A new Member of Knesset, a resident of the Golan, firmly established his political path with a powerful act of faith by praying on the Temple Mount.
NISSIM VATURI: CONNECTING THE GOLAN TO THE TEMPLE MOUNT AND THE KNESSET
Likud won 36 seats In the last elections but recent infighting led to longtime Likudnik Gideon Sa’ar breaking away to form his own party. Rather than weaken the party, the move allowed new and enthusiastic members to step into the breach. Nissim Vaturi, as the 40th candidate on the Likud list, stepped up, representing a unique and necessary voice in the government. Sworn in two weeks ago, Vaturi made a bold declaration of his intentions by ascending to the Temple Mount on.
“This was my first time on the Temple Mount,” Vaturi told Israel365News. “I wanted to go sooner, but since I was sworn in two weeks ago, I haven’t had a free moment. I felt it was important for my new function to connect to the source, the basis of our sanctity as a nation. The Knesset is based in the Biblical mandate to establish an assembly of leaders. It is, of course, different than what we had in the Bible but someone who represents Israel cannot be disconnected from the Creator. We are all anticipating the Redemption. This is far more important than anything material.” Read More
Once again, the WHO has stepped in to offer some confusing comments about the coronavirus vaccine, warning that there is “no evidence to be confident shots prevent transmission” and that people who receive the vaccine should continue wearing masks and following all social distancing and travel guidelines.
The comments were made by WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan during what appears to have been a virtual press conference held Monday. Read More
Yet another sector of the travel industry has signalled that it could mandate vaccination against coronavirus to provide services to travellers, according to a report that notes insurers may demand to see proof of vaccination before covering those wishing to go on holiday.
The report notes that the European Union has previously indicated that travellers and anyone applying for a visa could be mandated to get the vaccine in order to enter and move between EU countries.
“If EU makes vaccines mandatory, travel insurers will likely follow suit,” the journal emphasises.
Will Republicans keep hold of the Senate or can Democrats seize control?
The two runoff elections will take place on 5 January next year i.e. next Tuesday, with plenty on the line in determining how US politics will shape up under Biden’s administration over the coming year(s).
As things stand, Republicans hold 50 seats and Democrats 48 seats in the Senate.
For Republicans to keep control, they would only need to win one of the two runoffs while Democrats need to win both to technically take control of the Senate. A tie will result in vice president-elect, Kamala Harris, breaking the deadlock. Read More
Health minister: “It is not a document which will be made public and it will be done with the utmost respect for data protection”
Spain has been one of Europe’s worst-hit countries by the pandemic
MADRID: Spain will set up a registry of people who refuse to be vaccinated against the new coronavirus and share it with other European Union member states, although it will not be made public, Health Minister Salvador Illa said Monday.
During an interview with La Sexta television, Illa reiterated that vaccination against the virus — which as in most EU nations began in Spain over the weekend — would not be mandatory.
“What will be done is a registry, which will be shared with our European partners… of those people who have been offered it and have simply rejected it,” he said. Read More
The Dead Sea has slowly been coming back to life, with sinkholes on the shores filling up with fish. But last winter, for the first time in memory, the shores filled with blossoming flowers. Read More
All is not going according to plan in the biggest global rollout of what is arguably the most important vaccine in a century, and it is not just growing US mistrust in the covid injection effort that was rolled out in record time: an unexpected spike in allergic reactions to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine (and now, Moderna too) may prove catastrophic to widespread acceptance unless scientists can figure out what is causing it after the FDA’s rushed approval, and is also why as we reported yesterday, scientists are scrambling to identify the potential culprit causing the allergic reactions.
Making matters worse, Europe rolled out a huge COVID-19 vaccination drive on Sunday to try to rein in the coronavirus pandemic but even more Europeans than American are sceptical about the speed at which the vaccines have been tested and approved and reluctant to have the shot.
While the European Union has secured contracts drugmakers including Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, for a total of more than two billion doses and has set a goal for all adults to be inoculated next year, this is looking increasingly like a pipe dream: according to recent surveys, the local population has expressed “high levels of hesitancy” towards inoculation in countries from France to Poland, with many used to vaccines taking decades to develop, not just months.
“I don’t think there’s a vaccine in history that has been tested so quickly,” Ireneusz Sikorski, 41, said as he stepped out of a church in central Warsaw with his two children. Read More
A recent study concluded that a massively destructive earthquake is due to hit Israel any day. The same researcher said that such earthquakes served as prophetic mile markers in the Bible and may even have been responsible for the earthshaking victory of the Children of Israel at Jericho.
MAJOR EARTHQUAKE ONCE EVERY 130 YEARS
Researchers from Tel Aviv University published a report in Science Advances journal in which they warn that a potentially devastating earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter Scale is expected to hit Israel in the near future. The study reviewed about 220,000 years of Dead-Sea geology by drilling and studying the seabed concluded that a major earthquake hits the region once every 130-150 years, though shorter intervals are possible.
Israel is in a geologically active region. Read More
Jewish Agency Chairman Isaac Herzog: 20,000 men and women were ready to leave everything behind in this challenging year to come to Israel.
Global pandemic notwithstanding, over 20,000 Jews from 70 countries made aliyah over the course of 2020, the Jewish Agency reported this week as the year draws to a close.
With help from the aliyah and Integration Ministry, The Jewish Agency set up a special situation room to help bring the new olim to Israel as countries all over the world shut down air traffic because of the coronavirus crisis.
The Jewish Agency expects the uptick in aliyah to continue even after the COVID pandemic begins to wane and that 250,000 new immigrants will move to Israel in the next three to five years.
The biggest numbers of new immigrants arrived from Russia, Ukraine, the US, and France. As of the end of November, 10,200 new olim had arrived from the former Soviet Union. Another 3,120 immigrants from western Europe, including 2,220 from France, also made aliyah this year. About 2,850 new olim arrived from North America, most of whom (2,550) hailed from the US.
Not only did immigrants continue to arrive throughout the year, but interest in aliyah spiked as COVID wreaked its havoc on economies and families. Read More
