Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “seriously considering” an offer by Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein to push for a cancellation of the September 17 elections, Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Tuesday.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu is seriously considering Knesset Speaker Edelstein’s offer and will examine it in the coming days,” Likud said in a statement.
Although Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said a cancellation of the elections was not legal, the report suggested that it could happen if enough members of parliament supported such a legislation put forward by Edelstein.
 
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{Matzav.com}

House Democrats on Tuesday passed a $383 billion spending package, finishing work on three-quarters of the annual appropriations bills on its docket ahead of the July 4th recess.
The package of five funding bills passed in a vote of 227-194, largely along party lines. It includes funds for Commerce and Justice; Agriculture, Interior and Environment; Military Construction and Veterans Affairs; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development.
The legislation’s passage means Democrats have successfully completed work on nine of the 12 annual appropriations bills in their chamber. They are set to pass a 10th bill, covering financial services and general government, this week.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reassured Afghans on Tuesday that the United States will not negotiate behind their backs even as it seeks to fosters a peace deal with the Taliban leading to the withdrawal of 14,000 U.S. troops.
After meeting with President Ashraf Ghani on an unannounced visit to Kabul, Pompeo declared to reporters that after 18 years of war, “the hour has come for peace.”

Tel Aviv is moving towards becoming Israel’s first city with no public phones, removing 50 in the past few years and another 34 this year.
Ramat Gan wants to replace its public phone booths with trees after finding that 80 percent of its populace no longer wants the town’s 232 public phones.
Israel still has about 10,000 public phones, many of them no longer in use.
The only people who may miss them are yeshiva students and chareidi children, who do not have personal cell phones.
The number of phone booths in the US decreased from two million in 1999 to about 100,000, with a fifth of them in New York.
{Matzav.com Israel}

Excitement is building just a day prior to a visit to the United States of Rav Chaim Mordechai Ausband, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Ateres Shlomo in Eretz Yisroel.
Rav Ausband is a renowned maggid shiur and darshan, who has inspired thousands of talmidim during his decades as a marbitz Torah. A dynamic speaker, Rav Ausband will be delivering a special guest address at an urgent asifa this Wednesday, June 26, held as part of the current global “Connecting to Greatness” campaign to save Yeshiva Kiryas Melech, the yeshiva led by Rav Shlomo Kanievsky where Rav Ausband was formerly a maggid shiur. Rav Ausband has never left Eretz Yisroel during the zman,  but has made a rare exception due to the severe crisis that Yeshivos Kiryas Melech and Tiferes Tzion are facing.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday that Donald Trump’s White House is “afflicted by mental retardation,” according to the Associated Press.
Speaking during a live televised address, the Iranian leader said the Trump administration’s decision to sanction Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday was “outrageous and idiotic” and meant “certain failure” for the U.S. president’s policy on Iran. Rouhani also slammed the Trump administration for suggesting the next step is to sanction Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, which could prohibit him from engaging in future negotiations to find a peaceful solution to recent tensions.

Mahmoud Katusa, the janitor who had charges dropped against him after he was accused of assaulting a charedi girl, returned to his home and his family is convinced that he will soon return to work.
His brother, Anwar Katusa,told reporters that there was nothing to prevent his brother from returning to work where he had been employed for eight years, as soon as he recovers from his prolonged detention.
Several members of the school which employed Mahmoud Katusa sent him a bouquet of flowers with a kind letter attached to it.
“To the dear Katusa family, may you continue to be good people as you are, we are happy to hear of the release of Mahmud, he is a good and honest man,” reads the greeting note attached to the flower bouquet.
{Matzav.com}

Thousands of Chassidim in Boyan are expected to attend the the chasuna of the Rebbe’s youngest daughter to Chosson Meir Bornstein, son of the Admor of Sochachav.
Thousands of Hasidim will arrive by bus from around the country to the huge compound, which was built for the occasion in Sdeh Yoav. The women section will be located in three different areas, with the division taking place according to age.
The kabbolas ponim will be held at 5:00, followed by the chuppa at 6:30. After the chuppah, the chassidim will daven Maariv followed by simchas chosson v’kallah.