News Sparks: Israel Extends Entry Ban to Foreigners; Republican Senators Vote Down Biden’s Vaccine Mandate; See the Northern Lights in Grand Central Station

By Yehudit Garmaise

Israel Extends its Entry Ban, by another 10 days, to Foreigners

Israel will extend by at least another 10 days, its travel ban on foreigners, the country’s Health Ministry announced today after a meeting at which Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, health officials, and COVID cabinet members discussed how to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant in though country.

In addition to other restrictions that may be soon added, Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, Israel's top public health official, proposed declaring all of Europe as "red," which would effectively bar most travel between the continent and Israel. Bennett has not yet made a decision on barring travel from Europe, but he said he is considering it.

Senate Votes Down Biden's Vaccine Mandate for Businesses that Employ 100 or more

All of the Republicans who were present last night in the US Senate, plus Democrats Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Jon Tester (Mont.) voted 52-48 against President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for larger businesses.

Critics of Biden’s mandate, which is being challenged in court, rebuked the president’s hardline efforts, which were part of his larger agenda to put COVID behind the country.

Workers in large businesses who did not want to get vaccinated were offered the option of weekly testing, but naysayers dismissed that accommodation as “insufficient.” 

US lawmakers who voted against Biden’s mandate so wanted to see what they saw as “federal overreach” that they employed a mechanism called the Congressional Review Act, which provides a fast track for wiping out administrative rules. 

Although they and many other Republicans said that they personally support getting vaccinated, Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.), the leader of the Senate petition, called the vaccine mandate “government in overdrive,” and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) characterized the mandate as “authoritarianism.” 

Most of the Democratic senators, however, blasted the largely Republic protest against the vaccine mandate, by calling it “ridiculous” and “anti-science,” before warning fighting mandates would prolong the pandemic and allow for the continued emergence of new COVID variants.

“The biggest thing standing between us and the end of the pandemic is Americans who have refused to get vaccinated,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

In a parallel protest to the mandates, members of the US House of Representatives who protest Biden’s mandate are hoping to force a floor vote by seeking the required 218 signatures.

In response, Biden has promised to veto any disapproval measure that clears Congress. 

13 Republican Senators Seek to Prevent PA from Paying Terrorists who Kill Israelis

To prevent the Palestinian Authority (PA) from continuing to pay families of terrorists who have killed Israelis, 13 Republican U.S. senators have introduced legislation that builds on the 2018 Taylor Force Act, which is named after U.S. veteran Taylor Force, who, while visiting Israel in 2016, was stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist.

The Taylor Force Act drastically reduced U.S. aid to the PA until it stops making payments to families of those who commit terror attacks on Israelis. 

The new and improved Taylor Force Martyr Payment Prevention Act also give the  Treasury the additional authority to designate foreign banks as institutions of primary money laundering concern, and forbid them from holding or using accounts in the United States if they are used to facilitate or promote martyr payments to terrorists, or if they knowingly provide financial services to Hamas.

“When President Trump signed the Taylor Force Act into law, he sent the clear message that the United States will not fund a Palestinian leadership that supports acts of terrorism against both American and Israeli citizens,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), a sponsor of the bill. “Under the Biden administration, the Palestinian Authority is circumventing American anti-terrorism regulations to continue these payments. The Taylor Force Martyr Payment Prevention Act rightfully strengthens the Treasury Department’s ability to hold foreign banks accountable for processing these heinous ‘pay-for-slay’ payments on behalf of terrorist groups.”

Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), another sponsor, said, “Radical Islamic terrorists shouldn’t be rewarded for killing innocent people, and banks should be held responsible for processing any sort of ‘martyr payments.’ Our bill will build upon the Taylor Force Act to ensure Palestinian terrorists don’t benefit financially for committing these senseless murders.”

New Yorkers can Step into The Northern Lights at Grand Central Station

The northern lights, which are one of several astronomical phenomena called polar lights, are curtains of colored light that majestically dance and stream across the night sky, although they are usually best seen in Canada.

Today and tomorrow, however, commuters and visitors to Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Station can get not just get a glimpse of the majestic aurora borealis, but they can walk through an immersive northern lights experience.

Destination Canada and the Montréal-based multimedia entertainment studio, Moment Factory, created a floor-to-ceiling, mirrored light display that incorporates breathtaking audio and interactive visuals to emulate walking into a Canadian landscape that provides the mesmerizing beauty and magic of the northern lights.

Photo by: Flicker / Aleksi Mattsson