A Frum woman was thrown off a Delta flight on Wednesday for not being compliant with mask-wearing. But the passenger tells YWN that she was 100% compliant, and thinks she was the victim of blatant anti-Semitism. The woman – who wishes to remain anonymous at this point – tells YWN her experience as follows: “I was on Delta Flight 5610 from Chicago O’Hare to JFK Airport on Wednesday. I had my siddur open and was praying. The flight attendant, Erica Green, angrily pushed my siddur down and told me to pull up my mask to comply with guidelines. My mask was up but she walked away without allowing me to show her. I brushed it off assuming she didn’t see me correctly. She came back with another flight attendant and they both got extremely angry at me.

China poses the greatest threat to America and the rest of the free world since World War II, outgoing National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe said Thursday as the Trump administration ramps up anti-Chinese rhetoric to pressure President-elect Joe Biden to be tough on Beijing. “The intelligence is clear: Beijing intends to dominate the U.S. and the rest of the planet economically, militarily and technologically,” Ratcliffe wrote in an op-ed published Thursday in The Wall Street Journal. “Many of China’s major public initiatives and prominent companies offer only a layer of camouflage to the activities of the Chinese Communist Party.” “I call its approach of economic espionage ‘rob, replicate and replace,’” Ratcliffe said. “China robs U.S.

Powerful gusts pushed flames from a wildfire through Southern California canyons on Thursday, one of several blazes that burned near homes and forced residents to flee amid elevated fire risk for most of the region that prompted utilities to cut off power to hundreds of thousands. The biggest blaze began late Wednesday as a house fire in Orange County’s Silverado Canyon, where gusts topped 70 mph (113 kph). “When crews arrived it was a fully engulfed house and the winds were extremely strong and they pushed flames into the vegetation,” said Colleen Windsor, a spokeswoman for the county’s Fire Authority. The fire grew to more than 11 square miles (29 square kilometers) and blanketed a wide area with smoke and ash.

As Israeli tourists flock to visit the newly opened United Arab Emirates, Israel’s Health Ministry officials are growing more and more concerned about an alarming rise in coronavirus morbidity in the UAE in recent weeks. According to a Channel 12 News report on Tuesday, ministry officials said if new daily cases in the UAE continue to surpass 1,000 a day, it may be designated as a “red” state. However, officials also acknowledge the fact that imposing travel restrictions on the UAE would cause strain on Israel’s newly formed diplomatic relations with the Gulf state. The United Arab Emirates has been designated by the US Centers for Disease Control as a “very high” risk level for COVID-19 (along with Israel and over 170 other countries).

A large Charedi wedding took place on Thursday night in the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The wedding came just a few months after the historic signing of the Abraham Accords that normalized relations between Israel and the UAE. For the first time, dozens of Charedim from Israel and New York set foot on the sands of the Muslim country. Among the notable people who attended were Rav Sholom Ber Sorotzkin, Rosh Yeshiva of Ateres Shlomo, and Chassidic music sensation Motti Steinmetz. Dudi Rubinstein from the Tourist Agency “Chul Mehudar” told BeChadrei Charedim that: “The reason that they held the wedding in Dubai, is that both Israel and the U.S. are causing problems for large weddings due to Corona regulations. In Dubai, everything is better.

President-elect Joe Biden told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday that he will ask Americans to wear masks for his first 100 days after he takes office. “Just 100 days to mask, not forever. 100 days. And I think we’ll see a significant reduction,” Biden told Tapper during his first joint interview with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris since winning the election. Biden said that where he has authority, like in federal buildings or in interstate transportation on airplanes and buses, he will issue a standing order that masks must be worn. Biden also said he has asked Dr. Anthony Fauci to be a chief medical adviser and part of his Covid-19 response team when his administration begins next year. (Source: CNN)

As state officials in Georgia insist that no fraud took place during last month’s election, President Donald Trump’s legal team presented seemingly shocking footage to state senators, which they say reveals blatant cheating. With Georgia’s counties due to certify their results before noon on Friday, Trump is far from conceding. At a hearing before the State Senate on Thursday, Trump campaign lawyer Rudy Giuliani asked witnesses to present evidence of alleged election fraud to Republican lawmakers, with one video in particular standing out.

This Sunday י״ג כסלו, Reb Berish Aurbach davened for the Amud at Caulfield Beis Medrash in Melbourne Australia for his mother’s 100th Yartzheit. Berish turned 100 this year and lost his mother Rivka Aurbach (nee Blass) in Biala, Poland in 1920 when he was just a few months old. This past August Reb Berish celebrated his 100th birthday, and received a latter from the Queen of Australia (see below). (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The first Jewish wedding in the United Arab Emirates was a Chareidi one that took place in Dubai on Monday night, Kikar H’Shabbos reported. The chassan, from a Charedi family from London, is a talmid of Yeshivas Medrash Shmuel in Jerusalem and the kallah is the daughter of a Rosh Mesivta in Medrash Shmuel. About 100 family members flew to Dubai from Israel, the UK and other countries to participate in the wedding at the Park Hyatt Dubai Hotel. The family made a decision to hold the wedding in Dubai since both Israel and England currently have strict restrictions on the number of participants allowed at gatherings. The mashpia Rav Mota Frank, who traveled to Dubai last week, served as the Mesader Kiddushin.

Progressive Democrats took aim at former President Barack Obama after he argued that political candidates alienate voters when they use “snappy” slogans such as “defund the police.” Obama made the comments during an interview with Peter Hamby on the Snapchat original political show “Good Luck America” that aired Wednesday morning. “You lost a big audience the minute you say it, which makes it a lot less likely that you’re actually going to get the changes you want done,” Obama said. “The key is deciding, do you want to actually get something done, or do you want to feel good among the people you already agree with?” is comments drew a sharp rebuke from several progressive Democrats such as anti-Semites Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. “We lose people in the hands of police,” Rep.