Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced at the weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday morning that the government will advance judicial reform legislation beginning this week in the wake of the opposition leaders’ announcement last week that they are halting negotiations on the reform. “What was proven last week was that essentially there was a misrepresentation of so-called negotiations but was in fact just a waste of time,” Netanyahu said. “Their intention was to drag out each amendment while meanwhile, a large majority of the public understands that amendments are needed in the judicial system.

I boarded a plane at 6 am from Los Angeles to NY this morning. It was too early to daven before we left. I didn’t want to daven at 2:30 when we landed because I was going straight to the Ohel. I made sure I had an exit row bulkhead. I knew with this plane configuration, I would have plenty of room to daven. About an hour after takeoff, I stood up, took out my Tallis and tefilin, and started davening. The plane was pretty quiet, most people sleeping, and it was really a pleasant davening. As I was taking off my Rashi tefilin, a stewardess approached. I could see she was uncomfortable and said, “You know you will have to sit down soon.” I told her I was just about done and thought nothing more of it. As I looked up, a gentleman was standing, talking to his son and pointing toward me.

President Joe Biden’s closing remarks during his speech at the National Safer Communities Summit in Connecticut on Friday caused a wave of confusion among the audience and sparked renewed questions about his mental capacities. Speaking to gun safety advocates and survivors of gun violence at the University of Hartford, Biden concluded his address with the peculiar phrase, “Alright? God save the Queen, man.” Shortly after, “God Save The Queen” started trending on Twitter, with many expressing their bewilderment and pointing out the latest instance of Biden’s obviously declining cognitive health. Had Biden made a reference to Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s monarch who passed away last September? Yes, he absolutely had.

A four-month-old baby with whooping cough was hospitalized in critical condition in the pediatric intensive care unit at Assuta Ashdod Hospital last week. The baby was suffering from severe coughing and breathing difficulties – to the point of turning blue – before being hospitalized on Wednesday. Since then, his breathing issues have improved but he is still in the PICU due to his severe cough. There has been an increase in cases of whooping cough in babies and toddlers in Israel since February. Last month, a ten-week-old infant from Jerusalem passed away from the disease. The hospital issued a statement emphasizing that vaccination of the mother during pregnancy for whooping cough would have prevented the current situation. Dr.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he opposes any interim agreement reportedly being negotiated between the U.S. and Iran over its nuclear program. Netanyahu spoke after reports in Israeli media said understandings are being reached between Washington and Tehran that would seek to hold back Iran’s nuclear program somewhat, in exchange for some sanctions relief. The reports could not be independently confirmed and the U.S. has publicly denied any such deal. Netanyahu said Israel had informed the U.S.

The once grandiose Pines Hotel, formerly a prominent establishment in the Catskill Mountains’ renowned “Borsht Belt,” was consumed by a massive blaze and destroyed, early Sunday morning. The abandoned hotel, located on Laural Avenue in South Fallsburg, has been closed since 1998 due to financial struggles and structural damage. In recent years, the Pines Hotel, once a symbol of luxury and leisure, fell victim to financial hardships and structural deterioration, leading to its closure over two decades ago. Despite several attempts to revive the property, including proposals for residential development, ownership disputes and various challenges prevented any progress. There were previously arson fires at the property, with homeless and drug users living at the property.

A 19-year-old Michigan man has been charged with threatening a mass killing at a synagogue on the fifth anniversary of the massacre at two New Zealand mosques by a white supremacist gunman, federal officials say. Seann Patrick Pietila of Pickford, a township in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, was arrested Friday and charged with transmitting a communication containing a threat to injure another, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Prosecutors say he planned to target the Shaarey Zedek congregation in East Lansing. He allegedly made threats on social media, including Instagram, that included comments about neo-Nazi ideology, antisemitism and glorifying mass shootings, most notably the 2019 shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, The Detroit News reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday claimed that Jews think Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky isn’t Jewish. “I have a lot of Jewish friends,” Putin said at an economic forum in Saint Petersburg. “They say that Zelensky is not Jewish, that he is a disgrace to the Jewish people.” “This is not a joke and not an attempt at irony, because today neo-Nazis, Hitler’s disciples, have been put on a pedestal as heroes of Ukraine,” Putin added, the TASS Russian News Agency reported. Putin admitted that Zelensky “has Jewish blood” but ” covers for these freaks, these neo-Nazis, with his actions.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

A truck driver who spewed hatred of Jews was convicted Friday of barging into a Pittsburgh synagogue and shooting everyone he could find, killing 11 congregants in an act of antisemitic terror for which he could be sentenced to die. The guilty verdict was a foregone conclusion after Robert Bowers’ own lawyers conceded at the trial’s outset that he attacked and killed worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018, in the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history. Jurors must now decide whether the 50-year-old should be sent to death row or sentenced to life in prison without parole as the federal trial shifts to a penalty phase expected to last several weeks.

We have all seen and heard about the string of Ponzi’s and dishonest business dealings in the frum community. It’s been published and discussed on YWN, Lakewood Alerts, and now a magazine has placed it on their front cover. But have you wondered why? Why are we getting hit over and again by financial scammers? Did something happen, has something changed? There have been numerous frauds exposed in just the past few weeks; 20 years ago, five frauds being exposed in the frum community would take years. What happened to us? I’d like to suggest a theory which I think also serves as a serious bit of mussar for all of us, myself included. The theory is simple: Materialism has become our Avoda Zara, and the pursuit of it requires a literally endless amount of money.