A bus packed with frum Jews on their way to a Chanukah get-together was attacked by individuals who appeared to perform Nazi salutes. A video of the incident shows a group of men performing Nazi salutes, cursing at the passengers, spitting on them, and then slamming their fists against the bus door and windows. The incident comes amid a spate of anti-Semitic attacks carried out across the globe over the first few days of Chanukah, including several assaults in Brooklyn and the toppling of numerous menorahs across the world. The Metropolitan Police said Monday’s incident is being treated as a hate crime. No arrests have yet been made. “Antisemitism has no place whatsoever in society and I utterly condemn these disgusting acts,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted.

Multiple videos are making the rounds on social media this Chanukah of people throwing items at the person lighting Menorah in Shul. One of these scenes is in the presence of the Satmar Rebbe of Kiryas Yoel, who is standing and watching as a crowd of men and Bochrim pelt the one lighting Menorah with towels and other objects. A second viral video is actually from a YWN article from 2016. Many are raising their eyebrows what this is all about. If you have never before seen this done, you too will be stunned. (Watch both videos below). The following article from Rabbi Yair Hoffman written for YWN in 2016 explains it all. It is one of those Chassidish Chanukah Minhagim that Litvaks generally don’t really go for. Nonetheless, it is a genuine Minhag that dates back hundreds of years.

An overnight explosion blew through the lower levels of a Brooklyn home leaving six people injured and displacing dozens of nearby residents, according to the FDNY. The explosion, which was caught on camera, happened on Wednesday just after midnight at a home on Vermont Street in the Cypress Hills section and collapsed the first floor of the residence into the cellar, authorities said. Six residents were treated for remarkably minor injuries, two of them taken to Brookdale University Hospital. The other four were treated at the scene. According to fire officials, a resident next door said he smelled gas and called the landlord who said he was taking care of it.

A disturbing phenomenon has been taking place in Flatbush over the past several months, in which a group of teenagers have been breaking into shuls on Friday night. Sadly, these teenagers are members of frum Flatbush households. The teens have been gaining access to the shuls by figuring out the combination patterns, after which they have been stealing money from pushkas, as well as going through shtenders in search of car keys. Unfortunately, they have successfully stolen many vehicles this way over the past 3 months. Flatbush Shomrim has been able to recover a large percentage of the stolen vehicles, and reports that a number of the teens involved in the delinquent behavior have long rap sheets.

Authorities say a 15-year-old sophomore opened fire at his Michigan high school, killing three other students and wounding six other people, including a teacher. Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe said at a news conference that he didn’t know what the assailant’s motives were for the attack Tuesday afternoon at Oxford High School in Oxford Township, a community of about 22,000 people roughly 30 miles north of Detroit. Authorities arrested the suspect at the school and recovered a handgun. They didn’t immediately release the names of the suspect or victims. (AP)

A fast moving fire in the Outremont neighborhood of Montreal, left three Jewish owned houses destroyed. The fire, which broke out on Jeanne Mance Street at approximately 10:30 PM, was first identified by a passerby who smelled smoke and immediately alerted the local fire department as well as Chaverim of Montreal. Within moments, Chaverim volunteers were on scene and began alerting residents of the impending danger. Due to the fast response and actions of Chaveirim of Montreal, all residents managed to get out, and B”H no residents were injured. Firefighters arrived shortly thereafter, and the massive blaze was brought under control at approximately 2:00 AM. Unfortunately, one firefighter was transported to the hospital with minor injuries.

Flatbush Shomrim is warning NYC residents to be vigilant of packages arriving to their homes, as the organization has been inundated with calls relating to stolen boxes and packages in recent weeks. In one instance, Flatbush Shomrim received multiple calls on Monday afternoon of packages being stolen in the area of Ave. W and East 3rd St. An eyewitness to the thefts managed to snap a photo of the van being used by at least some of the suspects who were stealing packages, and Shomrim distributed the photo to its patrol members. At approximately 1:30 am Tuesday morning, Shomrim members on night patrol spotted the vehicle in question parked in the area of Ave. P and Ocean Parkway.

Dr. Anthony Fauci elevated his ego yet again on Sunday, claiming in an interview that he “represents science.” Republican Senator Rand Paul recently slammed the White House chief medical advisor for “obfuscating the truth” about the National Institutes of Health’s funding for gain-of-function research, which some now believe caused the Covid-19 pandemic, but Fauci dismissed the criticism as “noise.” “Anybody who’s looking at this carefully realizes that there’s a distinct anti-science flavor to this, so if they get up and criticize science, nobody’s going to know what they’re talking about,” Fauci said on CBS’ Face the Nation program.

President Joe Biden called the new COVID-19 variant omicron a cause for concern but “not a cause for panic” Monday and said he was not considering any widespread U.S. lockdown. He urged Americans anew to get fully vaccinated, including booster shots, and return to face masks indoors in public settings to slow any spread. Speaking Monday at the White House, Biden said it was inevitable that the new variant would reach the U.S., but he also said the country has the tools necessary to protect Americans — particularly the approved vaccines and booster shots.

Chanukah preparations began in Israel and throughout the world as Jews were still reeling from the Old City terror attack, which killed Eli Kay, H’yd and seriously wounded Aharon Yehudah ben Tovah. And then the day before Chanukah, the world was hit yet again with confusion, fear, and shuttered borders as the Omicron, the latest mutated coronavirus variant made itself known, with the full implications of its emergence yet unknown. Singing Al Hanisim on Chanukah reminds us that Hakadosh Baruch Hu has and will perform nissim for Klal Yisrael during times of darkness and despair. Talmidim of Yeshivas Netiv Aryeh in the Old City of Jerusalem, Shaya Fink and Ovadya Yaish, sang Al Hanisim, composed by Yonatan Katz, in memory of Eli Kay, z’l. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)