Israel is set to drop a number of restrictions on air travel starting next month, including a ban on the entry of most individual tourists. Israel’s Interior Ministry announced Sunday afternoon that beginning on July 1st, all vaccinated tourists, whether they are arriving as individuals or as part of group tours, will be granted automatic entry into Israel, without the need for prior approval. From now until July 1st, the Ministry said, tourists will still need to apply for approval prior to entering Israel, adding that approval will be granted based on a number of criteria. Chief among the deciding factors, the Ministry said, will be the tourist’s COVID vaccination status. Unvaccinated tourists who are permitted to enter the country prior to July 1st will be required to rem...
Tel Aviv - On Friday afternoon, just before 4:00 p.m., the bustling Carmel Flea Market (Shuk) in Tel Aviv was as busy as ever, as people went about their last-minute shopping before Shabbat. Among the throngs of shoppers was a middle-aged man who began to feel faint. As strangers recognized that the man was in distress, they approached him and offered to help him, when suddenly, the man collapsed in a stranger's arms. Worried onlookers called emergency services for help. United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Shmuel Leibtag was nearby on Rothschild Boulevard when he received the emergency alert. Using his electric bike, Shmuel cut-through traffic and sped over to the scene. As he searched through the bustling market, Shmuel eventually found the man on the ground with an additional EMT above h...
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Friday that the recently-detected COVID-19 delta variant will “probably” become the dominant strain in the United States. “I think that that’s probably going to be the case,” Walensky said on ABC News’ “Good Morning America” on Friday. “When these viruses mutate, they do so with some advantage to the virus. In this case, it is more transmissible,” she continued. “It’s more transmissible than the alpha variant, or the U.K. variant, that we have here. We saw that quickly become the dominant strain in a period of one or two months, and I anticipate that is going to be what happens with the delta strain here.” Wale...
A new poll found that Americans support stricter regulations against Big Tech companies, Axios reported Friday. A survey by Data Progress, a left-leaning polling firm, found that a majority of likely voters supported breaking up massive technology corporations into smaller companies, Axios said. Democrats and Republicans each responded similarly, with 57% saying they supported breaking up Big Tech, according to Axios. Twenty-two percent of Democrats answered “strongly supporting” and 35% “somewhat supporting” breaking up the large tech companies such as Amazon and Google. Republicans responded with 34% “strongly supporting” and 23% “somewhat supporting.” Axios said the survey found that an overwhelming percentage of A...
The Babylon Bee scored a minor victory this weekend. The New York Times has agreed to remove language from a March 19 report characterizing the conservative satire website as a “far-right misinformation site” that “sometimes trafficked in misinformation under the guise of satire.” This is obviously a lie. The Babylon Bee just publishes jokes. It’s no different from the Onion or the New Yorker’s Andy Borowitz, except that, unlike the former, its jokes are tailored to a right-leaning audience and, unlike the latter, its jokes are actually funny. For some reason, members of the legacy press hate this. Following the publication of the March 19 article, titled, “For Political Cartoonists, the Iro...
The Health Ministry has issued an announcement informing of the presence of a verified coronavirus patient who attended a performance in the Qimron hall in Beit She’an, last Thursday between half-past-seven and nine o’clock in the evening. The source of the infection is now known to be a woman who recently traveled to Dubai, where she picked up the infection and later transferred it to her family in Israel. The Health Ministry, in an exceptional move, has ordered all those who were present at the performance to enter into home quarantine and also to take a coronavirus test at the first opportunity – regardless of whether they have been vaccinated against coronavirus or not. Those required to quarantine must remain at home for at least 14 days; or, for at least 10 day...
The cabinet has approved the proposal put forward by Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman to launch a formal commission of inquiry into the Mount Meron disaster.Defense Minister Gantz said: “This commission of inquiry is our moral obligation to the Israeli public and to the families who lost loved ones. We must make sure that a tragedy of this nature never repeats itself. The taskforce’s purpose is, above anything else, to save human life. I thank Finance Minister Liberman, Prime Minister Bennet, and all the members of the cabinet, who have all gotten on board to move fast on approving the commission’s launch during the very first cabinet meeting.”Finance Minister Liberman said: “Today, we turn a new page; no more CYA at the peopl...
New Israeli government shares concerns of the former administration with regards to a nuclear armed Iran Israeli security officials believe the country must prepare contingency planning for an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities following the Islamic Republic’s selection of a new president. Ebrahim Raisi – an ultra-conservative and former prosecutor alleged to have condemned thousands of people to execution – is likely to adopt Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s hardline views on foreign and nuclear policy. Raisi backs a return to the 2015 deal limiting Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, a scenario which Israeli decision-makers assess won’t occur before August when Raisi takes office, Channel 12 r...
Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman acknowledged on Friday that his pre-election statement that he would send the haredi community “in one wheelbarrow to a garbage dump” should not have been made. “The statement was misunderstood, there was no intention here. It was perhaps not the most successful statement, but so be it,” Liberman said in an interview on the Ofira & Berkovic program which airs on Channel 12. He rejected claims that the haredim should be concerned over his appointment as Finance Minister, saying, “They should not be afraid. We are doing what is good for them and the country. I do not want to interfere with their lifestyle, nor do I want them to interfere with my lifestyle. They should study core subjects, acquire a professio...
Evyatar, a new city in Samaria that was supposed to be ordered evacuated by Prime Minister Netanyahu, was left standing, perhaps to throw the responsibility onto the incoming government. Defense sources estimate that the evacuation would cost NIS 10 million. Bennett is expected to rule on the matter in the near future. The high price tag is due in part to the amount of construction already completed, including multiple permanent buildings and paving. Heavy machinery and significant manpower will be needed to reverse such a quantity of work. Arutz Sheva has also learned that Defense Minister Gantz was furious with the community leaders of Evyatar who established the settlement without any permits of any kind. The community has rejected these accusations, saying that the town was buil...
Ebrahim Raisi, a hardline judge under US sanctions for human rights abuses, secured victory as expected on Saturday in Iran’s presidential election after a contest marked by voter apathy over economic hardships and political restrictions. With all 28.9 million ballots counted, Raisi was elected with a tally of 17.9 million, Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said on state TV. Turnout in Friday’s four-man race was a record low of around 48.8% and there were 3.7 million invalid ballots that were likely to have been mostly blank or protest votes. Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called Raisi the “Butcher of Tehran” and “an extremist responsible for the deaths of thousands of Iranians.” “His election should prompt renewed de...
Amazon is selling its own COVID-19 test kit directly to customers. Results from the test will appear on an Amazon diagnostics website that was originally designed for use by Amazon employees. The test’s public availability was first reported by Stat News. The test is on sale for $39.99 and has one-day shipping through Prime in some areas of the US. To use the test, a patient swabs their own nose at home and places it in a box with a prepaid shipping return label. The swabs are then sent to a centralized lab. Amazon got the Food and Drug Administration’s sign-off on its COVID-19 test kit in March. At the time, it planned to use the test for its onsite employee testing program. At-home medical testing got a new burst of attention&nb...
The Palestinian Authority canceled a deal on Friday to receive soon-to-expire COVID-19 vaccines from Israel after an initial Israeli shipment showed an expiration date sooner than had been agreed, the PA health minister said. Israel and the PA announced a vaccine swap deal earlier on Friday that would have seen Israel send up to 1.4 million Pfizer-BioNTech doses to the PA, in exchange for receiving a reciprocal number of doses from the PA later this year. The doses were due to “expire soon,” Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office said in a statement announcing the deal. The PA said they had been “approved in order to speed up the vaccination process” in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. “They told us the expiration date was in July or August, ...
IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi will lead a senior delegation of top Israeli military officers to Washington early Sunday to meet with American officials about Iran’s nuclear program and its expansionist efforts in the region, the Israel Defense Forces said Thursday. “The chief of staff will discuss with his counterparts current shared security challenges, including matters dealing with the Iranian nuclear threat, Iran’s efforts to entrench itself militarily in the Middle East, Hezbollah’s rearmament efforts, the consequences of the threat of precision-guided missiles and joint force build-up,” the military said. Kohavi’s trip comes amid lingering tensions between the US and Israel over the Iran nuclear issue. US President Joe Biden’s administrati...
Former President Donald Trump said his successor is “indoctrinating America’s schoolchildren with some of the most toxic and anti-American theories ever conceived,” in a Friday opinion piece. Trump explained what President Joe Biden wants to accomplish with the country’s schools, and how the progressive plan can be stopped, in commentary for Real Clear Politics. The former president wrote that the left has changed its narrative from saying American history is evil to “telling Americans that they are evil.” “In classrooms across the nation, students are being subjected to a new curriculum designed to brainwash them with the ridiculous left-wing dogma known as ‘critical race theory,'” Trump said. &ldq...
Canada is extending a ban on non-essential travel with the United States and the rest of the world until July 21, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said on Friday, prompting frustration from businesses worried about the economic damage. Canada’s Liberal government is under increasing pressure from businesses and the tourism industry to ease the ban, which was first imposed in March 2020 to help contain spread of the coronavirus and has been renewed on a monthly basis ever since. “In coordination with the U.S., we are extending restrictions on non-essential international travel and with the United States until July 21st, 2021,” Blair said on Twitter. Ottawa will reveal on June 21 how it plans to start lifting the measures for fully vaccinated Canadians and others who ar...
The UN General Assembly unanimously elected Antonio Guterres to a second term as secretary-general on Friday, giving him another five years at the helm of the 193-member organization at a time a deeply divided world faces numerous conflicts, the growing impact of climate change, and a pandemic still circling the globe. Ambassadors in the assembly chamber burst into applause as Assembly President Volkan Bozkir announced Guterres’ re-election by “acclamation,” without a vote. Just before the announcement, Estonia’s UN Ambassador Sven Jurgenson, the current Security Council president, read a resolution adopted by the 15-member council recommending Guterres for a second term. Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gild Erdan congratulated Guterres and said he hoped he would con...
Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Reinman is, first and foremost, a noted author of acclaimed sefarim and a talmid chochom who has spent his years in the beis medrash. He is also the bestselling author of a classic series of books - including The Promised Child and The Marrano Prince - written under the pseudonym Avner Gold. A talmid of Rav Yitzchok Hutner who later learned in Lakewood, Rabbi Reinman is a brilliant linguist with many fascinating stories and insights to share, which he does so eloquently in this episode of Inside ArtScroll. A delight to listen to, you’ll be entertained and impressed as you hear about Rabbi Reinman’s life and accomplishments. [Purchase Rabbi Reinman’s Avner Gold books HERE and his other books HERE.]
President Rivlin will visit the United States of America at the invitation of President Biden; the presidents will meet on Monday 28 June / 18 TammuzDuring his visit, the president will hold meetings at the United Nations, meet representatives of the American Jewish community and hold other farewell meetings in Washington DCPresident of Israel Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin will make a farewell visit to the United States of America at the invitation of President Joe Biden.On Monday 28 June / 18 Tammuz the president will meet with US President Biden. Timing of the meeting to follow. The president will return to Israel on Wednesday 30 June / 20 Tammuz.
Young homeless people in the Big Apple will soon be getting $1,250 in no-strings-attached cash each month — in a $2.5 million city-backed experiment to see if they use it to get off the streets and try to get jobs. The “Trust Youth Initiative” — partially funded by the city — will start with up to 40 homeless people ages 18 to 24, “especially Black, Indigenous, Latinx and LGBTQ youth,” the organizers said in a release. They will get the monthly cash for up to two years, with no limits on how they spend it — and larger up-front payments available to get into housing. A “rigorous evaluation” will then “compare the outcomes and experiences” of the target group with others getting smaller stipends and regular homel...
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