(PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)
Celebrations marking the Rebbe’s birthday were opened in the city of Tel Aviv-Jaffa Monday, which symbolizes, perhaps more than anything, the revolution that the Rebbe initiated for this event occurred in a place where there is no more Tel Aviv than could be: on the 12t floor of the Tel Aviv municipality, near the office of Mayor Ron Huldai.

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President Donald Trump reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the latter’s visit at the White House last month that Israel could jeopardize its security cooperation with the United States if it doesn’t reduce its ties with China.
Channel 13 and Axios reported the development, citing Israeli officials.
The Trump administration has repeatedly warned Israel about forging close ties with the Chinese, including criticizing an agreement between the Jewish state and China to allow the latter to manage the Haifa port.
US concerns over the Haifa port deal have come from National Security Advisor John Bolton and US Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette.

US president's senior adviser Jared Kushner said to tell diplomats in Washington to keep 'open mind' over long-awaited, much-maligned proposal

Yahadut HaTorah which dropped from eight seats to seven, regained its eighth seat by uncovering a small but significant error.
According to Kikar Shabbos, the moment the Likud party received its 36th seat at the expense of UTJ’s eighth seat, party activists began working to prove that the drop had been caused by typing errors.
Senior figures in the Central Elections Committee did not believe that correcting the errors would change the results, but UTJ activists working around the clock proved otherwise, resulting in an extra seat in the new Knesset.
Read more at Arutz Sheva.
{Matzav.com}

Israeli journalist Yinon Magal used his Twitter account to praise Naftali Bennet for daring to “breaking Bayit Yehudi’s glass ceiling” by launching his New Right party, even though he failed to pass the minimum electoral threshold.
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• A 10-year-old boy is in serious condition after being struck by a bus on Ben Ish Chai Street in Beit Shemesh. He was transported to the trauma center of Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem.
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Israel Defense Forces demolished the home of Salah Omar Barghouti on Wednesday morning.
Barghouti was a prime suspect in a shooting attack that injured seven, including a pregnant woman, Shira Ish–Ran, on December 8th, 2018. Ish–Ran was taken to hospital, and her baby, who had to be delivered in emergency, died four days later. Hamas later claimed Barghouti as one of their operatives.
The attack at Ofra, and a copycat attack carried out by Barghouti’s brother at a junction near the settlement of Givat Assaf just days later, led to a massive manhunt for Salah Barghouti, 29, which ended with him being killed by Israeli forces in a coordinated operation.

Military declares exercise a success, saying it checked the preparedness of aerial defense soldiers and missile batteries