A female protester who condemned Chareidim for not serving in the IDF and “not being Jews” at a protest outside the home of Housing Minister Yitzchak Goldknopf on Tuesday, didn’t serve in the army or perform national service herself, it was revealed on Wednesday by journalist Yishay Fridman. Ironically, a Chassid she confronted at the protest served in the IDF for three years and employs dozens of workers at the company he owns. The protester is Prof. Elise Brezis, a professor of economics at Bar-Ilan University and the director of the Azrieli Center for Economic Policy in Israel. Brezis is originally from a Chassidish background and her brother is a Rav.

Israel Police are on high alert ahead of the Jerusalem Flag March on Jerusalem Day, which falls out on Thursday evening and Friday. Jerusalem District Police Commander Doron Turgeman told reporters on Tuesday that the police are preparing for numerous possibilities of disturbance during the march, including rocket fire. Senior Hamas officials this week threatened to respond to the “provocative Zionist flag march” and the Hamas representative in Lebanon called on Palestinians to gather at Al Aqsa on Thursday morning for “prayers.” About 3,200 police officers will secure the march. Turgeman said that there are warnings of attacks during the march, as there are throughout the year. “There are warnings and we are thwarting them,” he said.

Elon Musk has stepped into a new controversy after making some inflammatory tweets. On Monday, the ultra-wealthy tech mogul likened liberal billionaire and activist George Soros to comic book villain Magneto, a fictional character who is a Holocaust survivor. “He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity,” Musk followed up.

During the Senate Banking Committee hearing on Tuesday, Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, drew lots of unwanted attention with his fragmented and occasionally perplexing line of questioning. Fetterman, who was the final senator to engage in questioning during the hearing addressing the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, seemed to encounter difficulties as he delivered his opening statement. Fetterman said executives “went to go to Hawaiis (sic) after there was a crash of your bank” and that he “couldn’t believe it.” “So, I went up on the Internet, and it’s like, it did happen. It did happen. It did happen,” he said. “And it’s in Fortune, the second-biggest bank in U.S. history collapsed and chose to go to Hawaii on that,” he continued.

As many have predicted, the so-called protests against judicial reform have now been transformed into a frontal assault against Chareidim on the background of reports of the coalition funds promised to the Charedi sector as the government prepares to pass the state budget. Kumi Israel, one of the organizations leading the left-wing protests, published a notice on Tuesday with a picture of Finance Committee chairman Yitzchak Gafni dressed as a “פריץ” entitled SIEGE ON BNEI BRAK: March Of Rage Against The Embezzlers Of Public Funds. It Isn’t Moshke, It’s The Poritz.” The “march of rage” is called for Wednesday evening, with protesters gathering at the Ayalon Mall in Tel Aviv at 8 p.m. and beginning the “march of rage” at 9 p.m.

There’s a new warning for kosher consumers: rigorously check every hashgacha label seen on food products. On Monday, Kashrut.com issued an alert warning of bogus kashrus certification labels being slapped on products bring imported from Asia – particularly ones originating from India. “These bogus kosher symbols ares [s]ome of the ones offered by companies, many in Asia, particularly India, that sell ‘certification’ services. (No recognized rabbinical certification is behind these certications.),” the warning reads. Curiously, one of the fraudulent kashrus symbols being used has “פשר” written on it, rather than the correct “כשר.” As always, buyer beware. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Yeshivos and Bais Yaakovs in Brooklyn have reached an unprecedented consensus to begin the 2023-2024 school year around the start of Elul, rather than with the secular start date of Labor Day. Torah U’Mesorah also requested that “other communities consider joining this movement and working together on this important chinuch issue.” The move comes after a coordinated effort by Torah U’Mesorah, supported by zkan roshei yeshivos HaRav Shmuel Kamenetzky shlit”a, to schedule the start of their school year around Rosh Chodesh Elul rather than Labor Day, which would leave talmidim and talmidos little time to be educated about the Yamim Noraim and Sukkos.

A political cartoon by Haaretz‘s in-house cartoonist Amos Biderman with age-old antisemitic tropes that was published on Tuesday raised a furor on Israeli social media. The cartoon, published on the background of reports of the coalition funds promised to the Charedi and Dati Leumi sectors as the government prepares to pass the state budget, uses the “best” of antisemitic themes published in European newspapers in the last century.

Leftist “Brother in Arms” protesters gathered on Tuesday morning near the home of Housing Minister Yitzchak Goldknopf in the Geulah neighborhood of Jerusalem in order to arouse provocations. In a shameful display of age-old antisemitic tropes, the protesters scattered hundreds of fake 200 shekel bills in protest against the government that “robs the public purse and scatters coalitions funds.” This is the second time that Brothers in Arms scattered bills in protests against Chareidim, with the first time occurring in a protest outside Aryeh Deri’s home in March.

There was good news at Hadassah Har HaTzofim Hospital in Jerusalem on Tuesday – the release of HaRav Avraham Noach Paley, who was seriously injured three months ago in the Ramot terror attack, which took the lives of his two young sons, H’yd. After about a month in the hospital and two months in rehabilitation, Rav Paley, who suffered serious injuries to his legs, was able to walk out of the hospital on crutches. He was accompanied by Reb Motti Fried, the head of the Sa’ad V’Marpeh nonprofit medical organization, who has supported Rav Paley and constantly been at his side since the attack. Rav Paley finally returned to his home in Ramot, a happy but bittersweet occasion for the family, whose joy is marred by the absence of Ushi and Yaakov, H’yd.