Prof. Ronni Gamzu admitted in an interview with the Yediot Aharonot newspaper, to be published in full today, that he was taken aback by the latest data In coronavirus contagion, with yesterday's figures showing a rise of over 3,000 in the number of new cases."Things change, and when I see such a rate of infection in the Arab and haredi sectors, I have to take an adult and responsible position," he said. "As soon as I saw Wednesday's data, I asked where this was coming from. I was taken aback - such an increase of almost 50% from Ine day to the next really did not conform to the estimates."Gamzu added that "I was extremely concerned, especially regarding the haredi community, because in recent weeks we had been seeing a lot of success there, with a lot of hard work, a lot of cooperation. And it all came at the same time as the reopening of schools too."

Speaking this morning In Reshet Bet, deputy Education Minister Meir Porush (UTJ) sharply criticized the decisions made yesterday by the government's coronavirus cabinet to impose lockdowns In "red" areas, pointing out that, "If they decided that we need a lockdown, why wait till Monday?"According to him, "When someone comes along from the health sector and says that there's a high rate of infection in the haredi community, he's not revealing any great secret. It should have been obvious that when Ine person in a family contracts the virus, ten more get it too, because we have large families. That's why things should have been dealt with differently."

Border Police forces have broken up a huge wedding that was taking place in east Jerusalem, in the Sur Baher neighborhood.Several citations were issued to people not wearing face masks. The bridegroom himself was detained for questioning and then released with restrictions.

This week the Torah teaches us the key ingredient to living our lives and serving G-d, without it, everything else falls apart

France In Thursday led criticism of US sanctions In the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying Washington had launched a "serious attack" In the global body.On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slapped sanctions In the top prosecutor of the ICC, Fatou Bensouda, and another senior ICC official, Phakiso Mochochoko, after earlier visa bans In Bensouda and others failed to head off the court's war crimes probe into US military personnel in Afghanistan.

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas In Thursday hosted a virtual conference attended by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, in which Fatah and Hamas underlined their rejection of the US-backed normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates."We cannot accept anyone speaking in our name. We have never allowed it, and we will not allow it, ever," Abbas said, as quoted by the AFP news agency.

Serving Hashem in gladness is the key to every divine blessing: Torah is the people of Israel’s deed to the Land of Israel.

Prof. Hezi Levy, deputy director-general of the Health Ministry, told Reshet Bet this morning that he is particularly concerned as winter approaches that the country will be facing influenza and coronavirus at the same time."As we get closer to winter and the flu season, we're likely to see massive overcrowding in the hospitals," he said. "Imposing a full lockdown is what achieves the quickest results in bringing infection rates down, but In the other hand, it has consequences for all of us."He added that, "There's no magic wand. Even when we impose pinpoint lockdowns, it has to be accompanied with giving a lot of assistance to the affected populations."