By Rabbi Yair Hoffman What follows is a true story.  The events described herein transpired last night.  We begin with the details, the questions, and a halachic analysis.

El Al has announced that it will carry out special medical repatriation flights this Shabbos after receiving halachic authorization from Israel’s chief rabbis.
“In light of numerous cases of pikuach nefesh, or life and death medical life-saving cases that require immediate arrival of passengers to Israel, El Al has decided to operate special flights during this upcoming Shabbos,” the airline said in a statement. “These flights will be defined as pikuach nefesh or medical emergency flights.”
With rabbinic consent secured, El Al has scheduled three emergency flights for Shabbos, with departures from Larnaca, Cyprus, and Athens, Greece, all bound for Israel.

British lawmakers began a crunch debate on Friday a bill to help terminally ill adults end their lives in England and Wales, before a vote that could be one of the most consequential social policy decisions they will ever make. The vote, which is due to take place around 2:30 p.m. (1330 GMT), is expected to be extremely close, with those on both sides of the issue voicing confidence. As things stand, proponents of so-called assisted dying have the edge. When Members of Parliament, or MPs, last voted on the issue in November, those backing assisted dying won by 330 votes to 275.

Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz has ordered the IDF to escalate its military campaign against Iranian regime targets in Tehran, aiming to destabilize the government and deter further missile attacks on Israeli cities. Following a high-level assessment Friday morning with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and other senior military officials, Katz directed the IDF to focus on symbolic regime assets, including the Basij paramilitary force and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as well as Iran’s internal repression apparatus. The goal, he said, is to “bring about the destabilization of the regime and increase deterrence against missile attacks on Israel’s home front,” while continuing to degrade Iran’s nuclear program.

Russian drones slammed into two Ukrainian cities, killing at least one person in nighttime attacks, authorities said Friday, as a Kremlin official said he expected an announcement next week on dates for a fresh round of direct peace talks. Russia’s overnight drone assault targeted the southern Ukraine port city of Odesa and the northeastern city of Kharkiv, hitting apartment blocks, officials said. The barrage of more than 20 drones injured almost two dozen civilians, including girls aged 17 and 12, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. “Russia continues its tactics of targeted terror against our people,” Zelenskyy said on messaging app Telegram, urging the United States and the European Union to crank up economic pressure on Russia.

Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is finding himself on the defensive Thursday as backlash grows over his refusal to denounce the controversial slogan “globalize the intifada” — a phrase which incites violence against Jews. Mamdani, a state assemblyman from Queens and avowed democratic socialist, struggled to clarify his position at a press conference, offering a vague and at times meandering defense. “These words have different meanings for many different people,” Mamdani said, pivoting to affordability issues and insisting he opposed “any incitement of violence.” But his remarks did little to quell the controversy.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Thursday night that Israel is surpassing expectations in its ongoing military offensive against Iran, boasting that the campaign is “ahead of schedule” and vowing that all of Iran’s nuclear sites — including the heavily fortified Fordo facility — will be targeted and neutralized. Speaking in a rare interview on Israel’s public broadcaster Kan, Netanyahu provided an expansive update on Israel’s week-old preemptive assault. He said at least half of Iran’s missile launchers have been destroyed, key military figures eliminated, and Iran’s feared Basij paramilitary forces heavily damaged. “We are ahead of the schedule we set, both in terms of timing and results,” Netanyahu said.

In a Thursday interview with Israel’s Kan public broadcaster, Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu said that any potential regime change in Iran must come from within, though he implied that Israel is working to weaken the regime’s grip.
The Times of Israel reports that Netanyahu declined to confirm whether eliminating Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was under consideration. He reiterated that “regime change lies with the Iranian people alone,” but acknowledged, “We’re also striking government targets, symbols of the regime. You’ve seen it — the broadcast station and others. And there’s more to come.”

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