Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in New York Monday for the annual UN General Assembly 72nd session, as well as meetings with US President Donald Trump. Israel’s consulate in New York was on lockdown for several hours over the weekend following the delivery of a package with suspicious white powder and a letter containing a threat to assassinate Netanyahu.

Israel’s Bible Marathon has been ejected from a list of approved events by the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races because anti-Israel activists complained that part of its route goes through areas considered “occupied under international law.” The Bible Marathon traces the route of the “man of Benjamin” in 1 Samuel 4:12 and ends in Shiloh, where the Tabernacle stood and currently the site of a thriving Israeli community. Israel’s Marathon Association is currently attempting to have the decision overturned.

Sunday saw angry protests in Jerusalem by large crowds of Ultra-Orthodox (haredi) Jewish men over a plan to scrap decades-old deferments which allow most haredi men to avoid serving in the military. At least nine haredi men were arrested by police after some protests turned violent.

King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa of Bahrain made a stunning announcement early in 2017 to two Jewish rabbis from the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, telling them that he was rescinding his country’s participation in the Arab boycott of Israel and giving Bahraini citizens permission to visit the Jewish State. Rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper revealed this at an event last week, joined by leaders of various religious, social and political groups as well as diplomats from several predominantly Moslem countries.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave a fiery speech on Sunday, threatening the US with dire consequences if it does anything to upset him. “The Americans should know that the Iranian people will stand firm on their honorable positions and on important issues related to national interests, there will be no retreat by the Islamic republic,” Khamenei thundered during a speech to graduates at a  military academy. He added that Washington’s unwillingness to allow his regime to disregard UN Security Council resolutions forbidding Iran from pursuing ballistic missiles and other nuclear weapons related technology amounted to “bullying.”

Though the IAEA has not yet determined that Iran has violated the agreement, Western experts view Iran’s behavior as problematic. They fear Iran could break the rules and renew its nuclear weapons program, and that it will be encouraged to do so by North Korea’s provocative stance toward the US.