A Likud spokesman says in a statement distributed to Israeli media that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to fire Bezalel Smotrich from the cabinet if he did not apologize, after the politician slammed the premier as “weak,” with no ability to govern.
Smotrich says his comments were “said out of deep sorrow,” amid anger over Jews being banned from the Har Habayis on Sunday.
“Things were said in a way that was not fitting, especially not given the relationship between a prime minister and a minister in his government, and for that I am sorry,” he says.
Read more at Times of Israel.
{Matzav.com}

A small nuclear reactor was involved in the failed missile test last week in Russia that ended in an explosion that killed five scientists, Bloomberg News reported Monday.
The institute they worked for is developing small-scale power sources that use “radioactive materials, including fissile and radioisotope materials” for the Defense Ministry and civilian uses, Vyacheslav Soloviev, scientific director of the institute, said on local TV, according to the news outlet.
The blast, which occurred Aug. 8, caused a brief spike in radiation in the nearby port city of Severodvinsk, according to a now-deleted statement on the local administration’s website reviewed by Bloomberg.

The day after a gunman allegedly motivated by anti-Hispanic hatred killed 22 and wounded dozens in El Paso, Texas, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. – like most Democratic presidential contenders – connected the attack to President Trump’s own incendiary anti-immigrant rhetoric. Sanders pointed at Trump’s “racist” statements for “creating the kind of violence” that rattled El Paso on Aug. 3.
But to Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., the El Paso massacre evoked another attack with political overtones: The 2017 shooting by a left-wing activist and former Sanders volunteer that left Scalise in critical condition. On Sunday, the Republican House minority whip said he never blamed Sanders for that attack and that Democrats, conversely, shouldn’t attribute the El Paso violence to Trump.

More than 10,000 military-style weapons have been bought back by the New Zealand government less than a month after launching its gun buyback program, which was put in place after a mass shooting in Christchurch left 51 people dead, the Guardian reported.
Following the March mass shooting in two Christchurch mosques by a self-avowed white supremacist, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and the country’s lawmakers passed legislation to ban military-style automatic and semi-automatic weapons, approving 150 million New Zealand dollars to buy the guns back from people.

Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci told Axios on Sunday that Republicans may need to find a candidate to replace President Trump in 2020.
Scaramucci, a prominent Republican donor, said that if Trump “doesn’t reform his behavior, it will not just be me, but many others will be considering helping to find a replacement in 2020.”
“A couple more weeks like this and ‘country over party’ is going to require the Republicans to replace the top of the ticket in 2020,” he said.
“Right now, it’s an unspeakable thing,” he continued. “But if he keeps it up, it will no longer be unspeakable. The minute they start speaking of it, it will circulate and be socialized. We can’t afford a full nuclear contamination site post 2020.”

Members of the Jewish community typically observe Tisha B’Av, the annual day of mourning, by fasting, reading Eicha, and going to shul. But on Sunday, more than 250 Jews spent the occasion under the searing afternoon sun across from the White House, protesting the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
Some came in large groups from their synagogues, sporting matching T-shirts and signs that read “Never Again.” Others, like 87-year old Ann Ingram and her 59-year-old daughter, Julie Ingram, had never observed Tisha B’Av before, but felt compelled to mark the occasion for the first time this year.

President Trump has reportedly told senior White House aids that Israel should deny US Representatives Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) entry into the country.
Citing three people with direct knowledge of the discussions, Axios reported on Saturday that Trump believes the two lawmakers should be barred from entering Israel based of their outspoken support for the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement.
Trump’s view on the matter has possibly reached Israel’s Prime Minister, but White House officials have been quick to deny that the president has exerted influence or pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The Israeli government can do what they want. It’s fake news,” White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said on Saturday.

The suspected gunman in an attack on a mosque in Norway over the weekend was inspired by the Christchurch shooting in New Zealand and two recent mass shooting in the U.S., according to online posts analyzed by the Guardian.
Philip Manshaus, 21, stormed a mosque in Baerum, a town near Oslo, on Saturday. He was restrained by worshippers and no one was killed.
Police are investigating the shooting as a potential terror attack, per the Guardian.
Read more at The Hill.
{Matzav.com}

Likud’s main rival for Israel’s throne of politics, head of Blue and White party Benny Gantz, said on Sunday that if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered a leadership rotation deal with him in the next government, with Gantz leading first — he’d consider it.
In an interview with YNET News, Gantz said that if Netanyahu had “offered a rotation deal, with myself premiering first, then we can begin to talk.”
But Gantz expressed confidence in his chances to top the Likud leader. “Everyone understands the end of the Netanyahu era has begun,” he said and claimed sources in his party are currently negotiating with officials of the Likud party. “Netanyahu is managing the last political battle of his life,” he added.

CTech – On Friday, March 15, at 1:33 pm, 28-year-old Brenton Harrison Tarrant went live on Facebook. By the end of the broadcast, Tarrant’s actions were already known as the Christchurch mosque shootings. The live-streamed broadcast, captured with a head-mounted Go-Pro camera, showed Tarrant driving in his car, in full military gear, listening to white supremacist music as he parked in the vicinity of the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. Tarrant was seen picking up a semi-automatic rifle, entering the mosque, and indiscriminately shooting those present for six minutes.