Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kisch said this week that if the Israeli public chooses to ignore lockdown regulations that are going into effect on Friday, the health system situation will become so dire that “there will be dead people in the streets like in New York and Italy.” “If those who say the virus is ‘nothing’ until they see dead in the streets, chas v’chalilah, like in New York and Italy, if they want to spread the virus to us all, then that’s what will happen,” Kisch said on Channel 12 News. “I hope the public understands how critical it is…that we are reaching numbers that are on the verge of being uncontrollable.” Currently, there are 1,163 Israelis hospitalized with about half in serious condition.

The Orange County Health Department visited the main Satmar Shul in Kiryas Joel on Wednesday morning and platstered a “cease and desist order” on the building. Viral photos on social media showed a man hanging up sign up from the Health Commissioner as a NY State Trooper stood nearby. The letter can be read below, but most interesting is what appears to be a veiled threat of “criminal charges” if the social distancing rules are not adhered to.

Higher Education Minister Zeev Elkin (Likud), who was appointed to a governmental committee on the Uman issue, announced on Thursday morning that Ukraine has issued its final official answer on the matter and is not allowing additional visitors to Uman to enter the country. “Despite our great efforts to assist Israelis who tried to enter Ukraine through Belarus or Moldova, a final negative answer from the Ukrainian authorities arrived this morning,” Elkin stated. “The Ukrainians announced that they will not allow any entry through border crossings and no reduced delegations.” “I call on our citizens to return to Israel and adhere to quarantine regulations upon your return.

The following important update was released moments ago by the Chaim VChessed Organization: Israel will be entering a shutdown on Erev Rosh Hashana. In conjunction with this, on Thursday, September 17, the Interior Ministry suddenly announced that, effective immediately, no permits to enter Israel will be issued to students. As reported previously, thanks to the efforts of Rabbi Nechemya Malinowitz, head of the Vaad of Yeshivas and Seminaries, last month, a process was established to allow entry of foreign students into Israel. This process has allowed thousands of students to return to their studies in the Holy Land. Now, this process has been suspended, until the conclusion of the lockdown.

Following a period of seven months with no kabalas kahal for Hagaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky due to the coronavirus, special preparations are being made to allow Bnei Brak residents to receive HaRav Chaim’s blessings for a Shana Tovah. Every year, in an hours-long process, thousands of Bnei Brak residents line up on the night of Rosh Hashanah to receive a bracha of Shana Tovah from the Gadol Hador and tens of thousands visit HaRav Chaim’s home throughout Tishrei. HaRav Chaim’s relatives decided that the minhag will continue this year through the construction of a special bridge and a transparent mechitzah between the kahal and the Rav.

Israel’s involvement in the explosion at Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment site has been confirmed, according to a Jerusalem Post report on Wednesday. The report said that that the goal of the Natanz explosion was to send a clear message to Iran to halt its nuclear program and indicate that continued progress toward development of nuclear weapons will not be tolerated. The explosion caused extensive damage at the site and the Post report confirmed that the explosion was a result of physical sabotage rather than through cyberattacks. Iran has not officially accused Israel of perpetrating the explosion and at the time of the attack, an unknown group named the Homeland Cheetahs, supposedly comprised of Iranian dissidents, claimed responsibility for the explosion.

Health Ministry Deputy Director-General Prof. Itamar Grotto said earlier this week that “”hospitals in the north and in Jerusalem are filling up and transferring patients to central Israel.” “The hospitals in the north have been transferring patients to central Israel for some time now. This is also occuring in the Jerusalem area. Patients have been transferred from Shaarei Tzedek.” The director of Shaarei Tzedek, Prof. Ofer Marin, informed Magen David Adom on Monday not to bring more coronavirus patients to the hospital. Dozens of patients who were waiting to be hospitalized were transferred to hospitals in the center. Prof.

Eli Rozenberg, a 26-year-old American living in Israel is the new owner of El Al. Eli purchased El Al on behalf of his father, New York businessman and Hatzolah Paramedic Kenny Rozenberg, and has now purchased a controlling stake in the beleaguered company from Israel’s Government Companies Authority Eli Rosenberg now holds the most amount of stock with 43 percent of the entity, making him the person with the most say in the company. The other potential buyers backed out Rozenberg recently formed the Aviation Eagles Wings company in his bid to acquire El Al and appointed former US envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt as his adviser.

In what has not previously been seen before in Israel, Chareidi women staged a protest on Wednesday afternoon. The Hafganah was held outside the home of Minister Aryeh Deri in Haf Nof, Jerusalem. The women are blaming Deri for the crisis that has been unfolding the past few days, where around 2,500 Breslover Chassidim are stuck between Belarus and Ukraine, trying to make it to Uman for Rosh Hashanah. As YWN has been reporting, there was a severe food shortage, and many children are among the group – some as young as three-years-old. They were sleeping on the cold concrete with no blankets, no food  or drink for a few days.

The central committee of Agudas Yisroel met in Bnei Brak on Tuesday night in order to review the past year’s activities. The main topic of discussion was the recent resignation of former Minister Yaakov Litzman from the government. During the meeting, Litzman called upon the Chareidi public to go out and protest in the street across the country on Motzei Rosh Hashanah against the lockdown. Litzman said: “I call upon the public to protest in every city on Motzei Rosh Hashanah at 10:00 p.m. because we will not be allowed to daven on Yom Kippur as people will be forced to stay at home.” “I’ve been debating resigning for the past five weeks,” Llitzman added.