French President Emmanuel Macron angrily shouted at Israeli police while visiting the Church of Saint Anne on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem’s Old City, which is French territory. It is not clear why he became angry with the Israeli security officials. although there is no confirmation what caused his outburst, it is possible that the Church is reportedly French territory where Israeli police do not have jurisdiction. In 1996, French President Jacques Chirac grabbed an Israeli plainclothes security officer in the Old City of Jerusalem and shouted: “I’m starting to be fed up with this. What do you want? Do you want me to go back to my plane and go back to France? This is a provocation. It must stop.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

A senior Kremlin official stated on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Naama Issachar’s mother, Yaffa Issachar, on Thursday. It was stated that Putin will meet with Issachar during his meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Meanwhile, following Israeli news reports in the past few days that Russian President Vladimir Putin is demanding ownership of Alexander’s Court near the Old City of Jerusalem in exchange for releasing Naama, Maariv reported on Wednesday morning that it obtained a document confirming that Israel had already complied with the Russian request three weeks ago. Alexander’s Court, which includes St. Alexander Nevsky Church and other buildings, was originally purchased as part of the Russian Compound by Czar Alexander I in 1858.

R’ Avraham Gelbman, z’l, a 50-year-old resident of Beit Shemesh and father of eight, was killed on Wednesday morning when his car crashed into the guard rail on Highway 5 near the Barkan intersection. The circumstances of the accident are unclear. R’ Gelbman,z’l, was extricated from the car by emergency services who sadly were forced to declare his death at the scene of the accident. R’ Gelbman’s friends told B’Chadrei Chareidim that he was an important member of the Breslover community in Beit Shemesh and was very involved in doing chessed – he volunteered for Zaka, Ichud Hatzlah and Ezras Achim. “The Zaka family mourns the tragic death of our dear volunteer who was devoted to chessed shel emes, R’ Avromi Gelbman, z”l, of the Beit Shemesh team,” Zaka stated.

  Transcript of the Questions with HaRav Hagon Rav Chaim Kanievsky Shlita about Being Buried and Buying a Burial Plot in Israel Question- People who live outside the Land of Israel is it worth it for them to buy a burial plot in Eretz Yisrael ? Maran Rav Chaim Kanievsky’s Shlita reply-They  will arise for the Resurrection of the Dead( The Rabbi According to his close Talmid Hagaon Harav Passin Shlita  means that the People buried in Eretz Yisrael will be resurrected  first as the Zohar Hakodosh Parshat Chayei  Sara Daf 131 writes-  Come and see, as it is said All those who die in Eretz Yisrael will arise first because Hashem will awaken them and  make them arise  as the Passuk in Yeshaya 26:19 says “The Dead will be Resurrected “ – Those in Eretz Yisrael.

An architect of the brutal CIA interrogation and detention program developed after the Sept. 11 attacks defended the agency and its practices on Tuesday as those techniques become the focus of an effort to dismiss key evidence against five men charged in the terrorist plot. James Mitchell spent the first day of what is expected to be at least a week of questioning by defense teams at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, providing details about the CIA’s interrogation program as well as what he said was the “context” necessary to understand it. The CIA was the “tip of the spear” in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and was urgently trying to gather vital intelligence using techniques that had been authorized by the U.S.

Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg launched a new impeachment-focused television ad Tuesday urging the Senate to remove President Donald Trump from office. The ad will run in 27 states, including states represented by vulnerable Republican senators, and be Bloomberg’s only ad on television in the next few days. It comes as the Senate begins its impeachment trial against Trump based on charges he abused his power and obstructed Congress. “It’s time for the Senate to act and remove Trump from office, and if they won’t do their jobs this November, you and I will,” Bloomberg says in the ad, which appears to use footage from a recent campaign stop. Bloomberg has focused his campaign more on Trump than his Democratic primary rivals have.

CBS was the first major network to break away from President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate on Tuesday, allowing its viewers to watch their regular afternoon fare instead of a debate over a proposed amendment to subpoena White House documents. The decision illustrated the on-the-fly judgments television executives will face every day of the trial, juggling concerns over millions of dollars in advertising revenue, news purists cognizant of the weight of history and angry soap opera fans. Uncertainty over the Senate’s schedule from hour to hour, much less day to day, complicates things even further. The decisions were easier when ABC, CBS and NBC dominated the landscape and were very cognizant of their public service responsibility.

A month-long Border Police intelligence operation ended on Monday night when suspects broke into a parrot habitat in Migdal Ha’Emek and stole dozens of parrots worth about NIS 1 million, BeChadrei Chareidim reported. “Within a few moments of the suspects arriving in the habitat they were already on their way out. At first we were sure that they hadn’t managed to steal anything but when we stopped them, we found cages with dozens of screeching parrots in the back of the truck. Some of the parrots [were screeching] due to fear and panic and some as a result of severe injuries – broken legs, beaks and wings which were apparently caused by the cages being hurriedly thrown into the truck and by the shaking of the truck as they drove,” the Border Police operations commander said.

A New York City police officer was injured when a man pinned him between his car and the patrol vehicle Tuesday night. NYPD officers conducted a traffic stop in Manhattan’s Lower East Side and when they were returning back to their car, the man reversed his vehicle, WABC reported. One of the plainclothes officers became pinned between the two vehicles on East Houston Street and Avenue D. The officer suffered a leg injury and was taken to a hospital for treatment. He was responsive and alert. Officials said the man was taken into custody and charges against him are pending. (AP)

Ukraine’s first Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who is coming to Israel this week for the World Holocaust Forum, said that Ukraine is beginning to build a “Little Jerusalem” in Uman in a recent interview with Times of Israel (TOI). Zelensky admitted to TOI that he’s a little miffed that Israel didn’t ask him to speak at the forum since statistics show that one out of four Jews killed during the Holocaust were Ukrainian – over 1 million Jews including the 150,000 Jews who were shot at Babi Yar in the “Holocaust of the bullets.” As one of the ways to honor the victims of the Holocaust and memorialize the once-booming Jewish population, Zelensky said that Ukraine is beginning to construct a “Little Jerusalem” in Uman.