All types of political drama are being played out in Israel on Wednesday as parties scramble to finalize their lists before the 10 p.m. deadline to register parties at the Central Elections Committee. One political twist that played out centered on the Ethiopian vote and the drama ended in Ethiopian Blue & White MK Gadi Yevarkan being ousted from Blue and White, to the Likud’s delight. Thousands of Ethiopian-Israeli voters are thought to have abandoned Likud in the September elections following the widespread riots after the death of Solomon Tekah, who was shot by a police officer.

The Bayit Yehudi party is scrambling to save the future of the party before Wednesday’s deadline at 10 p.m. to submit party lists. Bayit Yehudi is in a bind due to the merger of the New Right and the National Union, leaving them in the cold together with Otzma Yehudit. It’s doubtful that the Bayit Yehudi-Otzma Yehudit list could pass the threshold but on the other hand, although the New Right called for Bayit Yehudi to join the merger, they will not agree to merge with Otzma Yehudit. In light of the situation, Bayit Yehudi tried to convince senior national-religious media personalities to join the party to bolster its popularity but the offers were refused.

That’s the only possible takeaway from the ongoing back and forth between Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts over whether the former told the latter that he did not believe a woman could be elected president in 2020. And the feud got worse, not better, during — and after — Tuesday night’s Iowa debate. Asked directly about Warren’s statement that Sanders had told her in a December 2018 meeting that he didn’t believe a woman could win, the Vermont senator said this: “Well, as a matter of fact, I didn’t say it. And I don’t want to waste a whole lot of time on this, because this is what Donald Trump and maybe some of the media want.

s President Donald Trump rallied supporters Tuesday night by defending his decision to kill a top Iranian general, the Democrats vying to replace him used their final debate before primary voting begins to argue that doing so made the country less safe. With Trump firing up thousands in the battleground state of Wisconsin and the Democratic candidates squaring off in Iowa ahead of its Feb. 3 caucuses, the political events were expected to offer very different visions for the country’s future. But the contrast on Iran in nearly real time was especially stark. Trump spent much of his speech defending his decision to order the strike that killed top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, whom he labeled the “world’s No.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a constitutional overhaul Wednesday to boost the powers of parliament and the Cabinet, a move signalling Putin’s intention to carve out a new position for himself after his current term ends. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev submitted his resignation hours after Putin discussed the constitutional amendments during his state of the nation address. The Russian leader thanked Medvedev for his service but said the prime minister’s Cabinet had failed to fulfill all of its objectives. In televised remarks, Putin said Medvedev would take up a new position as a deputy head of the presidential Security Council. Medvedev, a longtime close associate of Putin’s, has served as Russia’s prime minister since 2012.

A major breakthrough has been made by Israel’s defense development experts in laser technology, the Defense Ministry announced last week. An innovative laser beam system that is capable of intercepting missiles and small drones has been developed after over a decade of research by the Rafael and Elbit Defense Systems and academic experts and will be tested over the next year. The technological breakthrough involves the precision of the laser beam, which must be capable of honing in on distant targets without being affected by atmospheric barriers such as clouds or dust storms. “This is a dramatic solution to rocket fire,” said Dubi Oster, head of the Optronics Department of the Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D). “We have been working on this for years.

Egypt reopened a historic synagogue on Friday in the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria after a yearslong government renovation. But only a handful of Jews remain from Egypt’s once-thriving community, most of them elderly. The country’s Jews largely left more than 60 years ago amid the hostilities between Egypt and Israel. The two-story Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue in Alexandria partially collapsed in 2016. Antiquities officials said the renovations, which began the following year, prevented it from becoming a total loss. The site has a long history. An earlier synagogue dating to 1354 AD was built in the same location, and the current building dates to roughly 1881, when the Jewish community was large and influential. Marble floors and rose-colored columns line the main hall.

Torrential rain in northern Israel last week which broke a 51-year record of rainfall within a two-year period, caused devastating flooding in Nahariya, leading to the death of Moti Ben-Shabbat who was swept away by the floods as he was rescuing a mother and child from a car. An incriminating Zman Yisrael report on an investigation into the flooding said that a flawed decision by former Nahariya mayor Jacky Sabag to divert a section of the Ga’aton River, which bisects the city, led to the flooding last week.

At a time when security and safety is at the forefront of conversations and consciousness in the Jewish community, a special moment occurred at the Yeshiva Darchei Torah dinner in Far Rockaway this week, making waves well beyond the yeshiva neighborhood. Early in the dinner program, Rabbi Yaakov Bender, Rosh HaYeshiva of Darchei Torah, approached the podium and made a surprise award presentation to Mr. Everett Fortune, the Yeshiva’s veteran chief of security. Mr. Fortune, who is not Jewish, has over the last 30 years earned the trust and friendship of the Yeshiva’s students, staff, and parent body as he has devotedly overseen its growing security needs. Visibly surprised and moved, Mr. Fortune was at a loss for words.