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.

http://matzav.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/VID-20190522-WA0005.mp4

More attempts to murder Jews have been reported, as stone attacks continue throughout Israel.
Arab terrorists hurled rocks at vehicles on the Gush Etzion road in Chevron with damage  caused to the windshield of one of the vehicles. The driver was slightly injured by shrapnel.
In another case, at approximately 05:30 am, Arabs threw stones near Deir Abu Mash’al, northwest of Ramallah. One of the vehicles was damaged, but no injuries were reported.
(via BELAAZ)
{Matzav.com}

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven has laid out a number of practical steps to be taken by his government to curb neo-Nazi activity and demonstrations, as well as to increase protection of the local Jewish community.
“Let me reiterate what I said publicly on [May 1]: It is a disgrace that the scum of history is rearing its ugly head today again,” he wrote in a May 18 letter to World Jewish Congress CEO and executive vice president Robert Singer, who wrote a letter earlier this month to Löfven, calling for the ban of the Nordic Resistance neo-Nazi party as “there must be zero tolerance for such manifestations of evil.”

Israel on Tuesday condemned a top UN official for meeting with a Hezbollah leader in Lebanon.
A day earlier, UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis tweeted, “Grateful for an open and substantive discussion on a broad range of topics with Deputy Secretary General Naim Qassem of Hizbullah. On top I received a copy of his book — a necessary reading.”
Responding on Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon tweeted, “We are shocked and disappointed by this meeting with a designated terror organization’s leader, threatening Israel, Lebanon and the whole region. One doesn’t need to read the Naim Qassem book, courtesy of #Hezbollah terrorists, in order to understand this!!”

Rav Yechezkel Landau, the Noda Beyehuda (1713-1793). Born in Apta, Poland, learned and served in Brody, serving as Av Beis Din at the age of 20 years. In 1755, he was appointed Rav of Prague and all of Bohemia, soon establishing and heading a yeshiva there as well. He also wrote Dagul Meirevavah on the Shulchan Aruch and Tzelach on Shas, as well as Doresh Tziyon and Ahavas Tziyon. He was able to trace his family lineage back to Rashi.