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call on Saturday evening.

During the conversation, which lasted over an hour, the two also discussed possible options for ending the fighting in Ukraine, as well as Israel’s efforts on the matter.

On Friday, reports claimed Bennett had pushed Zelensky to surrender the war to Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the time, however, Bennett’s office denied the report.

On Saturday, more details were revealed, and a senior official in the Ukrainian government told Israel’s Walla! news site that Bennett told Zelensky, “If I were in your place, I would think about the lives of my people and take the offer.”

According to a Ukrainian government official, however, Bennett is not brokering negotiations but rather acting as a “mailbox” between the two sides.

“We do not need a mailbox. We have enough of those,” the government official said.

Israel: No Sanctions for Russia

For now, Israel is not preparing sanctions on Moscow or Russian oligarchs. This revelation came just a day after Foreign Minister Yair Lapid declared in Slovakia that “Israel will not be a route to bypass sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States and other Western countries.”

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss tweeted after his remarks that she welcomes “news from @YairLapid that Israel will support sanctions against Russia.”

Still, Israel is clear that sanctions will not be imposed. Rather, as Lapid suggested, the State of Israel will maintain open lines of communication with both Moscow and Kyiv while showing support for Western positions without necessarily joining them.

Moreover, Israel cannot bar Israeli citizens like Roman Abramovich, a Russian oligarch who has been sanctioned by Western countries, from entering the country if there is no arrest warrant out for them, nor can it legally confiscate property in Israel.

Abramovich was spotted at Ben Gurion Airport’s VIP terminal on Monday evening, leaving Israel for Russia after apparently spending less than 24 hours in the country. A Twitter account that tracks the movement of Abramovich’s six aircraft showed that a Gulfstream G650 belonging to Abramovich landed in Tel Aviv at around 9 p.m. local time Sunday, having taken off from Moscow.

Jerusalem said that is focusing its efforts on ensuring that Russian individuals and banks don’t use Israel as a means to bypass Western sanctions.

“We are putting in place measures that will make sure this can’t be a place where people can basically find their way around,” said a senior official. “You won’t be able to cheat sanctions.”

One example is that Russians won’t be able to park their private jets in Israel indefinitely to keep them from being seized elsewhere.

Banks in Israel also understand quite clearly that they are putting themselves at risk if they allow themselves to be used to circumvent sanctions.

Cyberattack Crashes Gov’t Website

Israeli government websites were down for over an hour due to a major cyberattack on Monday evening, officials said.

Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel held an assessment with officials due to the “broad cyberattack” on government websites. Users attempting to enter sites with gov.il extensions were unable to for at least an hour, before the sites slowly began to come back online.

“Operations have been carried out by communications companies in order to return the service as soon as possible, and the service is gradually returning,” the Communications Ministry said. “The ministry will continue to monitor [the situation] until full restoration.”

An official said the National Cyber Directorate declared a state of emergency in order to study the extent of the damage caused by the “massive” cyberattack.

According to assessments, the Israeli sites were taken down via a denial-of-service attack, which bombards websites with junk traffic to render them unreachable, although this remained unconfirmed.

For now, there is no clarity as to which group caused the attack.

Amazon Relocates Due to Violence

Amazon office workers that were working in downtown Seattle are now being relocated.

The company announced last week that it has decided to move the staff due to an uptick in violent crime in the area. Other companies in the area are opting for their workers to work remotely because of the violence.

The location that office workers are being moved from employs around 1,800 people. However, it is currently unclear how many are being relocated as many have continued to work remotely since the start of the pandemic two years ago.

The spike in the city’s violent crime hit a new peak on March 2, when 15-year-old Michael del Bianco was shot and killed at the intersection where Amazon’s office building is located. In order to address the issues plaguing the area, the Seattle Police Department set up a mobile precinct at the intersection and increased its number of patrolling bike cops.

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office said in a statement that the mayor “is working every day to make downtown a safe and thriving neighborhood for residents, workers, and businesses.”

Numerous other businesses have closed due to the recent spike in crime, including Qumulo, a cloud technology firm, and Piroshky Piroshky, a popular Russian bakery. McDonald’s also confirmed the closure of its downtown Seattle locations, citing an inability to keep its workers safe.

4th Dose Needed?

According to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, people will need a fourth dose of vaccine to help fend off another wave of COVID-19.

“Many variants are coming, and Omicron was the first one that was able to evade – in a skillful way – the immune protection that we’re giving,” Bourla told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.

“The protection we are getting from the third (dose) it is good enough – actually quite good for hospitalizations and deaths,” Bourla said.

But protection after three doses is “not that good against infections” and “doesn’t last very long” when faced with a variant like Omicron, he admitted.

“It is necessary, a fourth (dose) for right now,” Bourla told CBS.

Currently, anyone ages 12 and up who got a second dose of the Pfizer vaccine at least five months ago can get a third dose.

Anyone ages 18 and up who got the two-dose Moderna vaccine should get a booster shot six months after the second dose, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Anyone who got the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine should get a booster shot after two months, the CDC said.

Some moderately or severely immunocompromised people who have had three doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines can already get a fourth dose of vaccine, according to the CDC.

But it’s not clear if or when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration might authorize a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine for healthy teens and adults.

“We are just submitting those data to the FDA, and then we’ll see what the experts also would say outside Pfizer,” Bourla told CBS.

Currently, children ages 5 to 11 are eligible for two pediatric doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine but are not yet eligible for a booster. Pfizer is testing a third dose in that age group now.

Kids under age 5 are not yet eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine – although that could change this spring, Bourla said.

Bourla said Pfizer is also hoping to make a vaccine that will protect against Omicron and all other variants of SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19.

The goal is to create “something that can protect for at least a year,” Bourla told CBS on Sunday.

“And if we are able to achieve that, then I think it is very easy to follow and remember so that we can go back to really the way (we) used to live,” he said.

Brady Un-Retires

Tom Brady has changed his mind.

The GOAT took to Twitter on Sunday night to announce his un-retirement, saying he’ll be back for his 23rd season. There is “unfinished business” to be completed, said the football great. He realized that “my place is still on the field and not in the stands.”

“These past two months I’ve realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands,” Brady said. “That time will come. But it’s not now. I love my teammates, and I love my supportive family. They make it all possible. I’m coming back for my 23rd season in Tampa. Unfinished business LFG.”

Anyone paying attention to the NFL offseason can’t be that surprised Brady is coming back.

After all, speculation began almost as soon as he announced he was stepping away, and he didn’t exactly do much to silence it when he went on his Let’s Go! podcast and said, “You never say never,” when discussing a potential return.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk also reported in February, “There’s a definite and palpable sense that he will play again; some in league circles already believe he could be back by July. Of this year.”

Part of the assumption that Brady would come back even though he will be 45 years old in August is the reality that age didn’t seem to matter for him at all.

All he did in 2021 was lead the league with 5,316 passing yards and 43 touchdown passes while leading the Buccaneers to the NFC South crown and No. 2 NFC playoff seed. While they lost to the eventual champion Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round, it was still a brilliant showing from the best quarterback in history.

Brady also just so happened to lead Tampa Bay to the Lombardi Trophy the previous season.

This is clearly welcome news for the Buccaneers just ahead of the start

of free agency.

Brady has seven Super Bowl rings, five Super Bowl MVPs, three league MVPs and 15 Pro Bowl nods on his resume. His legacy was already etched in stone after 22 brilliant years with the New England Patriots and Buccaneers, and nobody could blame him for walking away even after he was excellent this past season.

Turns out, he still isn’t done adding to that legacy.

Alabama Nixes Concealed Carry Permits

Alabama residents will no longer be required to hold a permit to conceal and carry a handgun in the state.

On Thursday, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey (R) signed a bill anchoring the change into law.

According to a press release from Gov. Ivey’s office, the change will take effect in January next year.

In a statement, Gov. Ivey said, “Unlike most states who are doing everything in their power to make it harder for law abiding citizens, Alabama is reaffirming our commitment to defending our Second Amendment rights. I have always stood up for the rights of law abiding gunowners, and I am proud to do that again.”

Last year, six states passed bills bypassing the permit process for some firearms. Georgia’s House and Senate passed a similar bill to Alabama’s earlier this week.

According to the Pew Research Organization, Alabama is the 22nd state to take that step.

NY Marijuana Licenses to Go to Convicts

It pays to be convicted of a crime in New York. According to New York Governor Kathy Hochul, when licenses will be handed out to newly legalized marijuana retail outlets in the Empire State, the first of them will go to those who have been convicted of marijuana-related crimes.

The policy, approved by the state’s Cannabis Control Board, is intended to give people penalized by the industry prohibition the first chance to benefit from legalization of the drug, ahead of the U.S. corporations planning to capitalize on a valuable new retail market.

In voting to legalize marijuana in March 2021, some lawmakers in the Democrat-controlled state legislature noted that laws banning the possession and sale of marijuana had disproportionately targeted Black and Latino users, even though white New Yorkers used marijuana at similar rates.

Hochul, a Democrat, said in a statement the policy was “righting the wrongs of the past.”

New York is the largest U.S. state after California to legalize marijuana for adults over 21 years old. Sixteen other states have legalized recreational marijuana, all in defiance of federal law, which still prohibits marijuana use.

New York’s first 100 to 200 marijuana retail licenses will be reserved for “social equity” applicants, namely New York residents with marijuana-related convictions, or their immediate family, who can show they have experience running a business. The licenses will allow them to sell marijuana products from New York farmers in stores slated to open by the end of the year.

Nearly a million people were arrested in New York over the last 20 years for marijuana offenses. Almost 90 percent of those arrests were for lower-level offenses.

Philly: City of Brotherly Deaths?

Philadelphia is now king of killings. The City of Brotherly Love has topped 100 homicides in 2022 so far, outpacing the number of killings this time last year, which ended as the deadliest in the city’s recorded history.

The 100th victim was a 28-yearold man who was shot multiple times shortly before 11 p.m. last Thursday.

By March 10 last year, Philadelphia had 92 homicides. The city had a total of 562 homicides in 2021, breaking the previous record of 500 killings reported in 1990.

To put this into perspective, New York City, with five times as many people, had 488 homicides for all of last year. As of last weekend, the Big Apple reported 67 killings so far in 2022.

Chicago this week also reached 100 homicides for the year, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

In the last two years, gun violence and homicide numbers have soared in many cities across the nation.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw posted a statement to Twitter on Friday morning acknowledging the city’s somber milestone.

“We are devastated that 100 people have been murdered this year. PPD will continue to utilize every resource we have to stem this tide of violence and will not rest until we bring to justice those who seek to cause harm ... to our city and its people; it is our #1 priority,” she wrote.

Mayor Jim Kenney also issued a statement and said that his administration “continues to work relentlessly to reduce violence.”

“The fact that our city has lost 100 souls already this year pains me to my core,” he said. “As mayor, my number one priority is to keep people safe and protect our residents. The surge in gun violence that we’ve seen across the nation — and here in Philadelphia — is heartbreaking, it’s maddening, and it makes me as outraged as everyone else.”

Smollett Sentenced

Actor Jussie Smollett on Thursday was sentenced to 150 days in prison for lying to police. The 39-year-old had lied to police about a racist attack he had orchestrated in 2019.

Cook County Judge James Linn described Smollett’s crime as “a crime of opportunity” and a “crime of premeditation.” Linn also sentenced Smollett to 30 months of felony probation, ordering him to pay over $120,000 in restitution to the city of Chicago, as well as a maximum fine of $25,000.

Smollett will, however, be allowed to travel during his probation and report by phone and will not be required to live in Illinois during that period.

Smollett, for his part, yelled repeatedly, “I am not suicidal, and I am innocent. If I did this, then it means that I stuck my fist in the fears of Black Americans in this country for over 400 years.

“Your Honor, I respect you and I respect the jury, but I did not do this. And I am not suicidal. And if anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself, and you must all know that.”

Linn told Smollett, “You’re just a charlatan pretending to be a victim to a hate crime, and that’s shameful.”

Smollett was convicted in December in Chicago on charges that he staged a racist attack on himself and then lied to police about it. Smollett himself has denied the charges, insisting in court that “there was no hoax.” He was found guilty on five of six counts of disorderly conduct, as well as one count for each time he allegedly lied to the police. He was acquitted of a sixth count.

The assailants, brothers Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, said Smollett, who one of the brothers knew from work, had paid them $3,500 to attack him.

Smollett remained free until Thursday’s sentencing.

Yellen Predicts “Uncomfortably High” Inflation

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has predicted high inflation following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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According to the report, Yellen said, “You know, we’re likely to see another year in which 12-month inflation numbers remain very uncomfortably high.”

Speaking to CNBC on Thursday, she said, “We’ve seen a very meaningful increase in gas prices, and my guess is that next month we’ll see further evidence of an impact on U.S. inflation of Putin’s war on Ukraine. I think there’s a lot of uncertainty that is related to what’s going on with Russia in Ukraine. I do think it’s exacerbating inflation.”

Yellen added that she does not believe a U.S. recession is in the cards, since the U.S. labor market remains strong and that households are in “good financial shape.”

Though she would not attempt to predict the second half of 2022, Yellen said she believes the Federal Reserve will be able to make a “meaningful difference going forward” to help keep inflation down.

She added, “I don’t want to make a prediction exactly as to what’s going to happen in the second half of the year. You know, we’re likely to see another year in which 12-month inflation numbers remain very uncomfortably high.”

Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden responded to the soaring February inflation report by saying, “As I have said from the start, there will be costs at home as we impose crippling sanctions in response to Putin’s unprovoked war, but Americans can know this: The costs we are imposing on Putin and his cronies are far more devastating than the costs we are facing.”

Immigration Arrests, Deportations Plummet in 2021

Immigration enforcement arrests and deportations decreased drastically in 2021 in comparison to 2020.

The Biden administration’s policies focusing on violent and dangerous offenders led to a 51% increase in arrests of aggravated felons, a new report from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) showed.

The U.S. deported 59,011 noncitizens, the lowest number in the agency’s history, in 2021.

In 2021, a total of 74,082 “administrative arrests” of noncitizens took place, compared to 103,603 reported in ICE’s year-end report for 2020.

In a statement preceding the report, ICE Acting Director Tae Johnson explained that, in 2021, several executive orders from Biden “refocused the agency’s civil immigration enforcement efforts on the greatest threats to national security, public safety, and border security, while empowering career law enforcement officials in the field to make discretionary decisions about which noncitizens to arrest, detain, and remove.”

Getting Oil from Other Sources

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is continuing its search for new oil supplies as it shuns Russia.

In the quest to bring down rising oil prices and make up the current shortage, the White House is turning to sources in the Middle East, including those under U.S. sanctions. Meanwhile, politicians from both sides of the aisle have criticized the attempt to reach out to Iran and Venezuela.

Helima Croft, head of global commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, noted, “The White House has embarked on the oil equivalent of a scavenger hunt. Given the potential magnitude of the Russian losses, the White House will need something akin to a straight flush to pull it off.”

The White House, meanwhile, did not reveal how much oil it is seeking or the talks it is in with other nations.