France’s Court of Cassation’s Supreme Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld the ruling of lower courts that the killer of Sarah Halimi cannot stand trial for her grisly murder since he smoked marijuana beforehand. The court accepted the defense claims that Kobili Traoré – who murdered Halimi in 2017 while screaming anti-Semitic epithets – was too high on marijuana to be criminally responsible for his actions. The Court of Cassation claimed that since Traore’s sense of “discernment” was clouded by an “acute delirious puff” of marijuana, he could not “be judged criminally even when his mental state was caused by the regular consumption of drugs.” Traore is currently confined to a psychiatric hospital but can be released if doctors decide he no longer poses a danger to others.

Several House Democrats are set to unveil legislation Thursday to expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.; House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.; Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga.; and Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y.; will announce the bill at 11:30 a.m. Thursday in a press conference on the steps of the Supreme Court. Given Democrats’ control of the White House and Senate, the legislation could allow the party to supersede the court’s current conservative majority by “packing” the Court with liberal justices. The Intercept reported that the legislation, the text of which is not yet public, would expand the Supreme Court to 13 seats. There are currently nine seats on the court. That number has remained the same since 1869.

Thousands of centrifuges used to enrich uranium has been damaged or completely destroyed at the Natanz nuclear site, a senior Iranian official stated on Tuesday. Alireza Zakani, the head of the Iranian parliament’s research center, detailed the damage incurred in the attack in an interview on state TV.

On a Lufthansa flight that departed from Israel’s Ben Gurion airport and flew to Frankfurt in Germany, six Israeli passengers acted with disorderly conduct onboard the airplane, in spite of repeated requests by the in-flight attendants to desist. According to a report that appeared in Ynet, the six passengers removed their masks shortly after lift-off in direct violation of Coronavirus regulations and airline policies. The six passengers began cursing out any in-flight attendant who approached them. The attendants warned the passengers against their rude and illegal behavior. Prior to the flight, the six purchased alcohol at the Duty-Free shops in Ben Gurion and began drinking it on the flight. When the plane landed in Frankfurt, the flight crew called for police assistance.

Twelve years after Jonathan Pollard ordered a Sefer Torah from his jail cell, Pollard, now a free man living in Israel with his wife Esther by his side, brought his Sefer Torah to Kever Yosef in Shechem on Monday night. Pollard commissioned the Sefer Torah while in prison, paying for it with his own funds, planning to dedicate it to Kever Yosef. The Hachnasas Sefer Torah was held with the participation of HaRav Shmuel Eliyahu, the Rav of Tzfat and the son of HaGaon HaRav Mordechai Eliyahu, z’tl, who supported Pollard over many years, HaRav Elyakim Levanon, the Rav of the Shomron, the head of the Shomron Regional Council Yossi Dagan, and many others.

Bernie Madoff, the financier who pleaded guilty to orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history, has died in a federal prison, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Levaya details were not known. Madoff died at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, apparently from natural causes, the person said. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity. Last year, Madoff’s lawyers filed court papers to try to get the 82-year-old released from prison in the COVID-19 pandemic, saying he had suffered from end-stage renal disease and other chronic medical conditions. The request was denied. Madoff admitted swindling thousands of clients out of billions of dollars in investments over decades.

Israel marked its national Memorial Day for fallen soldiers on Wednesday, in a year when national attention has been focused on the plight of veterans suffering from psychological trauma. Memorial Day is the most solemn day on Israel’s national calendar. Bereaved families visit cemeteries and attend memorial ceremonies, and television and radio shift programming to somber music, broadcasts of memorials services and documentaries about slain soldiers. The sounding of a two-minute siren around the country brought people to a momentary halt, with pedestrians standing still in the street and motorists stopping on the highway and standing with heads bowed. IDF Chief Cantor Lt. Col.

A new twist was added to the monthly provocation of the Women of the Wall group on Tuesday as the newly elected Reform Rabbi MK took advantage of his parliamentary immunity to bring a Sefer Torah into the Kosel plaza, which is against Israeli law. MK Gilad Kariv (Labor) caused an uproar by the Kosel on Tuesday morning on Rosh Chodesh Iyar by hiding a Sefer Torah in his bag for the Women of the Wall group and refusing to allow the guard at the entrance to search his belongings. Kariv then proceeded to read from the Torah for the members of the Women of the Wall in a gathering at the upper plaza of the Kosel.

Iran will begin enriching uranium up to 60% purity after an attack on its Natanz nuclear facility, a negotiator said Tuesday, pushing its program to higher levels than ever before though still remaining short of weapons-grade. The announcement marks a significant escalation after the sabotage that damaged centrifuges, suspected of having been carried out by Israel — and could inspire a further response from Israel amid a long-running shadow war between the nations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed never to allow Tehran to obtain a nuclear weapon and his country has twice preemptively bombed Mideast nations to stop their atomic programs.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz called on Monday for an immediate investigation into leaks to the press by unnamed Israeli officials regarding the attack on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility and other attacks attributed to Israel. Gantz said the leaks are “damaging to our forces, our security, and the interests of the state of Israel and there needs to be a thorough investigation.” Many media outlets, including The New York Times, cited anonymous “intelligence officials” or “Western officials” regarding the Natanz incident without clarifying the nationality of the officials. “This ‘Western officials’ is nonsense,” Gantz told reporters on Monday. According to Gantz, Israel’s security cabinet has not instituted a change of policy from its past policy of ambiguity regarding secret operations.