President Trump on Wednesday ripped House Democrats for continuing investigations into his administration and shot back at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who claimed that he is “engaged in a cover-up.”
“I don’t do cover-ups,” Trump declared during a hastily arranged news conference in the Rose Garden. He called special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election a “hoax.”
“It was a total, horrible thing that happened to our country,” he said.
Read more at NY POST.
{Matzav.com}

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Firefighters in Israel are working to extinguish 6 blazes caused by incendiary balloons near Gaza.
A spokesman for the Israeli Fire and Rescue Services says the fires were all burning in the Eshkol Regional Council adjacent to the Gaza Strip and were caused by terrorist from Gaza flying incendiary balloons over the border.
This new tactic has burnt down thousands of acres of land in Israel these past two years as the IDF struggles to combat the attacks.
{Matzav.com Israel News} 

According to a report by Israel’s Channel 12 that was aired on Tuesday evening, Israel and Hamas have reached informal new understandings, designed to allow calm to prevail in the next six months.

Republican Rep. Van Taylor defeated Democrat Lorie Burch in Texas’ 3rd Congressional District in the 2018 midterm elections to replace retiring longtime Republican Rep. Sam Johnson.
Previously, he served in both houses of the Texas state legislature.
Taylor, 46, fought in Iraq as part of the U.S. Marine Corps and was a captain during “Operation Iraqi Freedom.”
He and his wife, Anne, have three children.
JNS talked with Taylor in person. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q: What’s your overall stance on the U.S.-Israel relationship, having served overseas, specifically in Iraq?

Authorities urged Israelis to exercise caution due to an extreme heatwave expected to hit the country on Wednesday, raising temperatures by as much as 20 degrees in some areas of the country, until Saturday.
Temperatures in the more temperate Judean hills were expected to reach 97 degrees Fahrenheit, while the heat is set to reach a scorching 116 degrees in the Dead Sea region.
With the yearly Lag b’Omer festivities beginning with customary bonfires on Wednesday night, Israel’s Fire and Rescue Service placed a ban on lighting fires in any forests, reserves, or parks—even in designated areas.
The Israel Nature and Parks Authority urged the public to refrain from engaging in any exertion outdoors, including long walks, until Friday evening.

U.S. Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt urged the Palestinians to stop their boycott of the U.S. administration and help make next month’s peace conference in Bahrain a success.
The “Peace to Prosperity” workshop will focus on economic programs to complement the political component of the peace plan, which will be unveiled at a later stage.
“It’s difficult to understand why the Palestinian Authority would reject a workshop designed to discuss a vision with the potential to radically transform lives and put people on a path toward a brighter future,” said Greenblatt.
Greenblatt has been entrusted with the peace efforts along with senior adviser to the president Jared Kushner and U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

A swastika was found today engraved into an elevator in the British Parliament, according to Oliver Denton Lieberman, an aide to Labour MP Tulip Siddiq.
Lieberman posts a photo of the swastika, calling it “sickening” and adds that he has reported it to police.
The UK has seen a sharp rise in antisemitism in recent years, with many pointing to leaders such as Jeremy Corbyn, who is staunchly opposed to Israel, as fanning the flames.
Read more at Times of Israel.
{Matzav.com}

A 22-year-old Jewish Russian woman was murdered in Moscow last week, allegedly by a shuttle driver, an Israeli report said Tuesday night.
Rivka (Irena) Tsipishev disappeared last Friday after getting on a shuttle that was supposed to take her home, the report said. Police investigations eventually led to the arrest of the shuttle driver, who told authorities where to locate the body.
Tsipishev was buried Tuesday, in a funeral attended by family, friends, Jewish community members and Russia’s chief rabbi Berel Lazar.
“Rivka was a special person with a special soul,” said Lazar, who had accompanied Tsipishev — along with a thousand other young Russian Jews — on a trip to Italy that ended last week.

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