The Sefardi Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Rishon L’Tzion Harav Shlomo Amar, wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin appealing to him to pardon imprisoned Israeli backpacker Naama Issachar, who was sentenced to 7.5 years in jail for a minor drug charge. Naama’s father visited Harav Amar last week to receive a bracha from him. Harav Amar patiently listened to his description of Naama’s suffering and offered encouragement to him and his family. At the end of the meeting he penned the letter to Putin which was revealed in news reports on Tuesday. “I see the deep pain of Naama’s parents and family,” Harav Amar wrote to Putin.

The largest Democratic Party super PAC is pouring an additional $50 million into advertising attacking President Donald Trump. Priorities USA announced Tuesday that it has increased the amount of money it plans to spend before the Democratic convention this summer to $150 million. As a part of that, the political action committee plans to spend $70 million in TV and digital ads in the battleground states of Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. For months, some Democrats have worried that Trump’s reelection effort was stockpiling cash and delivering a general election message at a time when much of their party’s energy was being devoted to the primary. They argued that allowed Trump to go unanswered.

The National Security Agency has discovered a major security flaw in Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system that could let hackers intercept seemingly secure communications. But rather than exploit the flaw for its own intelligence needs, the NSA tipped off Microsoft so that it can fix the system for everyone. Microsoft released a free software patch to fix the flaw Tuesday and credited the intelligence agency for discovering it. The company said it has not seen any evidence that hackers have used the technique. Amit Yoran, CEO of security firm Tenable, said it is “exceptionally rare if not unprecedented” for the U.S. government to share its discovery of such a critical vulnerability with a company.

New York City will install 100 new security cameras in ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in an effort to prevent anti-Semitic attacks, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Friday. Fear has gripped the city’s Orthodox Jewish community since the the fatal Dec. 10 attack at a kosher grocery store across the Hudson River in Jersey City and the Dec. 29 stabbings at a Hanukkah celebration in suburban Monsey. The new cameras will be installed in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Crown Heights and Borough Park, where Hasidic Jewish residents have reported attacks ranging from someone pulling off a wig or hat to more violent assaults. “An attack on the Jewish community is an attack on all New Yorkers,” de Blasio, a Democrat, said in a statement.

According to the annual intelligence assessment issued by the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate and presented to the political echelon on Tuesday morning, Iran is continuing to process Uranium at a slow pace and will be capable of enriching enough material within a year to produce one nuclear bomb. The presentation of the assessment report was delayed a week because of the high alert level caused by the killing of Qassem Soleimani by the United States. The assessment added that while the bomb would only take the Ayatollahs one year to produce the production of a missile capable of deploying the bomb would take another two years at least.

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Israel’s  Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit is weighing the possibility of dropping the case against Shas leader Aryeh Deri due to a lack of sufficient evidence to bring the case to trial. It was recommended by both the police and the former District Attorney Shai Nitzan, that Deri, who is suspected of the crimes of fraud, breach of trust, tax evasion and perjury, be brought to trial. Mandelblit has instructed numerous times in the past week to have the case brought to the District Attorney’s Office so that they can finish their investigation. the final decision is expected to be made in the coming weeks according to a report that was presented by Channel 13 News on Tuesday. The police investigation into Deri’s suspected misdeeds was conducted and finished two years ago.

Sen. Cory Booker says he is not making any immediate endorsement for president now that he has dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination and will focus on his Senate reelection. Booker told “CBS This Morning” on Tuesday, a day after he ended his 2020 White House bid, that he eventually might endorse someone in the still-crowded White House field before the party’s nominating convention this summer, saying he “definitely will consider it, 100%.” But for now, Booker said, he is going to “take a breather” following the campaign slog and turn his attentions to President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial and his own Senate campaign, with his seat up for a vote this year. “I’ve got to get started on securing another six years in the Senate,” he said.

Former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn filed court papers Tuesday to him withdraw his guilty plea, saying federal prosecutors had acted in “bad faith” and breached their deal with him in the Russia investigation. The request comes one week after the Justice Department changed its position on Flynn’s punishment by recommending that he serve up to six months in prison for lying to the FBI during its investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Prosecutors had earlier said Flynn was entitled to avoid prison time because of his extensive cooperation, but they changed their view after he hired new lawyers who leveled accusations of misconduct against the government. (AP)

A 19-year-old Orthodox Jewish girl was the latest victim of an anti-Semitic incident in New York, and once again, the suspects were members of the black community – not Trump supporters as NY elected officials continue to blame. According to BoroPark24, the incident occurred on a packed F train in Manhattan, and the vicious abuse lasted nearly 10 minutes. What might be as bad as the actual incident – or maybe even worse – was the fact that only one person came to her aid and sat down next to her. Among the expletives & obscenities hurled at the Midwood resident was “you people vote for Trump” and “I would hurt you but you people go straight to the police”. The NYPD is investigating the incident. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)