Thursday 17 Iyar – SHOCK IN ANTWERP: Police Raid Homes Of Mohelim, Confiscate Bris Knives – Low-cost giant Wizz Air resumes flights to Israel – Trump says Syrias leader backs normalization with Israel but they have a lot of work to do

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Police in Antwerp early Wednesday morning raided the homes of mohelim in the Chareidi kehilla in the city, seeking their bris knives and lists of children, including the homes of renowned mohelim, HaRav Aharon Eckstein and HaRav Moshe Landau.

The police raid follows an outrageous lawsuit filed over a year ago by a Jew with a history of provoking Jewish kehillos in Europe.

According to testimonies, the officers knocked on doors and said, “Either you open up, or we break in.”

The police confiscated all the knives in their possession despite the fact that there has yet to be a court ruling on the case, and requested the list of all the babies they circumcised in the past year.

The Jewish complainant crossed a red line by not only filing a lawsuit against the mohelim but also against Rabbanim and Rebbes who serve as sandekim at brisos, including the Rebbe of Peshwarsk and even the late Gaavad of the Shomrei HaDas community, HaGaon HaRav Dovid Moshe Lieberman, z’tl.

The European Jewish Association (EJA) issued a statement condemning the police raid. EJA chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin said that “this constitutes yet another red line crossed in the intimidation of Jewish religious figures in Belgium.”

“Following the ban on ritual slaughter, the harassment of Mohels represents a further red line and a clear warning sign to Belgian Jews and the Belgian government. Freedom of religion must be upheld!”

“Any restriction, no matter how small, on circumcision in Belgium would send a clear message to Belgian Jews that they are not welcome in the country”.

“The EJA urges law enforcement authorities, policymakers, the government, and members of parliament must urgently pass legislation that explicitly guarantees circumcision as a protected part of religious freedom under the law.”

Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air announced Tuesday evening that it will resume flights to and from Israel starting this Thursday.

The carrier had suspended operations last Sunday, along with several other international airlines, after a Houthi ballistic missile struck Ben-Gurion Airport. 

Current airline cancellation list to Israel as of today – May 14 at 08:00.

Wizz Air – until 15 May.

Aegean Airlines- until 16 May inclusive.

Lot- 18 May inclusive.

ITA – 18 May inclusive.

Lufthansa Group- Until 19 May.

Delta Air Lines – May 20th inclusive.

Air France – 20 May inclusive.

Transavia- 20 May inclusive.

Air Baltic- 20 May inclusive.

Ryanair- 21 May inclusive.

Air India- 25th May inclusive.

Iberia Express- 31 May inclusive.

United Airlines- June 12th inclusive.

British Airways- June 14th inclusive.

Vladimir Putin has not been listed in a Russian delegation expected to go to Turkey for talks on Thursday with Ukraine.

The Russian president signed an order on Wednesday detailing who would be in the group to Istanbul, including presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, deputy foreign minister Galuzin Mikhail Yuryevich, and deputy minister of defence Alexander Fomin.

On Sunday, Mr Putin had proposed direct negotiations with Ukraine to be held on Thursday “without any preconditions” and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had called on the Russian president to meet him in Istanbul.

Donald Trump will not go to Turkey to join the Russia-Ukraine talks either, a US official confirmed after Mr Putin announced the Russian delegation. The US president had said he was “thinking” of going to Turkey if Mr Putin would be there.

Mr Zelenskyy was on his way to the Turkish capital of Ankara on Wednesday night, a senior Ukrainian official told Reuters.

The Ukrainian president had said he would attend the talks in Istanbul, but only if Mr Putin also attended.

“I am waiting to see who will arrive from Russia and then I will determine what steps Ukraine should take. The signals in the media so far are unconvincing,” he said in his nightly video address earlier.

He said Mr Putin “continues to strike Ukraine”, adding: “In fact, it is now more obvious to the entire world than at any other point during the full-scale war… that the only obstacle to establishing peace is the lack of a clear will from Russia to do so.”

The proposed meeting came after the “coalition of the willing” countries, including Britain, threatened Russia with fresh sanctions if it failed to take part in a 30-day ceasefire beginning on Monday.

Russia effectively rejected the proposal by instead calling for direct negotiations in Istanbul with Ukraine.

On Tuesday, the Institute for the Study of War said Russia is “attempting to prolong negotiations to extract additional concessions from the United States and while making additional battlefield advances”.

US President Donald Trump says that Israel is not sidelined by his trip to the Gulf and that good US relations with those countries is good for Israel.

“This is good for Israel,” Trump tells reporters aboard Air Force One.

“Having a relationship like I have with these countries… I think it’s very good for Israel,” he says

US President Donald Trump says that Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa backed normalization with Israel in the future, after the two leaders met as Washington lifted sanctions on Syria.

“I told him [Sharaa], I hope you’re going to join [the Abraham Accords] once you’re straightened out and he said yes. But they have a lot of work to do,” Trump tells reporters aboard Air Force One.

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