Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu canceled his trip to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday after his wife was hospitalized and in the wake of the Jordanian refusal to approve the prime minister’s flight over its airspace. Sara Netanyahu was hospitalized at Hadassah Medical Center on Thursday morning after feeling unwell and she was found to be suffering from appendicitis. She is expected to be hospitalized for several days. Media reports early Thursday morning said that Netanyahu may cancel his trip to the UAE due to his wife’s illness. However, later on Thursday, media reports said that Netanyahu canceled his trip due to Jordan’s refusal to approve his flight over its airspace.

A person was murdered on Ave M and East 19th just after midnight, Thursday morning. Sources tell YWN that the victim, was an African American teen, was transported by Flatbush Hatzolah to Community Hospital in traumatic arrest with CPR being performed. He was pronounced dead minutes after arriving at the emergency room. A weapon and shell casings have been retrieved, and an investigation is underway. Police were interviewing a group of teens who appeared to have been with the victim when he was shot. They did not appear to be local residents. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

HaGaon HaRav Gershon Edelstein, who just returned to delivering shiurim in person after a year of staying at home due to the pandemic, was accosted by an anti-vaxxer on Wednesday afternoon. As the Rosh Yeshivah was returning to his home after delivering a shiur, a young man approached him and began screaming about coronavirus vaccines, the “decree” on army enlistment, and voting in the elections. “The man was insane, he shamelessly screamed at the Rosh Yeshivah,” a witness to the scene told Kikar H’Shabbos. “We managed to overcome him only through a neis. At the last minute, we prevented him from physically attacking the Rosh Yeshivah.” Someone called the police and officers quickly arrived at the scene. They arrested the man and he was taken to the police station for interrogation.

Dear Yeshiva World News, I didn’t think that I would be writing this, but the meshigas has been going on now for almost two weeks now and no one else has written anything, so I have to! I am a normal person who moved from Brooklyn to Toms River. I have a few children, some married, and some in seminary and yeshiva in Eretz Yisroel. We don’t do hotels for Pesach, but we do go to Florida every year as a family. This past year has been very hard for all of us. We were not together last year Pesach or summer because of COVID. We were moser nefesh to send our kids to E”Y this past year. My daughter had to give birth without her mother, husband or any other family in Yerushalayim. The seminary year for my daughter has been a far cry from the year we imagined.

Israeli media reports on Wednesday are full of good news for a change, with the Health Ministry reporting a continued decrease in the infection rate and the lowest number of seriously ill virus patients in three months. Furthermore, if the positive trend continues, Health Ministry officials are planning to lift further health restrictions in about ten days, according to a Channel 12 News report. In addition, coronavirus czar Prof. Nachman Ash said on Wednesday that there will be no need for further lockdowns prior to the elections or Pesach based on the current infection rate.

The House just voted to approve the Covid-19 relief bill, paving the way for President Biden to sign his top legislative priority into law. House Democrats passed the legislation on a party line vote of 220-211. No Republicans voted in favor. One Democrat voted against the bill: Rep. Jared Golden of Maine. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said today that Biden will sign the bill on Friday afternoon at the White House. Passage of the bill marks the first major legislative achievement of the new administration and a Congress that is now under full Democratic control, with narrow majorities in the House and Senate.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will travel to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday in the first official state visit since the Abraham Accords, Israeli media reported on Wednesday. The prime minister will meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during the visit, which will last for only a few hours. Netanyahu had planned to visit the UAE several months ago but was forced to repeatedly delay his trip due to various issues, including the closing of Israel’s borders, coronavirus regulations, and political matters. The trip comes 12 days before the elections. According to an Axios report, when Netanyahu called the crown prince 10 days ago regarding a visit, the Emiratis were hesitant to agree to it prior to the election.

Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem placed 80 of its employees who haven’t been vaccinated against COVID on unpaid leave, Haaretz reported on Monday. The hospital has set up an exemptions committee for employees who have a justified reason for not being vaccinated but these 80 employees, including doctors and nurses and administrative employees, have no medical justification for not being vaccinated, the report said. Hadassah said that one nurse who refused to be vaccinated was diagnosed with the coronavirus on Sunday night and all her patients, who are children, had to be placed in isolation. Last week, Hadassah CEO Zeev Rotstein banned medical personnel at the hospital who haven’t been vaccinated from treating patients unless they had a medical justification for not doing so.

Israel will not follow the recommendation of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which announced on Monday that fully-vaccinated Americans can gather indoors without wearing masks or maintaining social distancing, Kan News reported on Tuesday. All Israeli citizens are still required to wear masks in public spaces, without exceptions. Senior Israeli Heath Ministry officials told Kan that Israel does not yet support the measure as there is still a lack of information on whether those who are vaccinated can still contract the virus and transmit it to others while remaining aysmptomatic. Coronavirus czar Prof.

Shocking video shows the moment two New York City police officers were wounded ‒ and miraculously survived ‒ while answering a 911 call for a person shot in Brooklyn over the weekend, officials said. “This incident, I’m sure everybody could understand, could have been a lot worse,” Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison said Monday during a news conference. “By the grace of God, our heroic officers will be going home.” New York Police Department (NYPD) brass shared the harrowing footage of the attack from 9:15 p.m. Sunday, when three officers and one sergeant were responding to a report of a man shot at a Crown Heights apartment building, Harrison said. Police arrived to find the suspect exiting the apartment “wearing a blanket over his shoulders,” Harrison said.