Israel’s Health Ministry published the daily statistics for new COVID-19 cases in Israel that listed 1,027 people testing positive for the disease on Friday, slightly down from Thursday’s total of 1,033. On Shabbos, as of 5:00 pm, 315 people tested positive for the disease. The number of actively ill people in the country also rose and now sits at 9,422, among them are 276 who are in serious condition, down 7 from yesterday, and 107 on respirators. Thus far, 2,845 people have died from the disease in Israel. Among those who tested positive recently are 10 staff members of the Isrotel Hotel at the Dead Sea during a routine test of the staff of the hotel. All services in the hotel have been suspended until full testing can be done of everyone on the premises.

As YWN reported last night, in a landmark vindication of religious rights, the Supreme Court of the United States issued an injunction, just minutes before midnight late Wednesday, against New York State’s arbitrary limit of 10 or 25 individuals in houses of worship with capacity for hundreds in Red and Orange zones. In so doing, the High Court sided with Agudath Israel of America and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn in their legal challenge against such limitations.

An Egyptian celebrity is facing criminal charges after an uproar ensued in Egypt due to a photo of him with an Israeli pop star that was posted online, prompting angry rants from newscasters and the actor-singer’s suspension from a stage and film professionals’ union. A lawyer filed a case against renowned singer and actor Mohamed Ramadan, who has millions of Arab followers, for causing “offense to the Egyptian people” via the photos. The outcry over Ramadan’s photograph with Israeli star Omer Adam highlights anti-Israel sentiment among most Egyptians who view any direct interaction with Israelis as taboo.

According to a report that was published in media outlets across the globe, the IDF received instructions to prepare for the possibility that the U.S. would launch an attack against Iran before the Trump administration ends. Israeli officials told the media on Wednesday, that there is no specific information that a large scale attack is imminent. Citing senior Israeli officials, Axios said there is no specific information that such an attack is imminent, but Israeli leaders believe the US president’s final weeks in the job will be “a very sensitive period.” The officials said Washington would likely update Israel before carrying out military action against the Islamic Republic.

President Trump has pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, bringing to end a tumultuous four-year criminal case that felled the three-star general before prosecutors reversed course and declared they had improperly pursued his case. A trump tweet said: “It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon. Congratulations to @GenFlynn and his wonderful family, I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving!” It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon. Congratulations to @GenFlynn and his wonderful family, I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving! — Donald J.

A homeless man accused of pushing another man onto subway tracks in Brooklyn was arrested early Tuesday, police said. Michael Medlock, 33, was arrested on charges of attempted assault, reckless endangerment and menacing in Sunday’s attack on a 29-year-old man, one of a string of recent subway shoves. Police said the victim was riding a No. 4 train when Medlock suddenly began yelling at him. Both got off at the Atlantic Avenue station and Medlock shoved the other man onto the tracks and fled, police said. The victim climbed back onto the platform on his own and did not require medical attention. It wasn’t clear if Medlock had an attorney who could speak for him.

Israel’s Health Ministry reported 745 new coronavirus cases on Monday morning, with tests showing a positivity rate of 2.3%. There are currently 8,456 active cases, with 298 seriously ill patients, of whom 130 are ventilated. Another 49 deaths were confirmed since Sunday morning, raising the death toll to 2,806. A report by the Coronavirus National Information and Knowledge Center on Sunday stated that there has been a rise in hospitalized and seriously ill patients for the first time in a month and warned that the continued easing of lockdown restrictions is likely to lead to a rise in the virus infection rate.

Following the the lifting of parole restrictions on Jonathan Pollard this past Friday, Esther Pollard cut the GPS tracking devices off his arm. In a statement to the press, Pollard said the following: “Thirty years ago, my beloved wife Esther found her way into USP Marion, the highest security prison in the United States, where I was languishing in a dungeon cell three stories underground behind 13 locks and keys. “Esther reached out and cut the shackles off of my heart and restored my soul to life. That is when the fight for my freedom began in earnest. Fast forward 35 years. “Today, Esther, fearlessly cut the GPS device off of my wrist, restoring me to almost complete freedom.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

A Bahraini government delegation flew to Israel on Wednesday morning, the first official delegation to visit Israel on the first nonstop Gulf Air commercial flight from Bahrain to Israel. The delegation, led by Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani, and accompanied by a US delegation headed by US Mideast envoy Avi Berkowitz, landed at Ben-Gurion Airport at about 10:30 a.m. The Bahraini-US delegations were greeted at the airport by Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi. Excited to be on the first commercial flight from Bahrain to Israel! pic.twitter.com/ngux75pRDU — Avi Berkowitz (@aviberkow45) November 18, 2020 This is a good morning indeed.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams announced he is running for mayor of New York City on Wednesday, joining an already crowded field of candidates for the 2021 election. Adams, who entered politics after a two-decade career as a police officer, announced his candidacy in a video posted overnight. “Whether it’s the pandemic or violence in our streets we don’t feel safe, and too often city government makes things worse with inefficiency that leads to inequality and holds our people back,” the 60-year-old Adams says in the video, in which he also describes being victimized by police brutality in his youth and joining the police in order to fight for reforms from the inside.