Internal Security Minister Amir Ohana met with the mayors of Chareidi cities on Sunday morning and promised them he would work toward canceling the limits on the number of people allowed at Meron on Lag B’omer. Ohana said he would discuss the issue with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu before the day was over “to find a solution to enable tens of thousands to celebrate Lag B’Omer in accordance with tradition.” Ohana spoke with Shas chairman Aryeh Deri on Motzei Shabbos regarding the issue and expressed his full support for allowing crowds at Meron on Lag B’Omer without any limitations.

IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi seemed to have alluded to the Israeli role in the “accident” at Iran’s Natanz nuclear site on Sunday at a flag-laying ceremony for fallen soldiers at Mount Herzl ahead of Yom HaZikaron on Wednesday. “The IDF’s operations throughout the Middle East are not hidden from the eyes of our enemies,” Kochavi said. “They’re watching us, seeing our capabilities, and cautiously considering their next steps.” “Thanks to complex and sophisticated operations – the past year has been one of the safest years known to the citizens of Israel. We’ll continue to act with power and discretion.” Iran’s underground Natanz nuclear facility lost power Sunday just hours after starting up new advanced centrifuges capable of enriching uranium faster.

Reports that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is considering a rotation agreement for prime minister with Yamina leader Naftali Bennett was denied by his spokesperson late Motzei Shabbos. Yisrael Hayom reported on Friday that the prime minister’s associates were considering a rotation agreement as well as considering holding Likud primaries to elect a replacement for Netanyahu to form a government. However, Netanyahu’s spokesperson denied both possibilities. Even with Yamina’s seven members, Netanyahu will still only have 59 mandates, two short of a majority. The problem would be solved if Gideon Sa’ar’s New Hope party would join the coalition but Sa’ar who made not sitting with Netanyahu one of his key campaign promises refuses to do so.

Iran’s underground Natanz nuclear facility lost power Sunday just hours after starting up new advanced centrifuges capable of enriching uranium faster, the latest incident to strike the site amid negotiations over the tattered atomic accord with world powers. As Iranian officials investigated the outage, many Israeli media outlets offered the similar assessment that a cyberattack darkened Natanz and damaged a facility that is home to sensitive centrifuges. While the reports offered no sourcing for the evaluation, Israeli media maintains a close relationship with the country’s military and intelligence agencies. Multiple Israeli media outlets reported Sunday that a cyberattack caused the blackout in Natanz.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu began negotiations with Yamina leader Naftali Bennett on Thursday evening over the formation of a right-wing government with a rotation for the position of prime minister between them, Channel 13 News reported. According to the report, Bennett wants Netanyahu to serve first as prime minister for one year, with Bennett then taking over for the next two years and Netanyahu taking over for the fourth year. Netanyahu, on the other hand, is demanding that he serve as prime minister for the first two years, with Bennett serving in the position for the last two years.

After two members of the Jewish community in Derba were violently attacked in recent days and security officials reacted with indifference, international pressure eventually resulted in Tunisian authorities announcing an increased police presence in the Jewish community as of Thursday, Kikar H’Shabbat reported. Several days ago, the 10-year-old son of one of the leaders of the Jewish community in Djerba was severely beaten and a few days prior to that a 23-year-old Jewish woman was attacked. The perpetrators tried to choke her and it was only due to the intervention of passersby that her life was saved. Tunisian security forces called to the scene responded to the incident with indifference, writing it off as an attempted robbery.

Prince Philip, the irascible and tough-minded husband of Queen Elizabeth II who spent more than seven decades supporting his wife in a role that both defined and constricted his life, has died, Buckingham Palace said Friday. He was 99. His life spanned nearly a century of European history, starting with his birth as a member of the Greek royal family and ending as Britain’s longest serving consort during a turbulent reign in which the thousand-year-old monarchy was forced to reinvent itself for the 21st century. He was known for his occasionally racist and sexist remarks — and for gamely fulfilling more than 20,000 royal engagements to boost British interests at home and abroad.

Fortunately, Israel is now allowing non-Israeli citizens who have first-degree relatives in the holy land to come visit and enjoy some genuine Israeli gourmet food – locusts! A shiur attended by hundreds was held in Bnei Brak on Wednesday night on the signs of kashrus of locusts as stated in Parshas Shemini. It should be noted that Ashkenazim never had a mesorah for which locusts were unkosher and therefore were not permitted to eat them. Teimani Jews have a mesorah for which locusts are kosher. The shiur was delivered by HaRav Yehudah Machpoud, the grandson of HaGaon HaRav Shlomo Machpoud.

Ahead of Yom HaShoah in Israel on Wednesday night, the organization Orchos Yosher publicized HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kanivesky’s handwritten notes on an issue related to the Holocaust, B’Chadrei Chareidim reported. Someone had asked a shaila of HaRav Chaim about naming a baby after someone who died in the Holocaust in light of the practice to refrain from naming someone who underwent terrible tzaros and/or died early. HaRav Chaim wrote that the Holocaust was a general gezeira on the Jewish nation and not on each individual. “Those who were killed due to the decrees of Hitler, yemach shemo – one shouldn’t worry about naming after them since it was an overall decree,” HaRav Chaim stated. “So I heard from my father, my teacher (the Steipler, z’tl).” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

NEW YORK- – Assemblymembers Daniel Rosenthal (D-Queens), Amy Paulin (D- Westchester), Simcha Eichenstein (D- Brooklyn), and Senator Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn), wrote a letter to Rick Cotton, Executive Director of the Port Authority of NY & NJ and Steve Dickson, Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, urging them to conduct an investigation on recent allegations of antisemitic actions taken by airlines. The lawmakers referenced two recent incidents of forced deplaning by Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines on flights originating from the New York area. In both cases, visibly Jewish passengers were aggressively forced to deplane by airline staff for alleged non-compliance with the federal mask mandate.