Mossad head Yossi Cohen spoke with the Prime Minister of Bahrain, Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, by phone in the last few days, amid reports that Bahrain will be the next Persian Gulf state to sign a peace treaty with Israel, Channel 12 News said. A historic peace agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel was announced on Thursday. The report added that the Al Khalifa flew to another country over the weekend in a visit that may be related to talks with Israel over a normalization of ties agreement.

President Donald Trump’s brother died in a hospital in New York City. The President released the following statement: “It is with heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother, Robert, peacefully passed away tonight. He was not just my brother, he was my best friend. He will be greatly missed, but we will meet again. His memory will live on in my heart forever. Robert, I love you. Rest in peace.” Robert Trump, 72, the president’s youngest brother, was admitted to the hospital on Friday and was described as “very ill,” according to sources. Further details were not known, but he was said to be in critical condition at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center on the Upper East Side. “I have a wonderful brother,” President Trump said at a press briefing Friday.

Approval has been granted by the Israeli government for the unprecedented step of testing all of Israel’s yeshivah bochurim prior to the start of the Elul zeman, Kikar H’shabbos reported. The pilot program began already on Thursday in yeshivos that are beginning the Elul zeman early, on Sunday. The tests will be carried out after the Vaad Hayeshivos issues special permits through the Kupot Cholim. The approval was granted following the firm demand of the Roshei Yeshivos of the Vaad Hayeshivos: Rosh Yeshivas Toras Zeev, HaRav Boruch Soloveitchik, Rosh Yeshivas Ohr Yisrael, HaRav Yigal Rosen, and Rosh Yeshivas Chevron, Harav Yitzchak Chevroni, with the support of Rosh Yeshivas Slabodka, Hagaon HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, member of the Motetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Degel HaTorah.

Following a prolonged and tense exchange of letters between the lawyers of potential El Al investor Eli Rozenberg and El Al Airlines, the El Al Board finally scheduled a meeting with Rozenberg on Tuesday, August 18, Globes reported. Rozenberg appointed a steering committee to accompany the acquisition process. Its members include former Israeli Ambassador to the UN Prof. Gabriela Shalev, a jurist who is today a member of the Higher Academic Council at Ono Academic College; economist Doron Cohen, a former coordinator of staff in the Ministry of Finance’s budget division and a former head of the Government Companies Authority; former IDF Head of Central Command Major General (res.) Roni Numa; Moti Engelman, CEO of Reut Airways; and Brigadier Gen.

The world’s first mini clinical trial for a passive coronavirus vaccine formulated from antibodies was a success, with the first three patients treated with it recovering within days and released from the hospital. Three coronavirus patients whose conditions worsened due to the development of pneumonia were treated with the passive coronavirus vaccine at Hadassah Medical Center and all fully recovered, the hospital announced on Thursday. The patients comprised the first “batch” in the trail, which is treating 12 patients in batches. “The response was, in my eyes, it was almost a miracle — they received it and they are now home,” said Hadassah director Prof. Zeev Rothstein. “I don’t know if it’s beginners’ luck, but we are very enthusiastic.

The Ezras Nashim, (aka Chasdei Devorah Inc.) Organization has been granted an ambulance permit by New York State EMS Council on Thursday. The vote at SEMSCO passed by 23 votes, with two members voting against it. A third person abstained. The organization will now be permitted to serve female clientele within a 2.7 square-mile area in the Boro Park neighborhood. [MAILBAG: Thoughts of a Longtime Hatzolah Member On The Ezras Nashim Fiasco] (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

President Trump blasted Sen. Kamala Harris, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in an interview with Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo. On Kamela Harris Trump said “And now, you have — a sort of — a mad woman, I call her, because she was so angry and — such hatred with Justice Kavanaugh. I mean, I’ve never seen anything like it. She was the angriest of the group and they were all angry. … These are seriously ill people.” On AOC Trump said “AOC was a poor student. I mean, I won’t say where she went to school, it doesn’t matter. This is not even a smart person other than she’s got a good line of stuff. I mean, she goes out and she yaps.” On Pelosi trump said: “I believe we’re going to take back the House because Nancy Pelosi is stone cold crazy.”

Israel and the United Arab Emirates reached a historic peace deal on Thursday that will lead to a full normalization of diplomatic relations between the two Middle Eastern nations in an agreement that U.S. President Donald Trump helped broker. Under the agreement, Israel has agreed to suspend applying sovereignty to areas of the West Bank that it has been discussing annexing, senior White House officials told Reuters. The peace deal was the product of lengthy discussions between Israel, the UAE and the United States that accelerated recently, White House officials said. The agreement was sealed in a phone call on Thursday between Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, crown prince of Abu Dhabi. HUGE breakthrough today!

Following Eli Rozenberg’s bid to purchase El Al, another frum businessman, Meir Gurvitz, the son-in-law of Mordechai Ben David, joined the race and submitted an application to El Al on Tuesday for a holding permit, a precondition for the purchase of shares in El Al, Globes reported. El Al transferred Gurvitz’s request to the Government Companies Authority. Gurvitz is a businessman and philanthropist who was born in Israel, spent much of his life in England, and now lives in the US. He is the controlling shareholder in Arazim Investment Ltd. which owns real estate in the UK, and has business dealing in Israel, throughout Europe, and the US. Gurvitz was born to a Chareidi family in Kiryat Ata near Haifa. His father died when he was nine and two years later, his family moved to Bnei Brak.

Israel’s Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem is involved in the development of the vaccine that Russia said it registered on Tuesday and is ready for use, its CEO revealed. Hadassah CEO Prof. Zeev Rotstein, said in an interview on Radio 103FM on Tuesday that Hadassah’s clinic in Skolkovo, Moscow is assisting with the vaccine’s clinical trials. “I’ll tell you a secret,” Rotstein said. “Hadassah hospital is involved in clinical research on the new Russian vaccine in Moscow, in Skolkovo, at the Hadassah hospital there. We are evaluating its safety level first of all.