Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called his Israeli counterpart Reuven Rivlin on Thursday to offer condolences on the passing of First Lady Nechama Rivlin, drawing fire from his rivals.
“His excellency offered his condolences to President Rivlin during the call and asked God to provide him and his family with comfort and patience,” the official PA news site Wafa reported
Rivlin thanked Abbas for the call and wished him happy holidays on the occasion of Eid al Fitr, the Muslim festival that takes place following Ramadan, the Wafa report added.
The Hamas terror group slammed Abbas for offering his condolences.

Israeli-American philanthropist Miriam Adelson is the richest Israeli of 2018 with an estimated value of $22 billion, according to a report in the Hebrew business daily The Marker on Thursday.
Adelson is not only the richest Israeli citizen but far outranks the others below her, with the next on the list, Roman Abramovich, worth “only” $13 billion.
Most of her wealth was transferred to her this year as a gift by her husband, philanthropist and businessman Sheldon Adelson, in the form of stock shares of his Las Vegas Sands Corporation.
Read more at Times of Israel.
{Matzav.com}

Lenovo Group has used technology developed by Israeli augmented reality (AR) company Lumus in its new ThinkReality A6 headset, Lumus announced Thursday. The headset, unveiled by Lenovo last month, weighs 380 grams and offers Full HD resolution for each eye and a field of vision of 40 degrees.
Headquartered in central Israeli town Ness Ziona, Lumus develops and produces transparent AR displays built with a technology reminiscent of optical fibers. The company was founded in 2000 by Yaakov Amitai, a former executive at Israeli defense optics company ELOP, which merged with defense technology company Elbit Systems in 2000. Lumus has raised $51 million to date, from investors including Alibaba Group, HTC, and Taipei-listed Quanta Computer, according to Pitchbook data.

The Israel Defense Forces’ Medical Corps is in the midst of a pilot program that places nurses and male nurses in combat battalions, as part a series of changes designed to improve the military’s medical services.
IDF head nurse Lt. Col. Oshrat Gozlan told JNS in an interview that some 200 nurses and male nurses serve in the military today, but that unlike in the past, a growing number of them are in the field, together with combat soldiers.
“In the past, you saw them mainly away from the front, in first aid clinics or in the unit that accompanies hospitalized soldiers. Now, there is a trend involving growing numbers of nurses who are strengthening the medical chain in the field,” said Gozlan.

House Democrats have officially introduced a resolution to hold Attorney General William Barr and former White House counsel Don McGahn in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with congressional subpoenas.
The contempt resolution allows Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) to go to court to seek civil enforcement of the subpoena for Barr to turn over special counsel Robert Mueller’s unredacted report and underlying evidence, as well as for McGahn to provide documents and public testimony.
The resolution also gives any committee chair the rare power to go to federal court to seek civil enforcement of subpoenas, both current and future orders, so long as they are granted approval by the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Board.

By Rabbi Moshe Meir Weiss

As the Yom Tov of Shavuos is upon us, we celebrate that which we say daily in the blessings on the Torah.  “Asher bochar bonu mikol ha’amim, v’nosan lanu es Toraso,” that Hashem chose us from all of the nations and gave us His Torah.  In the very first posuk in the Torah, we are taught “Bereishis borah Elokim,” which Rashi explains to mean that the world was created because of the Torah.

Barack and Michelle Obama have signed a podcast deal with Spotify, the streaming platform announced.
According to Spotify’s press release, the Obamas, through the multi-year partnership agreement between their production company Higher Ground and Spotify, “will develop, produce, and lend their voices to select podcasts, connecting them to listeners around the world on wide-ranging topics.”
Last year, the Obamas and Higher Ground signed a production deal with Netflix.
Read more.
{Matzav.com}

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Israel’s return to the election drawing board, it sent political shockwaves throughout the country. It also proved shocking for the Trump administration since the government coalition failure comes just as it launches robust efforts to implement the first part of its long-touted Mideast peace plan.
The Bahrain “Peace to Prosperity” summit, which will see Americans, Israelis and the Arab League come together, is meant to act as the launching pad for a proposal arranged by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict once and for all.