A final batch of polls by Israeli media outlets on Friday showed a razor-thin election, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fate likely turning on the performance of small parties and a former ally who has criticized him but has not ruled out joining his coalition. The elections next Tuesday — the fourth in less than two years — are widely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, who has presided over one of the world’s most successful coronavirus vaccination campaigns but is also on trial for corruption. The polls show Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party in the lead, projecting that it will win around 30 seats in the 120-member Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

At a Senate hearing Thursday, Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) accused Dr. Anthony Fauci – the nation’s top infectious disease expert – of perpetuating “nanny state” policies that unnecessarily prolong mask use among vaccinated Americans. Kentucky’s junior senator – and ophthalmologist prior to entering politics – has repeatedly clashed with Fauci over coronavirus guidelines. Paul was infected with the virus in 2020 and says there is no need for vaccinated and previously infected individuals to continue public mask use. On Thursday he directly called out Fauci for continuing to wear a mask despite receiving a vaccine. “What studies do you have that people that have had the vaccine or have had the infection are spreading the infection?

Just a few weeks ago, NYC Mayoral candidate Andrew Yang said in a statement to YWN that had “disagreed with Linda Sarsour on many issues including BDS and Israel.” Yang made the statement following a NY Post article which alleged that his campaign manager has ties with notorious Jew-hater Linda Sarsour. But tonight, a video tweeted by Journalist Jacob Kornbluh has Andrew Yang singing a totally different tune, guaranteed to raise eyebrows. Yang was responding to a question about his opposition to BDS in a forum co-hosted by Emgage.

Yaakov Nachum, a 63-year-old Israeli businessman, was named as one of the fatalities in a light plane crash near Miami on Monday. Nachum’s private plane lost altitude and hit a power line almost immediately after it took off from North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines, killing Nachum and a technician on the plane. The plane crashed onto a moving SUV on a residential street, killing a 4-year-old boy, Taylor Bishop, and injuring his mother, Megan Bishop. Nachum, originally from Jerusalem, moved to Miami 30 years ago and established a car repair and trading business. More recently, he expanded his business to light airplanes and got a pilot’s license. He is survived by his wife, three daughters and two granddaughters.

Israel’s largest voluntary emergency services provider, United Hatzalah, dismissed 288 of its 6,000 volunteers who refused to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. “All the volunteers of United Hatzalah, our EMTs, paramedics, and doctors who go out and respond to nearly 2,000 medical emergencies a day, bear a responsibility to protect the health of those they treat, as well as their health and the health of their families,” stated Eli Beer, president and founder of the organization. “It is for this reason that I instructed the management of the organization that every last volunteer be required to get vaccinated. The vast majority of our volunteers understood the importance of this and complied with our request.” “I personally suffered from this disease.

The Chareidi community in Kiryat Gat is reeling in shock from the murder of a 14-year-old boy by his father, 37, who apparently was in the throes of some type of mental fit. A large number of rescue forces arrived at the family’s villa close to midnight on Wednesday night after the mother called and reported that her husband is stabbing their son. The emergency medical services performed CPR and evacuated the boy to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon in critical condition, where the doctors declared his death. The father fled the scene prior to the arrival of security forces but he was found after an extensive search in the woods behind his home. He was arrested for suspected murder and will be transferred for a psychiatric evaluation.

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.

Sixteen Chassidim, including a group of five from New York en route to Vienna, were detained in the airport in Frankfurt on their way to Vienna last week for no apparent reason and were held for over 10 hours. The incident was publicized by the Jewish rights group Americans Against Antisemitism (AAA), founded by former state Assemblyman Dov Hikind. “As soon as I gave my papers over to the officer, he looks at me, he says to me, ‘Are you all five together?’” one of the detained men said. “And I said, ‘Yes.’ And he said, ‘You need to step aside.’” “Two more people who are on our flight arrive there,” he said. “They went over with their papers and immediately were told to stand next to us as well. So, we immediately saw that this is a Jewish thing.

Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, the head of the Health Ministry’s Public Health division, said that as Israel’s infection rate reaches a new low, the main risk is now the entry of new variants that are resistant to coronavirus vaccines. “The issue that scares us most is the entry of variants,” she said at a press briefing on Monday, explaining that the vaccine is effective against the British variant, which is currently behind 90% of the cases in Israel but is less effective against the South African variant (behind 1% of cases). “We’re afraid other variants that are resistant to vaccines will enter Israel.” Alroy-Preis said that variants could infect children under 16, who aren’t yet approved to be vaccinated, as well as other unvaccinated Israelis.

Women who are vaccinated against the coronavirus during pregnancy pass COVID antibodies to their babies, a study by researchers at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem shows. A study of women who received both doses of the Pfizer vaccines during their third trimester of pregnancy found that the women and their newborns had similar antibody levels, as mothers transferred their antibodies to their babies via placental transfer. “Our findings highlight that vaccination of pregnant women may provide maternal and neonatal protection from SARS-CoV-2 infection,” the researchers wrote The study, the largest of its kind to date, is drawing considerable international interest, according to a report by Israel’s Channel 12 News.