Many students at a university in Tehran have openly avoided walking over US and Israeli flags in an apparent show of defiance again the Iranian government. Video shows the students walking around, rather than across, the flags at Shahid Beheshti University campus. The flags were painted on the ground so that those walking along the route would thereby insult both countries – which Iran considers staunch enemies. Watch in the second video below what happens when Iranians walk on the Israeli and American flags (most likely of the regime’s IRGC Basij members): They are booed & people begin chanting: “Shame on you!” Thousands of protesters chanting anti-government slogans have taken to the streets after Iran’s military admitted it had mistakenly downed a passenger plane.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opened the weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday by condemning Iran for lying about the crash of a Ukrainian airplane last week. “Iran lied,” Netanyahu said in English. “Just as they lied about their secret nuclear program, they’re lying now about the downing of the Ukrainian aircraft. They knew from the start that they had downed it. They knew that it was an unintentional downing but they lied intentionally. They deceived the entire world.” “This is completely contrary to the way that a civilized country should act, and we send our condolences to the victims of Iran’s deception and negligence,” Netanyahu concluded.

New York City police are investigating anti-Semitic graffiti, including a swastika, found sprayed in a stairwell of a local high school. An employee of Brooklyn Tech High School found the message scribbled in black marker inside the third-floor stairwell, police said. No arrests have been made. Meanwhile, in Williamsburg, YWN was provided with a video of another disturbing incident. On the video (posted below), the viewr will see a group of young non-Jewish teens on bikes stopping in front of Hasidic-owned homes, and throwing rocks at them. This happened on Shabbos afternoon on Skillman between DeKalb & Lafayette. The discovery of the graffiti Thursday followed a wave of anti-Semitic attacks in and around New York City.

In the pitch black, pre-dawn sky on the outskirts of the Iranian capital Tehran, a tiny fast-moving light can be seen racing up through the trees, as someone films from the ground. Then there is a flash of light as it seems to collide with something in the air. It is the ill-fated Ukrainian International airliner which had taken off Wednesday just hours after Iran had fired missiles at U.S. bases in Iraq in retaliation for the slaying of its top military man, Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Western leaders have said the plane seemed to have been unintentionally brought down by a surface-to-air missile near Tehran. Iran denies that a missile was to blame for the crash.

In honor of the fast of Asara B’Teves, the IDF allowed hundreds of people to enter the kevarim of Yehoshua bin Nun and Calev ben Yefunah in the Palestinian village of Kifl Haris on Tuesday night. IDF combat soldiers, border guards, Israel Police and the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria guarded the entrance of 800 mispallelim to the kevarim. Access to the kevarim is possible only every few months in coordination with the IDF and other security forces. Brigadier General Yiftach Norkin, commander of the Ephraim Brigade, said: “The entrance of mispallelim to the kevarim in honor of the fast of Asara B’Teves was held tonight. I see great importance in providing the opportunity to enter the site and daven. I wish an easy fast to everyone.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Today, Councilman Kalman Yeger took to the floor of the New York City Council to publicly condemn politicians and members of the media who “tinker at the fringes of antisemitism.” If it had a title, the three minute speech would be called “You Did This.” In his remarks, Councilman Yeger repeatedly used the phrase to excoriate those who pretend to stand with the Jewish community, but actually stand with anti-semites. Councilman Yeger specifically pointed to “those who spent Sunday posing for pictures with Jews, but spend the other 364 days of the year festering hate against my community.” Councilman Yeger said, “we have the right to live in our city like anyone else. We have the right to go about our day without being assaulted. We are not doing this to anyone.

The attached video is fascinating and the Psak Halacha is timely: A Rav from Monsey asked Hagaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky if guards with weapons should be posted at shuls in America due to the recent spate of anti-Semitic incidents. Rav Chaim first answered that everyone should do as they want. But then Rav Chaim was told that the mispallelim want to do what the Rav tells them and Harav Chaim said not to post guards. The second question was should some mispallelim acquire weapons to bring to shul? Harav Chaim answered that they should if it’s pikuach nefesh. The question was explained further that it’s not a matter of “immediate” pikuach nefesh, but of potential pikuach nefesh due to the recent spike in anti-Semitic attacks. Harav Chaim answered that mispallelim can bring weapons to shul.

Two men were caught on surveillance video drawing swastikas and other profanities outside a deli in Brooklyn, police said Wednesday. In the Dec. 22 footage, a man pulled out what appears to be a marker from his pocket and started scribbling on the wall outside Acapulco Restaurant & Deli on Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint. A second man standing next to the first also wrote on the wall. Police say the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force is searching for the suspects. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg of Congregation Netzach Yisroel in Monsey will be delivering the Invocation at the NY “State of the State” address at 1:30PM today. This will mark the first time a Chassidish Rav has given the blessing. NY Governor Cuomo visited the home of Rabbi Rottenberg following the vicious attack in his home on Chanukah. Governor Cuomo’s 2020 State of the State agenda includes more than 30 proposals that he has outlined on his website. The proposals include those that would not immediately impact the budget, as well as those that could bring in revenues for the state. Currently, the state is beginning the new year facing a $6 billion budget gap.   

President Donald Trump faces one of the greatest tests of his presidency after Iran launched ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops and plans to address the nation on Wednesday. Iran’s attack was its most brazen direct assault on America since the 1979 seizing of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The strikes pushed Tehran and Washington perilously close to war and put the world’s attention on Trump as he weighs whether to respond with more military force. The Republican president huddled with his national security advisers on Tuesday night but offered no immediate indication of whether he would retaliate. “All is well!” he said in a tweet. The White House said Trump plans to address the nation at 11 a.m. EST Wednesday.