A Jerusalem Magisterial Court extended the detention of Aharon Ramati who is accused of running a cult in a Chareidi community in Yerushalayim. During the discussions at the hearing, police asked for a warrant to search Ramati’s phones. Police currently suspect that the testimony of one of the suspects points to an obstruction of justice. “When we brought the suspect into custody, we were told that he had to undergo a medical checkup outside of our custody and we, therefore, did not have time to present him with all of the evidence that we had collected.

The man behind the network recruiting hundreds of Chareidi young men and women to smuggle Khat into Europe lives in Kiryat Sefer, Chareidim10 reported. Attorney Mordechai Tzivin, who specializes in international crime, extradition and Interpol and has voluntarily assisted in over ten cases of Chareidi youth arrested in Europe for smuggling Khat, said that the Kiryat Sefer resident, “D.B.,” convinces the youth that smuggling Khat isn’t dangerous since it’s not an illegal drug in Israel. Tzivin added that the police are aware of the identities of the Khat operators but they have no legal means to stop them since there is no law that bans taking Khat out of Israel. D.B.

A 12-year-old boy R”L fell to his death in Ashdod on Wednesday afternoon. It happened at around 6:20PM, when the boy fell of a 5th-story window in Ashdod.  After receiving initial medical care at the scene by United Hatzalah volunteers and MDA ambulance staff, the boy was transported in critical condition while still undergoing CPR to Assuta hospital. Unfortunately, he was Niftar at the hospital. He was identified as Max Edelstein Z”L. Police officers who arrived at the scene opened an investigation into the incident, and are working to determine what caused the fall. Additional information will be published when available. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

R’ Avraham Gelbman, z’l, a 50-year-old resident of Beit Shemesh and father of eight, was killed on Wednesday morning when his car crashed into the guard rail on Highway 5 near the Barkan intersection. The circumstances of the accident are unclear. R’ Gelbman,z’l, was extricated from the car by emergency services who sadly were forced to declare his death at the scene of the accident. R’ Gelbman’s friends told B’Chadrei Chareidim that he was an important member of the Breslover community in Beit Shemesh and was very involved in doing chessed – he volunteered for Zaka, Ichud Hatzlah and Ezras Achim. “The Zaka family mourns the tragic death of our dear volunteer who was devoted to chessed shel emes, R’ Avromi Gelbman, z”l, of the Beit Shemesh team,” Zaka stated.

Ukraine’s first Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who is coming to Israel this week for the World Holocaust Forum, said that Ukraine is beginning to build a “Little Jerusalem” in Uman in a recent interview with Times of Israel (TOI). Zelensky admitted to TOI that he’s a little miffed that Israel didn’t ask him to speak at the forum since statistics show that one out of four Jews killed during the Holocaust were Ukrainian – over 1 million Jews including the 150,000 Jews who were shot at Babi Yar in the “Holocaust of the bullets.” As one of the ways to honor the victims of the Holocaust and memorialize the once-booming Jewish population, Zelensky said that Ukraine is beginning to construct a “Little Jerusalem” in Uman.

A passenger on a recent flight tells YWN about the extremely disturbing experience she had with LOT Polish Airlines from JFK to Israel with a stopover in Poland. The woman said that she was so horrified by what she saw that she wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes. “Mrs. B”. said that the first leg of her flight – from JFK to Poland – was completely fine. The problems started when the passengers began checking in for the final leg of the flight from Poland to Tel Aviv. Every single non-Jew [and presumably Jews that weren’t obviously Jewish] were allowed on the plane with their hand luggage, without being required to hand it over to be checked or weighed.

NYC Councilman Chaim Deutsch has filed paperwork to run for Congress in in New York’s 9th District. He hopes to unseat Democrat Yvette Clark, who has held the seat in 2007. Councilman Chaim Deutsch is a life-long Brooklynite, representing the diverse communities within the 48th City Council District – an office he first assumed in 2014. He is a Democrat. The district includes Brighton Beach, Gerritsen Beach, Gravesend, Manhattan Beach, Marine Park, Midwood, Plum Beach, and Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn. His term ends in 2021. In the 2018 election Clark narrowly won a primary challenge Adam Bunkeddeko, winning by less than 2,000 votes. Bunkeddeko, a progressive activist, is running in this election as well.

Hillary Clinton says “nobody likes” her former presidential rival Bernie Sanders, even as the Vermont senator remains entrenched among the front-runners in the Democratic race, with the Iowa caucus beginning in less than two weeks. In an interview with “The Hollywood Reporter” published Tuesday, Clinton was asked about a comment she makes in an upcoming documentary where she says Sanders was “in Congress for years” but, “Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done.” Clinton replied that the criticism still holds and refused to say she’d endorse him this cycle if he wins the party’s nomination, adding: “It’s not only him, it’s the culture around him. It’s his leadership team.

One person was seriously injured in a fire in a private home in Flatbush, Monday night. It happened at around 10:30PM at 757 Ocean Parkway near Foster Avenue. FDNY says they found heavy fire blowing out of the windows upon their arrival. It quickly escalated to a second alarm. One civilian was removed with serious injuries from the burning home, and was treated and transported by Flatbush Hatzolah Paramedics. One firefighter was injured as well. Photos by Heshy Rubenstein – Dee Voch (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Democratic “Squad” member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. compared Monday’s gun rights protest in Richmond, Va., to the protests that followed the deaths of Freddie Gray and Eric Garner and questioned what she thought was the lack of police presence at the commonwealth’s capital. “There’s this gun rights protest that’s going on in Richmond … on MLK Day, but here’s the image that has [stuck] with me the most about that is that when we go out and march for the dignity and the recognition of the lives of people like Freddie Gray and Eric Garner,” Ocasio-Cortez explained, “the whole place is surrounded by police in riot gear without a gun in sight.