israelis who caught the new variant at home have been vaccinated. The Health Ministry on Sunday reinstated the requirement to wear masks in schools where outbreaks occurred, less than a week after the mask mandate was lifted. Itai Weisberg, the head of the Binyamina-Givat Ada local council, where one of the outbreaks occurred, told Reshet Bet on Monday morning that 76 residents have tested positive for the coronavirus.