On Israel’s Independence Day, a blind IDF soldier received Israel’s Presidential Medal of Excellence.
Sergeant Ori Salmon was part of an IDF project called Special in Uniform, which seeks to integrate special needs and disabled Israelis into the army.
A non-commissioned educational officer, Salmon was born blind and volunteered for the IDF despite her disability.
“Both my elder brothers, parents, and extended family all proudly served the IDF, and they all recall this period as a very special and wonderful time in their lives,” she told a group of Special in Uniform IDF volunteers.

European countries said on Thursday they wanted to preserve Iran‘s nuclear deal and rejected “ultimatums” from Tehran, after Iran scaled back curbs on its nuclear program and threatened moves that might breach the pact.
Iran announced steps on Wednesday to ease curbs on its nuclear program, in response to new US sanctions imposed after Washington abandoned the deal a year ago.
Tehran’s initial moves do not appear to violate the accord yet, but President Hassan Rouhani said that unless world powers protect Iran‘s economy from US sanctions within 60 days, Iran would start enriching uranium beyond permitted limits.

For the first time, a Memorial Day ceremony was held in Jerusalem on Tuesday night honoring the memories of Orthodox Jewish soldiers who laid down their lives in service to their country, as well as ultra-Orthodox victims of Arab terrorism.
Some 800 people attended the event, including Jerusalem chief rabbis Aryeh Stern and Shlomo Amar, senior Israel Defense Forces officials, bereaved families, and members of the IDF’s strictly Orthodox Netzach Yehuda Battalion.
The ceremony honored the memories of Sgt. Yosef Cohen and 1st Sgt. Yovel Mor Yosef, who were killed by a terrorist outside the community of Givat Asaf in southern Samaria in December.

North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range missiles on Thursday, the South’s military said, less than a week after its leader, Kim Jong Un, oversaw the test-firing of multiple rockets and a missile.
The launches came as U.S. special envoy for North Korea Stephen Biegun was in the South Korean capital for talks with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and his counterpart, nuclear envoy Lee Do-hoon.
South Korea’s president said the tests seemed to be a protest by the North after its leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump failed to reach agreement on the North’s nuclear weapons and missile arsenal at a February summit.

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Don’t call back phone numbers that ring once and hang up, the Federal Communications Commission has warned.
People throughout the US have been receiving “one ring” or “wangiri” robocalls in bursts, according to officials. The calls are targeting specific area codes, “often calling multiple times in the middle of the night.”
“These calls are likely trying to prompt consumers to call the number back, often resulting in per minute toll charges similar to a 900 number,” the agency said in a news release Friday. “Consumers should not call these numbers back.”
Read more at NY POST.
{Matzav.com}

http://matzav.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/VID-20190509-WA0038-1.mp4

Q: Would a person be allowed to celebrate the fifth of Iyar (Israeli Independence Day), the same way he celebrates the Fourth of July?
A:
The answer is that the Fourth of July has no Jewish connotation; it’s a neutral thing. And since it’s a demonstration of loyalty to the county where you live, so it certainly is virtuous to hang out a flag on the Fourth of July. I think that all Jews should be interested in demonstrating solidarity with the American people. And especially to thank Hakodosh Boruch Hu that there is such a country that fosters such ideals of liberty which Jews enjoy today.

Former Israeli defense chief Avigdor Liberman on Wednesday warned that Tehran’s threat of withdrawal from parts of the international nuclear deal means Israel should prepare for a direct Iranian attack.
“The ultimatum posed by Iran poses an immediate and tangible danger to the security interests of Israel and the countries of the free world, and should not be seen only as a power struggle between Iran and the US,” Liberman, who is chairman of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party, said in a tweet.
During his tenure as defense minister, Liberman railed against Iran’s continued entrenchment in Syria, repeatedly defending Israel’s right to carry out strikes on Syrian soil to stem the growing hostile Iranian presence on its borders.