MatzavIsraeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu completed a rapid trip to the United States on Thursday, capping the visit with an extended three-hour session at the White House with President Donald Trump that centered largely on Iran and the direction of ongoing negotiations.
Speaking briefly before boarding Israel’s official aircraft, Wing of Zion, Netanyahu described the discussion in positive terms and said President Trump is convinced that Tehran understands the consequences of walking away from a potential agreement.
A primary concern raised during the talks, Netanyahu indicated, was the possibility of a narrowly structured nuclear agreement — one that would address uranium enrichment alone while leaving aside Iran’s ballistic missile program and its backing of regional proxy groups.
“We have a strong, true, and open relationship,” Netanyahu said of Trump, explaining that their meeting “dealt with several issues, but focused mainly on the negotiations with Iran.”
Netanyahu said Trump believes Iranian leaders now recognize the stakes involved. “The President believes that the Iranians have already learned who they are dealing with. I think that the conditions he is setting, together with their understanding that they made a mistake last time when they didn’t reach a deal, may lead them to agree to conditions that will enable a good deal.”
At the same time, the prime minister acknowledged his own reservations about the prospects for a final agreement. “I want to say clearly,” Netanyahu continued, “I do not hide my general doubtfulness about the possibility of reaching any deal with Iran. That being said, I made it clear that if a deal is reached, it must include the components that are important to us, the State of Israel, and in my opinion, the entire international community: not only the nuclear issue, but also the ballistic missiles, and the Iranian proxies in the region.”
Netanyahu concluded by reiterating the tone of the meeting and broadening the scope of the conversation beyond Iran. “It was an excellent conversation. Of course, we spoke about Gaza, the entire region, and other general topics. In any case, it was another conversation with a great friend of the State of Israel, I president like there never was.”
{Matzav.com}
The Trump administration is ending the immigration crackdown in Minnesota, border czar Tom Homan said Thursday of the two-month operation that led to thousands of arrests, angry mass protests and the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens.
The operation, which the Department of Homeland Security called its “ largest immigration enforcement operation ever, ” has been a flashpoint in the debate over President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts, flaring up after Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed by federal officers in Minneapolis.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation focused on the Minneapolis-St. Paul area resulted in more than 4,000 arrests, Homan said, touting it as a success.
“The surge is leaving Minnesota safer,” he said. “I’ll say it again, it’s less of a sanctuary state for criminals.”
The announcement marks a significant retreat from an operation that has become a major distraction for the Trump administration and more volatile than prior crackdowns in Chicago and Los Angeles. It comes as a new AP-NORC poll found that most U.S. adults say Trump’s immigration policies have gone too far.
Trump initially said the surge was an effort to root out fraud in publicly funded programs, for which he blamed the state’s large Somali community, most of whom are U.S. citizens. But the drive soon shifted gears toward other ethnic groups such as Latinos. While the administration has portrayed those caught up in the Minnesota sweeps as “dangerous criminal illegal aliens,” many of them are people with no criminal records, children including 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, and U.S. citizens.
State and local officials, who have frequently clashed with federal authorities since Operation Metro Surge started in December, insist the swarm of immigration officials has inflicted long-term damage on the state’s economy and its immigrant community.
Democratic Gov. Tim Walz urged residents Thursday to remain vigilant in the coming days as immigration officers prepare to leave, saying he’s not going to express gratitude for the Trump administration officials who caused “this unnecessary, unwarranted and in many cases unconstitutional assault on our state.”
“It’s going to be a long road,” Walz said at a news conference where he proposed a $10 million aid package for businesses that have lost revenue because of the immigration enforcement operation. “Minnesotans are decent, caring, loving neighbors and they’re also some of the toughest people you’ll find. And we’re in this as long as it takes.”
The governor called on Washington to help fund the recovery.
“The federal government needs to pay for what they broke here. … You don’t get to break things and then just leave without doing something about it,” he said.
Homan was vague about a timeline for the drawdown. But Walz said Homan had assured him Thursday morning that federal officers would start leaving immediately.
“So as soon as they can pack their stuff, book a plane, move on. I would volunteer — we will help you get to the airport. We will clear the road to get to the airport. I will pack your damn bags if that’s what it takes,” the governor said.
Homan’s announcement came as Democratic lawmakers demand restraints on immigration officers before agreeing to fund DHS. The Trump administration is trying to secure votes in Congress to prevent federal funding from expiring at the end of the week.
Walz, a former congressman, said Homan’s announcement doesn’t make him any readier to support restoring DHS funding.
The governor said he has been in contact with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, urging them to “hold the line until you get the at least minimum reforms necessary in this rogue agency.”
In Washington, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who sits on the Homeland Security committee, told reporters he’ll continue to insist on “fundamental and far reaching reforms” at ICE as a condition of funding for DHS.
“If Republicans are unwilling to accept reforms and DHS shuts down as a result, they have to explain to the American people why they are imposing this burden simply as a result of demands by the American people for reforms in the way this out-of-control agency needs to be reined in,” Blumenthal said.
Homan said immigration enforcement won’t end in the state when the Minnesota operation is over and that the local ICE office will stay in the fight.
“President Trump made a promise of mass deportation and that’s what this country is going to get,” Homan said.
Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, said during a hearing in Washington on Thursday that ICE officers are still looking for about 16,840 people in Minnesota with final orders of removal.
Homan took over the Minnesota operation in late January after the second fatal shooting by federal immigration agents and amid growing political backlash about how the operation was being run. He said Thursday that he intends to stay in Minnesota to oversee the drawdown that will continue into next week.
“We’ve seen a big change here in the last couple of weeks,” he said, crediting cooperation from local leaders.
During the height of the surge, heavily armed officers were met by resistance from residents upset with their aggressive tactics. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Minnesotans offered a model of resistance and she renewed calls to rein in Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
“Minnesotans stood together, stared down ICE, and never blinked,” the Minnesota Democrat said. “Our state has shown the world how to protect our democracy and take care of our neighbors. ICE withdrawing from Minnesota is just the beginning. We need accountability for the lives lost and the extraordinary abuses of power at the hands of ICE agents, and we must see a complete overhaul of the agency.”
Some activists expressed relief at Homan’s announcement, but warned that the fight isn’t over. Lisa Erbes, a leader of the progressive protest group Indivisible Twin Cities, said officials, must be held accountable for the chaos of the crackdown.
“People have died. Families have been torn apart,” Erbes said. “We can’t just say this is over and forget the pain and suffering that has been put on the people of Minnesota.”
In New York, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he would meet Thursday afternoon with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to discuss ways to protect immigrants from the Trump administration.
“They thought they could break us, but a love for our neighbors and a resolve to endure can outlast an occupation,” Frey said on social media. “These patriots of Minneapolis are showing that it’s not just about resistance — standing with our neighbors is deeply American.”
(AP)
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MatzavHoman Announces End of Minnesota Immigration Surge After Thousands of Arrests
The Trump administration is winding down its large-scale immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota after two months, border czar Tom Homan said Thursday, though he noted that a limited federal presence will remain in the state for the time being.
Speaking in Minneapolis, Homan said the administration is scaling back Operation Metro Surge following what he described as strong results and improved collaboration with local authorities. At the same time, he cautioned that ongoing unrest by far-left activists could complicate a full withdrawal of federal agents.
“With the success that has been made in arresting public safety threats and other priorities since this surge operation began, as well as the unprecedented levels of coordination we have obtained from state officials and local law enforcement, I have proposed — and President Trump has concurred — that this surge operation conclude,” Homan told reporters in Minneapolis.
He said federal personnel have already begun pulling back.
“A significant drawdown has already been underway this week and will continue into the next week,” he added, without specifying how many federal personnel would be leaving the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
Homan credited the operation with thousands of arrests and the recovery of thousands of migrant children.
The border czar credited Operation Metro Surge with more than 4,000 arrests and the recovery of 3,364 unaccompanied migrant children, whom he claimed “the last administration lost and weren’t even looking for.”
He also highlighted recent arrests of individuals with serious criminal records.
“Just this week,” Homan continued, ICE nabbed an illegal immigrant who had been convicted of raping a child under the age of 14.
“ICE also arrested two criminal aliens with criminal sexual misconduct convictions, among other violent criminals,” he added.
Addressing criticism of the operation, Homan rejected claims that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents carried out enforcement actions in sensitive locations such as schools, churches, or hospitals. He said he had found no evidence to support those allegations, aside from the arrest of demonstrators — including former CNN anchor Don Lemon — who disrupted a church service in St. Paul on Jan. 18.
At the peak of the enforcement effort, more than 3,000 ICE and Border Patrol officers were deployed in Minneapolis, a move that sparked protests and unrest in parts of the city.
Last week, Homan confirmed that approximately 700 personnel had already been withdrawn, reducing the number of federal officers on the ground to around 2,000.
Before the surge began, about 150 federal immigration agents were stationed in Minneapolis, Homan said in remarks last week.
“Operation Metro Surge is ending,” Homan confirmed. “Next week, we’re going to deploy the officers here on detail back to their home stations and other areas of the country. But we’re going to continue to enforce immigration law.”
He stressed, however, that continued reductions in personnel would depend on the security situation.
“since I have been here, I’ve repeatedly emphasized that the unlawful and violent agitator activity is unacceptable and must wind down as a condition for further drawdown of law enforcement personnel.
“I cannot remove law enforcement personnel while violence poses a serious risk to our officers; I will not leave my officers in that position.”
The administration initially launched the Minnesota surge late last year following a large welfare fraud scandal that drew nationwide scrutiny, much of it centered on the Somali community in the Twin Cities.
On Jan. 26, Trump sent Homan to Minnesota after nationwide outrage erupted over the fatal shootings of anti-ICE protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Reports have indicated that Homan and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem differed on enforcement priorities, with Homan favoring a focus on illegal immigrants with criminal records rather than a broader approach targeting all undocumented individuals.
Trump has publicly supported Noem despite sharp criticism from Democrats, who have called for her resignation or dismissal.
Throughout the operation, Homan repeatedly urged local officials to allow federal authorities access to detention facilities holding migrants arrested by local law enforcement.
“As far as the jails, we got more cooperation with more jails than we had before we got here. That’s a good thing. We’re having conversations with the state,” he added. “We’re moving further on other agreements for the state.
“The cooperation we have here, it’s going to keep this city safer. It’s going to keep our agents safer.”
{Matzav.com}
Vos Iz NeiasTEL AVIV, Israel (VINnews) — Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said he regrets not exercising “better judgment” in his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein but denied any knowledge of the disgraced financier’s sexual crimes before 2019.
In an interview aired Thursday on Israel’s Channel 12, Barak addressed newly released recordings and documents detailing his ties to Epstein, with whom he maintained social and business contacts for years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor.
“I am responsible for all my actions and decisions,” Barak said. “There is certainly room to ask whether I should have exercised more careful judgment. I regret the moment I met him in 2003.”
Barak said that until Epstein’s arrest in 2019 and the renewed investigation into his activities, he believed Epstein had served his sentence and been accepted back into elite U.S. social circles.
“Only in 2019 did the truly abhorrent nature of his crimes become clear,” he said. “At that point, I cut off contact.”
Barak confirmed that he and his wife stayed on multiple occasions at a New York apartment owned by Epstein, describing it as a matter of convenience while traveling. He denied any financial impropriety and said he never witnessed or participated in inappropriate conduct.
“I never saw any improper behavior, and I certainly never participated in anything of that sort,” he said.
Barak also addressed recently published recordings in which he discussed immigration policy and referred to bringing “high-quality” immigrants to Israel. Critics described the remarks as racist and disparaging toward earlier waves of immigrants from North Africa and Arab countries.
Barak rejected that characterization, saying his comments were taken out of context and referred to differences between emergency refugee absorption in Israel’s early years and modern voluntary immigration systems.
“There was no racism,” he said. “I did not grade communities.”
He acknowledged that additional materials related to his association with Epstein could emerge but insisted they would not reveal any criminal conduct.
“I regret that I did not exercise more discretion,” Barak said. “But there is nothing illegal and nothing improper.”
Vos Iz NeiasWASHINGTON (VINnews) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Israeli President Isaac Herzog should be “ashamed of himself” for not granting a pardon to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on trial on charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump was asked whether Netanyahu bore responsibility for the security failures that allowed Hamas’s October 7 attack to take place.
“I guess everybody’s responsible,” Trump said, calling the assault a “sneak attack” that “nobody else would have seen coming.” He went on to describe Netanyahu as “a very good wartime prime minister” and pointed to what he called their joint successes in countering Iran.
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Trump then criticized Herzog, arguing that the Israeli president has the authority to issue pardons but has declined to do so in Netanyahu’s case.
“You have a president that refused to give him a pardon… He should be ashamed of himself,” Trump said. He suggested Herzog was reluctant to act despite previously granting other pardons, though he did not provide details.
Trump also said that while hosting Netanyahu in December, he had been told a pardon was forthcoming. Herzog publicly denied that claim at the time, saying the two leaders had not recently spoken and that no decision had been made regarding a pardon.
Herzog’s office said it had previously spoken with a representative of Trump who inquired about a letter sent in November urging clemency for Netanyahu. The office said any decision would be made in accordance with established legal procedures.
Netanyahu’s trial, which began in 2020, centers on allegations that he accepted gifts from wealthy associates and sought favorable media coverage in exchange for regulatory benefits. Netanyahu has denied wrongdoing and says the charges are politically motivated.
The Lakewood ScoopA bill cutting the bureaucratic red tape preventing a school that serves children with special needs from expanding was approved by an Assembly committee today.
Assemblyman Sean Kean, the bill sponsor, calls it the first step toward increasing much-needed student capacity at the School for Children with Hidden Intelligence in Lakewood.
The bill was reintroduced this session after being pocket vetoed by Gov. Phil Murphy. It authorizes the Department of Environmental Protection to lift a conservation easement on a piece of property when it is needed to expand an existing school for children with special needs, as long as the DEP imposes a new conservation restriction on another parcel of land that is at least twice the size of the original and located within 20 miles.
“By recognizing that some students with complex medical needs struggle to thrive in typical school settings, New Jersey has to make room at specialized institutions while also considering the environmental impacts of any kind of development,” Kean (R-Monmouth) said. “This bill thoughtfully balances the increased demand for space at the School for Children with Hidden Intelligence and land conservation. More land will be protected, and more children will be helped. It is a win-win.”
The School for Children with Hidden Intelligence is a private school approved by the New Jersey Department of Education to serve students with disabilities in pre-K through 12th grade.
The Trump administration on Thursday revoked a scientific finding that long has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change, the most aggressive move by the Republican president to roll back climate regulations.
The rule finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency rescinds a 2009 government declaration known as the endangerment finding that determined that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare.
The endangerment finding by the Obama administration is the legal underpinning of nearly all climate regulations under the Clean Air Act for motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources that are heating the planet.
President Donald Trump called the move “the single largest deregulatory action in American history, by far” while EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called the endangerment finding “the Holy Grail of federal regulatory overreach.”
Trump called the endangerment finding “one of the greatest scams in history,” adding that it “had no basis in fact” or law. “On the contrary, over the generations, fossil fuels have saved millions of lives and lifted billions of people out of poverty all over the world,” Trump said at a White House ceremony.
Legal challenges are certain for an action that repeals all greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks, and could unleash a broader undoing of climate regulations on stationary sources such as power plants and oil and gas facilities, experts say. Overturning the finding will “raise more havoc” than other actions by the Trump administration to roll back dozens of environmental rules, said Ann Carlson, an environmental law professor at the UCLA School of Law.
Environmental groups described the move as the single biggest attack in U.S. history against federal authority to address climate change. Evidence backing up the endangerment finding has only grown stronger in the 17 years since it was approved, they said.
The EPA also said it will propose a two-year delay to a Biden-era rule restricting greenhouse gas emissions by cars and light trucks. And the agency will end tax credits for automakers who install automatic start-stop ignition systems in their vehicles. The device is intended to reduce emissions, but Zeldin said “everyone hates” it.
Zeldin, a former Republican congressman who was tapped by Trump to lead EPA last year, has criticized his predecessors in Democratic administrations, saying that in the name of tackling climate change, they were “willing to bankrupt the country.”
The endangerment finding “led to trillions of dollars in regulations that strangled entire sectors of the United States economy, including the American auto industry,” Zeldin said. “The Obama and Biden administrations used it to steamroll into existence a left-wing wish list of costly climate policies, electric vehicle mandates and other requirements that assaulted consumer choice and affordability.”
The endangerment finding and the regulations based on it “didn’t just regulate emissions, it regulated and targeted the American dream. And now the endangerment finding is hereby eliminated,” Zeldin said.
The Supreme Court ruled in a 2007 case that planet-warming greenhouse gases, caused by the burning of oil and other fossil fuels, are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
Since the high court’s decision, in a case known as Massachusetts v. EPA, courts have uniformly rejected legal challenges to the endangerment finding, including a 2023 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The endangerment finding is widely considered the legal foundation that underpins a series of regulations intended to protect against threats made increasingly severe by climate change. That includes deadly floods, extreme heat waves, catastrophic wildfires and other natural disasters in the United States and around the world.
Gina McCarthy, a former EPA administrator who served as White House climate adviser in the Biden administration, called the Trump administration’s actions reckless. “This EPA would rather spend its time in court working for the fossil fuel industry than protecting us from pollution and the escalating impacts of climate change,” she said.
EPA has a clear scientific and legal obligation to regulate greenhouse gases, McCarthy said, adding that the health and environmental hazards of climate change have “become impossible to ignore.”
Dr. Lisa Patel, a pediatrician and executive director of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, said Trump’s action “prioritizes the profits of big oil and gas companies and polluters over clean air and water” and children’s health.
“As a result of this repeal, I’m going to see more sick kids come into the Emergency Department having asthma attacks and more babies born prematurely,” she said in a statement. “My colleagues will see more heart attacks and cancer in their patients.”
David Doniger, a climate expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said Trump and Zeldin are trying to use repeal of the finding as a “kill shot’’ that would allow the administration to make nearly all climate regulations invalid. The repeal could erase current limits on greenhouse gas pollution from cars, factories, power plants and other sources and could prevent future administrations from proposing rules to address global warming.
The EPA action follows an executive order from Trump that directed the agency to submit a report on “the legality and continuing applicability” of the endangerment finding. Conservatives and some congressional Republicans have long sought to undo what they consider overly restrictive and economically damaging rules to limit greenhouse gases that cause global warming.
Withdrawing the endangerment finding “is the most important step taken by the Trump administration so far to return to energy and economic sanity,” said Myron Ebell, a conservative activist who has questioned the science behind climate change.
Zeldin and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy have moved to drastically scale back limits on tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks. Rules imposed under Democratic President Joe Biden were intended to encourage U.S. automakers to build and sell more electric vehicles. The transportation sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
The Trump administration announced a proposal in December to weaken vehicle mileage rules for the auto industry, loosening regulatory pressure on automakers to control pollution from gasoline-powered cars and trucks. The EPA said its two-year delay to a Biden-era rule on greenhouse gas emissions by cars and light trucks will give the agency time to develop a plan that better reflects the reality of slower EV sales, while promoting consumer choice and lowering prices.
The mileage plan would significantly reduce requirements that set rules on how far new vehicles need to travel on a gallon of gasoline. Trump said the rule change will lower the price of new cars and increase Americans’ access to the full range of gasoline vehicles they need and can afford.
Environmental groups said the plan would keep polluting, gas-burning cars and trucks on U.S. roads for years to come, threatening the health of millions of Americans, particularly children and the elderly.
(AP)
Vos Iz NeiasTALLAHASSEE, Fla. (VINnews) — The Florida House on Thursday approved a bill that would require public schools, charter schools and state agencies to replace the term “West Bank” with “Judea and Samaria” in official materials and communications.
The measure (HB 31) passed by a 92-14 vote with bipartisan support. It is sponsored by Democratic Rep. Debra Tendrich of Lake Worth and Republican Rep. Chase Tramont of Port Orange.
Under the proposal, state entities would discontinue references to the West Bank — the term widely used by the U.S. government and much of the international community — and instead use “Judea and Samaria,” the biblical names for the territory and the terminology used by the Israeli government.
Approximately 3 million Palestinians and about 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the territory, which Israel captured during the 1967 Middle East war. The international community generally does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the area.
Supporters said the legislation restores historical terminology and counters what they described as political rebranding that diminishes Jewish ties to the land.
Opponents said the bill inserts the state into a sensitive international issue and departs from language used in diplomacy and international law.
A House bill analysis said any fiscal impact would depend on how extensively future instructional and administrative materials include the term being replaced.
Similar legislation has been introduced in other Republican-leaning states, including Alabama, Tennessee and Oklahoma.
A companion measure in the Florida Senate, sponsored by Republican Sen. Ralph Massullo of Lecanto, has advanced through committee and awaits further consideration.
MatzavThe Trump administration covertly moved thousands of Starlink satellite internet terminals into Iran following last month’s violent crackdown on anti-government protests, according to a report published Thursday by The Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper said the effort was designed to help regime critics maintain internet access after Iranian authorities responded to widespread demonstrations by killing thousands and sharply limiting online connectivity across the country.
U.S. officials told the Journal that this marks the first known instance in which Washington directly supplied Starlink devices inside Iran — a significant risk given that possession of the terminals is illegal there and can carry lengthy prison sentences.
The operation reflects President Donald Trump’s broader approach toward adversarial governments, combining sanctions and military deterrence with measures intended to strengthen civilians living under authoritarian systems.
According to the Journal, the State Department acquired nearly 7,000 Starlink units in recent months, most of them purchased in January, and succeeded in covertly delivering roughly 6,000 of those devices into Iran.
The funding for the purchase reportedly came after senior officials in the Trump administration reallocated money from other internet-freedom initiatives to secure the satellite equipment.
The White House declined to comment, the Journal reported.
Iranian leaders have frequently accused the United States, without presenting proof, of instigating unrest within the country.
Although American officials denied organizing last month’s protests, the Journal noted that the Starlink shipments indicate the administration has provided more tangible assistance to anti-regime elements than had previously been disclosed.
The report also pointed to an ongoing debate within the U.S. government and among digital-rights advocates over the most effective methods for bypassing state censorship.
For years, virtual private networks funded by the United States have enabled millions of Iranians to circumvent government-imposed firewalls and access outside information.
However, officials cited in the Journal said VPNs lose effectiveness during sweeping internet blackouts, making satellite-based systems like Starlink — despite the dangers involved — one of the few viable options for maintaining connectivity.
Some technology experts cautioned that Starlink use, without added safeguards, could expose users to detection, and argued that resources should not be shifted away from VPN providers.
The Journal reported that after the State Department redirected funding to support the Starlink effort, financial backing lapsed for two of the five VPN services operating in Iran.
The covert initiative comes as Trump remains engaged in sensitive negotiations with Tehran aimed at dismantling Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
Iran has maintained its position that uranium enrichment will continue, while the Trump administration has insisted on eliminating any route toward a nuclear weapon.
The Journal reported that if diplomacy collapses, Trump could approve military action, with U.S. forces already deployed in the Middle East.
Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu in Washington on Wednesday to discuss the Iranian threat.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump expressed hope for a negotiated outcome but cautioned, “If it cannot, we will just have to see what the outcome will be.”
{Matzav.com}
President Donald Trump said Thursday that Iran must reach a deal with the U.S. — and suggested an agreement could come within weeks — while also escalating his public defense of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and attacking Israel’s president over his refusal to grant a pardon.
“We have to make a deal, otherwise it’s going to be very traumatic, very traumatic,” Trump told reporters at the White House. He added that he believes an agreement could be reached within the next month.
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Trump also focused on Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption trial, urging President Isaac Herzog to intervene.
“I think the people of Israel should really shame him. He’s disgraceful for not giving it,” Trump said, referring to a pardon. “You have a president that refused to give him a pardon… He should be ashamed of himself.”
Trump claimed Herzog was withholding a pardon to preserve his own authority. “The primary power he’s got is to give pardons, and he’s not,” Trump said, without offering evidence.
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Asked whether Netanyahu bore responsibility for security failures ahead of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, Trump responded, “I guess everybody’s responsible,” before describing the assault by Hamas as a “sneak attack” that “nobody else would have seen coming.”
He then praised Netanyahu as “a very good wartime prime minister,” pointing to their past cooperation against Iran.
Trump’s comments revive a dispute that surfaced in December, when he claimed Herzog had promised a pardon was “on its way.” Herzog publicly denied the claim, saying no such discussion had taken place and no decision had been made.
Herzog’s office later confirmed that his staff had spoken with a Trump representative about a formal pardon request, but said any decision would follow established legal procedures.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
The Lakewood ScoopWatch as a driver gets out of his car in Lakewood and – apparently unprovoked – punches the window of another driver before getting back into his vehicle.
Hamas may be confronting a new and unexpected threat — not from Israeli airstrikes or diplomatic isolation, but from mounting financial collapse within its own ranks.
According to a series of local accounts, including social media posts and reporting by Israeli outlet Ynet, some Hamas members facing acute financial hardship have allegedly begun selling weapons or military equipment in order to provide for their families. If confirmed, the development would represent a striking sign of strain inside the organization, which has long projected an image of discipline, cohesion and ideological steadfastness.
The reports come against the backdrop of a reportedly unprecedented financial crisis for the terrorist group. Funding streams have reportedly shrunk dramatically amid tighter international oversight, disrupted money-transfer routes and the broader economic devastation caused by the prolonged war in Gaza. Sustained Israeli military pressure and mounting U.S. diplomatic efforts to dismantle Hamas’ military capabilities have compounded the squeeze.
“The situation in Gaza is very difficult. Hamas members are not receiving salaries regularly and sometimes not at all. This creates real hardship,” a source in Gaza told Ynet.
In a territory marked by widespread unemployment, food shortages and the collapse of civilian services, the failure to pay salaries has reportedly left some operatives scrambling for alternatives. In extreme cases, weapons or other military assets have allegedly been sold to fund basic household needs.
Still, the source cautioned that the phenomenon does not appear to be widespread or centrally organized. “There may be isolated personal initiatives by individuals, but this is not a common phenomenon. Overall, financial resources are very limited and the economic situation in Gaza is extremely difficult,” the source said.
At the same time, Gaza-based influencer Rami Aman wrote that groups affiliated with Hamas have recently begun confiscating weapons found in the hands of civilians. Aman also described instances in which private gun owners sold or surrendered their arms, with some weapons reportedly transferred through intermediaries and presented as belonging to Hamas. According to Aman, these moves may be linked to a broader U.S.-backed international initiative aimed at disarming the group and bringing the fighting in Gaza to an end.
Analysts familiar with developments in Gaza say the current crisis exposes a deeper structural vulnerability. For years, they argue, Hamas relied on what amounts to an “emergency economy” — external funding, donations and irregular cash infusions — rather than building sustainable civilian infrastructure. The group’s emphasis on military buildup and conflict management came at the expense of economic resilience.
Now, that model appears under severe stress.
Beyond personal hardship for individual operatives, the economic strain could carry operational consequences. Reduced funding may affect recruitment, training, maintenance of equipment and command-and-control functions. Financial desperation, analysts warn, could also increase susceptibility to intelligence penetration if monetary incentives become more attractive.
Perhaps most consequentially, the group’s image inside Gaza may be at risk. Hamas has long cultivated a narrative of endurance and defiance in the face of pressure. If economic distress continues to deepen — and if reports of weapons being sold for survival gain traction — that narrative could begin to fray, exposing vulnerabilities not just on the battlefield but within the movement’s own social base.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
MatzavPresident Donald Trump, joined Thursday by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, announced that his administration is rescinding a 2009 determination that classified greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels as a threat to public health, a designation that has underpinned federal climate regulations for more than a decade.
Trump described the move as a historic rollback of federal rules and predicted sweeping financial relief for Americans.
Trump called the repeal “the single largest deregulatory action in American history” and said it would “save American consumers trillions of dollars.”
Speaking from the Roosevelt Room at the White House, the president sharply criticized the original policy, which was adopted during the Obama administration, arguing that it harmed the domestic auto sector and increased costs for drivers.
“We are officially terminating the so-called endangerment finding, a disastrous Obama-era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry and massively drove up prices for American consumers,” Trump said in the White House Roosevelt Room.
He added that the repeal takes effect immediately and extends beyond the original finding itself to other related emissions standards enacted over the past decade.
“Effective immediately, we are repealing the ridiculous endangerment finding and terminating all additional green emission standards imposed unnecessarily on vehicle models and engines between 2012 and 2027 and beyond.”
According to Trump, undoing the policy could reduce the price of new vehicles by thousands of dollars. He also took aim at certain automotive features that he said were mandated as a result of emissions rules.
“Under the endangerment finding, they forced the hated start-stop feature onto American consumers, which unnecessarily shuts off a car’s engine. When you stop at a red light, in other words the engine goes off. That’s great,” Trump said.
Zeldin echoed the president’s remarks, characterizing the action as a major pushback against expansive federal authority.
Zeldin said that the Republicans were scrapping the “holy grail of federal regulatory overreach.”
{Matzav.com}
Vos Iz NeiasWASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday revoked a scientific finding that long has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change, the most aggressive move by the president to roll back climate regulations.
The rule finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency rescinds a 2009 government declaration known as the endangerment finding that determined that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare.
The endangerment finding by the Obama administration is the legal underpinning of nearly all climate regulations under the Clean Air Act for motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources that are heating the planet.
President Donald Trump called the move “the single largest deregulatory action in American history,” while EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called the endangerment finding “the Holy Grail of federal regulatory overreach.”
Legal challenges are certain for an action that repeals all greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks, and could unleash a broader undoing of climate regulations on stationary sources such as power plants and oil and gas facilities, experts say. Overturning the finding will “raise more havoc” than other actions by the Trump administration to roll back environmental rules, said Ann Carlson, an environmental law professor at the UCLA School of Law.
Environmental groups described the move as the single biggest attack in U.S. history against federal authority to address climate change.
The EPA also said it will propose a two-year delay to a Biden-era rule restricting greenhouse gas emissions by cars and light trucks.
Zeldin, a former Republican congressman who was tapped by Trump to lead EPA last year, has criticized his predecessors in Democratic administrations, saying that in the name of tackling climate change, they were “willing to bankrupt the country.”
Withdrawing the endangerment finding “is the most important step taken by the Trump administration so far to return to energy and economic sanity,” said Myron Ebell, a conservative activist who has questioned the science behind climate change.
Supreme Court has upheld endangerment finding
The Supreme Court ruled in a 2007 case that planet-warming greenhouse gases, caused by burning of oil and other fossil fuels, are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
Since the high court’s decision, in a case known as Massachusetts v. EPA, courts have uniformly rejected legal challenges to the endangerment finding, including a 2023 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The endangerment finding is widely considered the legal foundation that underpins a series of regulations intended to protect against threats made increasingly severe by climate change. That includes deadly floods, extreme heat waves, catastrophic wildfires and other natural disasters in the United States and around the world.
Gina McCarthy, a former EPA administrator who served as White House climate adviser in the Biden administration, called the Trump administration’s actions reckless. “This EPA would rather spend its time in court working for the fossil fuel industry than protecting us from pollution and the escalating impacts of climate change,” she said.
EPA has a clear scientific and legal obligation to regulate greenhouse gases, McCarthy said, adding that evidence backing up the endangerment finding “has only grown stronger” as the health and environmental hazards of climate change have “become impossible to ignore.”
David Doniger, a climate expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said Trump and Zeldin are trying to use repeal of the finding as a “kill shot’’ that would allow the administration to make nearly all climate regulations invalid. The repeal could erase current limits on greenhouse gas pollution from cars, factories, power plants and other sources and could prevent future administrations from proposing rules to address global warming.
The EPA action follows an executive order from Trump that directed the agency to submit a report on “the legality and continuing applicability” of the endangerment finding. Conservatives and some congressional Republicans have long sought to undo what they consider overly restrictive and economically damaging rules to limit greenhouse gases that cause global warming.
Tailpipe emission limits targeted
Zeldin and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy have moved to drastically scale back limits on tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks. Rules imposed under Democratic President Joe Biden were intended to encourage U.S. automakers to build and sell more electric vehicles. The transportation sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
The Trump administration announced a proposal in December to weaken vehicle mileage rules for the auto industry, loosening regulatory pressure on automakers to control pollution from gasoline-powered cars and trucks. The EPA said its two-year delay to a Biden-era rule on greenhouse gas emissions by cars and light trucks will give the agency time to develop a plan that better reflects the reality of slower EV sales, while promoting consumer choice and lowering prices.
The mileage plan would significantly reduce requirements that set rules on how far new vehicles need to travel on a gallon of gasoline. Trump said the rule change will lower the price of new cars and increase Americans’ access to the full range of gasoline vehicles they need and can afford.
Environmental groups said the plan would keep polluting, gas-burning cars and trucks on U.S. roads for years to come, threatening the health of millions of Americans, particularly children and the elderly.
Biden-era standards for clean cars and trucks are among the most important and effective protections to address climate pollution, advocates say.
Vos Iz NeiasWASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge agreed Thursday to block the Pentagon from punishing Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, a former Navy pilot, for participating in a video that called on troops to resist unlawful orders.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled that Pentagon officials violated Kelly’s First Amendment free speech rights and “threatened the constitutional liberties of millions of military retirees.”
“To say the least, our retired veterans deserve more respect from their Government, and our Constitution demands they receive it!” wrote Leon, who was nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush.
Kelly, who represents Arizona, sued in federal court to block his Jan. 5 censure from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Leon’s order prohibits the Pentagon from implementing or enforcing Kelly’s punishment while his lawsuit is pending. The judge instructed the parties to provide him with an update in 30 days.
In November, Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers appeared on a video in which they urged troops to uphold the Constitution and not to follow unlawful military directives from the Trump administration. Republican President Donald Trump accused the lawmakers of sedition “punishable by DEATH” in a social media post days later.
The court case is just one front in a broader dispute that has spiraled between the group of Democratic lawmakers and the Trump administration since they posted the video. Earlier this week, a Washington grand jury declined to indict the lawmakers over the video.
Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin has said she has been told the Justice Department could seek a new indictment as soon as Friday. Kelly and Slotkin said at a news conference Wednesday that they are keeping all legal options on the table regarding potentially suing the administration.
Leon said that Kelly “is likely to succeed on the merits” of his free speech claim. “He has also shown irreparable harm, and the balance of the equities fall decidedly in his favor.”
Hegseth said Kelly’s censure was “a necessary process step” to proceedings that could result in a demotion from the senator’s retired rank of captain and subsequent reduction in retirement pay.
The judge concluded that Kelly’s speech is entitled to full First Amendment protection. Leon wrote, “Horsefeathers!” in response to the government’s argument that Kelly is trying to exempt himself from the rules of military justice.
“Rather than trying to shrink the First Amendment liberties of retired servicemembers, Secretary Hegseth and his fellow Defendants might reflect and be grateful for the wisdom and expertise that retired servicemembers have brought to public discussions and debate on military matters in our Nation over the past 250 years,” Leon wrote.
“If so,” he added, “they will more fully appreciate why the Founding Fathers made free speech the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights!”
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the judge’s ruling.
Kelly said in a video statement posted after the ruling that the case was about more than just him and that the administration “was sending a message to millions of retired veterans that they too can be censured or demoted just for speaking out.”
He added that the ruling was unlikely the end: “This might not be over yet, because this president and this administration do not know how to admit when they’re wrong.”
The 90-second video was first posted on a social media account belonging to Slotkin. Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania also appeared in the video. All of the participants are veterans of the armed services or intelligence agencies.
The Pentagon began investigating Kelly in late November, citing a federal law that allows retired service members to be recalled to active duty on orders of the defense secretary for possible court-martial or other punishment. Hegseth has said Kelly was the only one of the six lawmakers to be investigated because he is the only one who formally retired from the military and still falls under the Pentagon’s jurisdiction.
Kelly’s lawyers said the Pentagon’s censure of Kelly — and its efforts to reduce his retirement grade and pay — are an unprecedented attack on the rights of veterans to publicly debate national security issues.
“Defendants assert an absolute and unreviewable authority to impose military punishment on a retired veteran and sitting United States Senator for engaging in speech a civilian political appointee dislikes. That position is as alarming as it is unprecedented,” they wrote.
Government lawyers said the case “is not about legislative independence or freedom of speech in civilian society.”
“Instead, this case involves a retired military officer who seeks to use his military status as a sword and his legislative position as a shield against the consequences of his actions in military personnel matters,” they wrote.
Hegseth, the Defense Department, Navy Secretary John Phelan and the Navy are named as defendants in the lawsuit.
Boropark24By BoroPark24 Staff
The Mamdani administration announced today that Alternate Side Parking (ASP) regulations will be suspended through Saturday, February 14, 2026, to facilitate ongoing snow operations.
In addition, ASP will also be suspended from Monday, February 16, 2026, through Wednesday, February 18, 2026, in observance of Presidents’ Day, the Lunar New Year, Losar, and Ash Wednesday.
Despite the suspension of street cleaning regulations, the city confirmed that payment at parking meters will remain in effect throughout all five boroughs.
With the latest announcement, Alternate Side Parking will have been suspended for two consecutive weeks - and for most of the past three weeks overall - leaving many residents wondering when regular enforcement will resume.
For drivers, the suspension has provided temporary relief during weeks marked by repeated snowfalls and frigid temperatures. However, some residents say the continued pause reflects ongoing challenges in clearing snow from residential streets.
Large piles of snow remain along curbs and at corners, making it difficult, and in some cases impossible, for sanitation crews to conduct effective street cleaning.
The Lakewood ScoopAt least one person is in custody as LPD’s SRT unit executed a search warrant for the Street Crimes Unit today, police told TLS.
The raid took place on MLK Drive, and at least one person ran from the police but later apprehended.
Information surrounding the investigation was not immediately available.
MatzavAs President Donald Trump moves to remove large numbers of migrants — including hundreds of thousands with criminal records — national crime figures are falling rapidly, yet several major media outlets say there is no clear connection between the two trends.
On Wednesday morning, Axios posted on social media, “Crime plunges in major cities despite Trump’s crackdown rhetoric,” alongside a report questioning the cause of the decline.
“The bottom line: Experts aren’t sure why violent crime continues to fall,” the article stated.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back forcefully, accusing the outlet of ignoring what she described as an obvious explanation.
“This ridiculous framing is why Americans don’t trust the media,” she said, adding:
President Trump securing the border, mobilizing federal law enforcement to arrest violent criminals, and deporting the worst of the worst illegal aliens is EXACTLY what’s driving the massive drop in crime.
Political commentator Scott Jennings also mocked the Axios framing, writing, “Funny way of saying: ‘Crime went down under Trump.’”
Axios later deleted its original social media post and replaced it with a revised version that read, “Violent crime dropped sharply across America’s biggest cities in 2025, according to new data reviewed by Axios.”
Trump administration officials have been outspoken in tying stricter immigration enforcement to improved public safety. Border chief Kristi Noem, speaking on The Bongino Show, credited the president’s policies for historic declines in violent crime.
Under the leadership of @POTUS Trump, the murder rate has plunged to a 125-year low — with especially steep drops in cities where the @dhsgov law enforcement undertook targeted immigration enforcement and crime prevention operations. Our nation has also experienced a steep decline in fentanyl deaths, which have dropped over 30 percent … We are not going back to how things used to be!
Earlier this year, on January 14, the White House released a statement titled “Mass Deportations Are Improving Americans’ Quality of Life.” The document argued that removing illegal migrants has contributed not only to lower crime rates but also to reduced housing costs and stronger wages and employment figures.
Despite those claims, several mainstream outlets have continued to question whether immigration enforcement is responsible for the drop in violent crime. At the same time, Republican candidates have highlighted enforcement data compiled under Noem to showcase arrests and deportations within their own districts.
The scope of the administration’s efforts was detailed in an internal Department of Homeland Security document leaked to CBS earlier this week. The document indicated that Immigration and Customs Enforcement made roughly 400,000 arrests of migrants — both criminal and non-criminal — during Trump’s first year back in office.
… 14% of nearly 400,000 immigrants arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in President Trump’s first year back in the White House had charges or convictions for violent criminal offenses, according to an internal Department of Homeland Security document obtained by CBS News
…
The document lists 2,100 arrests of those with homicide charges or convictions; 2,700 arrests of those with robbery offenses; and 5,400 arrests involving individuals charged with or convicted of sexual assault. Another 43,000 arrestees are listed as having assault charges or convictions. About 1,100 had kidnapping charges or convictions and 350 had arson offenses listed.
Meanwhile, the Axios report accompanying the earlier tweet appeared to minimize any clear link between deportations and declining crime figures.
“The bottom line: Experts aren’t sure why violent crime continues to fall,” wrote the Axios reporter, who has publicly advocated for expanded migration.
The article itself cited new national data:
The big picture: The report from the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA) shows declines across every major violent-crime category in 2025 compared to 2024. It features data from 67 of the nation’s biggest police departments, and confirms other studies on last year’s declines.
• Cities report that homicides overall fell 19%.
• Robberies dropped about 20%.
• Aggravated assaults were down nearly 10%.
In a December 2024 article, the same reporter, Russell Contreras, had written: “Immigrants arrested for homicides accounted for less than 1% of ‘at-large’ arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the last six years, an Axios review found.”
Administration officials have also argued that deportations provide economic benefits beyond public safety. They contend that stricter immigration enforcement reduces certain consumer costs, including automobile expenses. During Joe Biden’s presidency, officials say, increased migration contributed to higher used-car prices and insurance premiums, driven in part by auto accidents, thefts, and parts-related crimes.
{Matzav.com}
The Yonatan Battalion, part of the IDF’s all-Chareidi Chashmonaim Brigade, has officially become operational after completing its first full battalion-level exercise.
The IDF said the drill, held in the Golan Heights, included training in open-field combat, urban warfare and raid operations. Military officials said the exercise finalized the unit’s operational certification and cleared it for active deployment.
According to the IDF, soldiers in the battalion have completed specialized courses in heavy weapons, drone operations and sniper training. The IDF said all programs were adapted to accommodate a Torah-observant lifestyle, allowing soldiers to serve while maintaining strict religious standards.
“It’s possible to be Chareidi and be a combat soldier. You are making history,” said Maj. Gen. Nadav Lotan, commander of the IDF’s Ground Forces.
The battalion’s commander, identified as Lt. Col. A., described the unit as a model of religious dedication and courage. “We’re cultivating soldiers with yiras shamayim who are heroes, men of valor and men of truth,” he said.
The development comes amid major changes in Israel’s draft policy. In 2024, the Supreme Court of Israel ruled that, following the expiration of exemption laws, Chareidi men must be drafted into the army. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has since pushed legislation aimed at enlisting 10,000 Chareidim within two years, calling it a “revolution” in military service.
In an October address to the Knesset, Netanyahu pointed to the Chashmonaim Brigade as “proof” that yiddishkeit and army service can coexist.
“These fighters enlisted as Chareidim and will be discharged as Chareidim,” he insisted. “We will expand frameworks that make this possible.”
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
A chilling message scrawled across a wall at the University of Melbourne has highlighted concerns about rising antisemitism as Israeli President Isaac Herzog concluded a tense visit to Australia.
“Death to Herzog,” along with pro-Israel and pro-Australia slogans and a symbol linked to Hamas propaganda, was spray-painted Thursday morning on the university’s Parkville campus. The graffiti was quickly removed, and police have opened an investigation.
The Australasian Union of Jewish Students condemned the message, calling it a call for violence that “crosses a clear moral and legal line” and warning that Jewish students already feel unsafe.
The incident came as security concerns forced Herzog to cancel a planned visit to Melbourne’s Adass Yisrael synagogue, still closed after a 2024 firebombing later linked by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation to Iran.
Herzog’s tour has been marked by large protests and heavy police presence. Dozens have been arrested following clashes in Sydney and Melbourne. He met this week with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Victorian leaders, including Jacinta Allan and Margaret Gardner.
Speaking at a memorial event attended by Israeli Ambassador Amir Maimon, Herzog warned that “blind hatred” had turned Jewish identity into a target.
“I say to the protesters: go protest in front of the Iranian embassy,” he said.
Yet Herzog struck a hopeful note in interviews, saying he still believes most Australians support peace and coexistence.
“There is antisemitism. It is frightening and worrying,” he said. “But there is also a silent majority that wants respect and dialogue.”
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Vos Iz NeiasWASHINGTON D.C (VINnews)-President Trump issued a strong endorsement of Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday, declaring that U.S. relations with Venezuela are progressing strongly as oil begins to flow again from the South American nation.
In a statement posted on his social media platform, Trump highlighted ongoing engagement with Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodríguez and her representatives.
“We are dealing very well with President Delcy Rodriguez, and her Representatives,” Trump wrote. “Oil is starting to flow, and large amounts of money, unseen for many years, will soon be greatly helping the people of Venezuela. Marco Rubio, and all of our Representatives, are doing a fantastic job, but we speak only for ourselves, and don’t want there to be any confusion or misrepresentation.”
Trump’s comments come amid the Trump administration’s efforts to stabilize Venezuela following the U.S. military operation that captured former President Nicolás Maduro earlier this year. Rodríguez, Maduro’s former vice president, was sworn in as interim leader, and the U.S. has pushed for cooperation on oil production, counter-narcotics and reducing ties with adversaries like China, Russia, Iran and Cuba.
The president expressed enthusiasm for Rubio’s role, writing, “WE LOVE MARCO! 🇺🇸”
Trump also addressed a recent Wall Street Journal article about Florida energy mogul Harry Sargeant III, a Trump ally who has pursued opportunities in Venezuela’s oil sector.
“There is a story about a man named Harry Sargeant III in The Wall Street Journal,” Trump stated. “He has no authority, in any way, shape, or form, to act on behalf of the United States of America, nor does anyone else that is not approved by the State Department. Without this approval, no one is authorized to represent our Country. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP”
The clarification highlights the administration’s insistence that only officially approved channels—led by the State Department under Rubio—handle U.S. dealings with Venezuela.
The statement reflects broader U.S. policy aims to revive Venezuela’s oil industry through American companies, with proceeds intended to benefit Venezuelans while advancing U.S. interests in energy security and regional stability. Trump has previously described potential oil deals as a way to “make Venezuela great again” without significant U.S. costs.
Rubio, a longtime critic of the Maduro regime, has played a central role in negotiations and has testified to Congress that the U.S. is not at war with Venezuela but is using economic leverage, including a naval quarantine on certain oil exports, to ensure cooperation.
No immediate response was available from the State Department or Venezuelan officials to Trump’s latest remarks.
After nearly nine decades of tracking presidential popularity — a run that began in the era of Franklin D. Roosevelt — Gallup is stepping away from one of its most recognizable political measurements.
The polling giant announced this week that it will no longer regularly publish approval and favorability ratings for individual political figures, marking a major shift in how one of Washington’s most closely watched data shops approaches public opinion. The change “reflects an evolution in how Gallup focuses its public research and thought leadership,” the organization said.
In a follow-up statement, a Gallup spokesperson emphasized that the company is redirecting its resources toward long-term research on social and economic conditions rather than political personalities.
“Our commitment is to long-term, methodologically sound research on issues and conditions that shape people’s lives,” the spokesperson said. “This change is part of a broader, ongoing effort to align all of Gallup’s public work with its mission.”
Gallup said it will continue producing research through projects such as the Gallup Poll Social Series, the World Poll, and its quarterly business reviews, even as it winds down its signature presidential approval tracking.
The decision comes as President Donald Trump has faced a sustained slide in Gallup’s own approval numbers, including erosion among Republicans and on policy areas that once formed the backbone of his political appeal, such as immigration.
Trump’s approval rating last December ranked among the lowest Gallup had recorded since it began presidential polling in the 1930s, placing him near the bottom of a dataset that spans nearly a century of American political history.
However, the organization denied any pressure from Trump, saying the shift was driven solely by internal priorities.
“This is a strategic shift solely based on Gallup’s research goals,” the spokesperson told The Hill.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Boropark24YS GOLD
We regret to inform you of the passing of Reb Kalman Leser, a pillar of the Bobover chassidus who left this world at the ripe old age of 101. He was a longtime Boro Park resident, and leaves behind a beautiful family of chassidim and yirei shomayim.
He was born into an illustrious family of Sanzer chassidim in the town of Czarnow, and the family was centered in the nearby town of Tarnow. Since they were adherents of the Me'or Vashemesh, and an ancestor even helped smuggle him out of prison, the name Kalmish is found often in this family.
Reb Kalman's grandfather made his way to the first Bobover Ruv, and later to his son, The Kedushas Tzion of Bobov.
He endured the worst of the Holocaust over six years, and spent all this time in the labor of camps of Germany. Most of his family was killed, but he was fortunate that his three sisters survived.
After some years in Fernwald DP Camp where he became close to the Klausenberger Ruv, he came to America, and settled in Brownsville, and later to Crown Heights and Boro Park, when the Bobover Ruv moved there. He was instrumental in teaching watchmaking to survivors, so they would be able to earn a living.
Reb Kalman was known as true chassidishe Yid who was known throughout the chassidus as a yerei Shomayim who transmitted the traditions of Bobov to future generations. Among his children are highly regarded chassidim, talmidei chachomim, and yirei shomayim who adorn their communities with Torah and chassidus.
The levaya will take place in front of the Bobover Beis Medrash later afternoon. Details will follow.
Yehi zichro baruch.
The Lakewood ScoopHi,
With the Purim season in the air and the boys busy with Purim shtick, I would like to bring an important concern to everyone’s attention.
I strongly feel that if a parent buys Purim shtick for their child, it is only responsible that they supervise when it is being used. Last year, a neighbor’s house almost caught fire and another child was badly burned. Just last night there was another very close call.
Parents, please take responsibility. If you are purchasing these items for your children, supervision is necessary to ensure everyone’s safety.
It also seems that some of the kids using them on our block don’t even live here and were told they cannot do it on their own block. This makes the situation even more concerning.
Let’s work together to keep our children and our homes safe this Purim.
Thank you.
TLS welcomes your letters by submitting them to us via Whatsapp or via email [email protected]
Vos Iz NeiasNEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are dropping Thursday as the market splits further between perceived losers and winners from the rush into artificial-intelligence technology.
The S&P 500 fell 1% after erasing an early gain that brought it just below its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 494 points, or 1%, as of 11:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.5% lower.
AppLovin tumbled 18.1% despite reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Like other software companies, it’s come under pressure recently from worries that AI may undercut its business while fundamentally changing how people use the internet.
AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi pushed back on such worries, saying in a conference call with analysts that indicators show his company is doing well. “There’s a real disconnect between market sentiment and the reality of our business,” he said.
Its stock nevertheless worsened its loss for the young year so far, which came into the day at 32.2%.
Cisco Systems dropped 11.5% despite likewise topping analysts’ expectations for profit and revenue last quarter. The tech giant indicated that it may make less profit off each $1 of revenue during the current quarter than it did in the past quarter.
Analysts said that could be an indicator of higher prices for computer memory that everyone is having to pay amid the rush driven by AI.
More broadly, questions are rising about whether businesses that are spending heavily on AI will end up seeing high-enough profits and productivity to make the investments worth it.
In the meantime, the companies serving customers with huge AI budgets are benefiting.
Equinix, for example, jumped 11.8% even though the digital infrastructure company’s results for the latest quarter fell short of analysts’ expectations. It gave financial forecasts for 2026 that topped analysts’ expectations, and CEO Adaire Fox-Martin said that “demand for our solutions has never been higher.”
The company’s data centers are helping to power the world’s move into AI.
Outside of tech, McDonald’s rose 2% after reporting a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The restaurant chain credited moves to improve its value and affordability, including cutting prices on some U.S. combo meals in September.
Walmart’s rally of 3.2%, meanwhile, was one of the strongest forces pushing upward on the S&P 500. It erased losses from earlier in the week after a report said spending at U.S. retailers overall stalled in December.
In the bond market, Treasury yields fell after a report said slightly more U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected.
The number was nevertheless lower than the prior week’s, which is a signal that the pace of layoffs may be improving. It also followed a surprisingly strong report on the job market from Wednesday, which said the nation’s unemployment rate improved last month.
A strengthening job market could push the Federal Reserve to keep its cuts to interest rates on pause, even if President Donald Trump has been loudly and aggressively calling for lower rates. That’s because lower rates can worsen inflation at the same time that it gives the economy a boost.
It all raises the stakes for Friday’s upcoming report on inflation at the U.S. consumer level. Economists expect it to show inflation slowed to 2.5% last month from 2.7% in December.
A separate report on Thursday said that sales of previously occupied homes slumped last month by more than economists expected, which also weighed on yields.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.12% from 4.18% late Wednesday.
In stock markets abroad, South Korea’s Kospi rushed 3.1% higher thanks to gains for Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and other tech stocks. The moves were more modest in other Asian markets and in Europe.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.9%, and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.3%.
Vos Iz NeiasDUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The death toll from a crackdown over Iran’s nationwide protests last month has reached at least 7,002 people killed with many more still feared dead, activists said Thursday.
The slow rise in the number of dead from the demonstrations adds to the overall tensions facing Iran both inside the country and abroad as it tries to negotiate with the United States over its nuclear program. A second round of talks remains up in the air as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressed his case directly with U.S. President Donald Trump to intensify his demands on Tehran in the negotiations.
“There was nothing definitive reached other than I insisted that negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a Deal can be consummated. If it can, I let the Prime Minister know that will be a preference,” Trump wrote afterward on his Truth Social website.
“Last time Iran decided that they were better off not making a Deal, and they were hit. … That did not work well for them. Hopefully this time they will be more reasonable and responsible.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed “general skepticism” that negotiations with Iran will lead to significant achievement, though he described his meeting with Trump as “excellent.” “The president believes that Iranians already understand who they are dealing with,” Netanyahu said before boarding a plane to return to Israel. “I think the conditions he is setting, combined with their understanding that they made a mistake the last time when they did not reach an agreement, may lead them to agree to conditions that will enable a good agreement to be reached.”
Netanyahu stressed that any agreement must also include concessions about Iran’s ballistic missiles program and support for militant proxies, not only about the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program.
Meanwhile, Iran at home faces still-simmering anger over its wide-ranging suppression of all dissent in the Islamic Republic. That rage may intensify in the coming days as families of the dead begin marking the traditional 40-day mourning for the loved ones.
Activists’ death toll slowly rises
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which offered the latest figures, has been accurate in counting deaths during previous rounds of unrest in Iran and relies on a network of activists in Iran to verify deaths. The slow rise in the death toll has come as the agency slowly is able to crosscheck information as communication remains difficult with those inside of the Islamic Republic.
Iran’s government offered its only death toll on Jan. 21, saying 3,117 people were killed. Iran’s theocracy in the past has undercounted or not reported fatalities from past unrest.
The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll, given authorities have disrupted internet access and international calls in Iran.
The rise in the death toll comes as Iran tries to negotiate with the United States over its nuclear program.
Diplomacy over Iran continues
Senior Iranian security official Ali Larijani met Wednesday in Qatar with Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. Qatar hosts a major U.S. military installation that Iran attacked in June, after the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June. Larijani also met with officials of the Palestinian Hamas militant group, and in Oman with Tehran-backed Houthi rebels from Yemen on Tuesday.
Larijani told Qatar’s Al Jazeera satellite news network that Iran did not receive any specific proposal from the U.S. in Oman, but acknowledged that there was an “exchange of messages.”
Qatar has been a key negotiator in the past with Iran, with which it shares a massive offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf. Its state-run Qatar News Agency reported that ruling emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani spoke with Trump about “the current situation in the region and international efforts aimed at de-escalation and strengthening regional security and peace,” without elaborating.
The U.S. has moved the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, ships and warplanes to the Middle East to pressure Iran into an agreement and have the firepower necessary to strike the Islamic Republic should Trump choose to do so.
Already, U.S. forces have shot down a drone they said got too close to the Lincoln and came to the aid of a U.S.-flagged ship that Iranian forces tried to stop in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.
Trump told the news website Axios that he was considering sending a second carrier to the region. “We have an armada that is heading there and another one might be going,” he said.
Concern over Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Meanwhile, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said it was “deeply appalled by credible reports detailing the brutal arrest, physical abuse and ongoing life‑threatening mistreatment” of 2023 Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi.
The committee that awards the prize said it had information Mohammadi had been beaten during her arrest in December and continued to be mistreated. It called for her immediate and unconditional release.
“She continues to be denied adequate, sustained medical follow‑up while being subjected to heavy interrogation and intimidation,” the committee said. “She has fainted several times, suffers from dangerously high blood pressure and has been prevented from accessing necessary follow‑up for suspected breast tumors.”
Iran just sentenced Mohammadi, 53, to over seven more years in prison. Supporters had warned for months before her arrest that she was at risk of being put back into prison after she received a furlough in December 2024 over medical concerns.
MatzavSen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said Wednesday that he would back another round of U.S. military action against Iran, similar to Operation Midnight Hammer, if circumstances require it, declaring he would be “the one Democrat” willing to openly endorse such a move.
Speaking on Newsmax TV’s “The Record,” Fetterman made clear he supported the prior operation and would not hesitate to do so again under similar conditions.
“I absolutely was fully supportive and was cheering for that Midnight Hammer. And, now, if that’s required for a second round, I’ll be the one Democrat to absolutely say that’s entirely appropriate.”
Fetterman also expressed skepticism about Iran’s reliability in past diplomatic agreements, arguing that prior efforts failed to curb its nuclear ambitions. He pointed to enrichment levels reached under an earlier deal as a reason for concern.
“I don’t believe — you can’t really trust. The last time there was a treaty with Iran, they ended up with 900 pounds of just a step below…nuclear weapon-grade enrichment. So, that’s why — we demonstrated last year that we can hit them, we know where they are, and we have the capabilities to reach them. And now here we are again, and that’s why the prime minister’s here, because I think we’re all in lockstep to stand with Israel as our special ally, and that’s why I’m proud to stand with the prime minister and now with the president, too.”
The Pennsylvania senator further indicated that he would oppose any renewed effort in Congress to limit presidential war powers related to Iran, as he had previously.
“If they do bring up another Iranian war powers bill, I will vote no just like I did the first time they brought that up.”
{Matzav.com}
Boropark24By Y.M. Lowy
New York State DMV offices will be closed beginning tomorrow afternoon as the agency carries out a major technology system update.
According to the Department of Motor Vehicles, all DMV offices statewide will shut down starting Friday at 2:00 p.m. and remain closed through Tuesday, February 17. During this period, online transactions and phone services will also be unavailable.
The shutdown is necessary to complete system upgrades and improvements. No in-person, online, or phone services will be processed while the work is underway.
All DMV services are expected to resume at the start of business on Wednesday, February 18.
Residents who need DMV services are advised to plan ahead and complete any urgent transactions before the closure begins. For additional details, the DMV has posted updates on its official website.
Vos Iz NeiasNEW YORK (VINnews) — A man charged in an antisemitic stabbing in Brooklyn last December was arraigned and released on bail Tuesday, according to court documents reported by The Times of Israel.
Armani Charles, 28, allegedly stabbed a Jewish man in the chest near the Chabad movement’s world headquarters and made antisemitic remarks during the attack. The victim was treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. Video captured part of the incident.
The victim later told authorities that Charles said, “I’m going to kill Jewish people,” and, “We wouldn’t be in this mess if the Holocaust had happened.”
Charles pleaded not guilty and was released after posting at least $50,000 in bail. He faces 14 charges, including assault with intent to cause serious injury, menacing, criminal possession of a weapon, and aggravated harassment based on race or religion. Six of the charges are classified as hate crimes.
A suspect charged in a December antisemitic stabbing in Brooklyn has been arraigned and released on bail. Armani Charles is accused of making antisemitic threats before stabbing a Jewish man near the Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters in New York City.
The victim was… pic.twitter.com/wzYWxBpRd2
— ILTV Israel News (@ILTVNews) February 12, 2026
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Thursday that President Donald Trump believes Iran may be pushed into accepting what he called “a good deal,” following the two leaders’ latest White House meeting.
“I have just concluded a short but important visit to Washington, during which I spoke with our great friend, President Trump,” Netanyahu said. “We have a close, genuine, and open relationship.”
According to the prime minister, the talks focused mainly on Iran and the future of nuclear diplomacy.
“The president believes the Iranians already understand who they are dealing with,” Netanyahu said. “He thinks the conditions he is setting, combined with their understanding that they made a mistake last time, could lead them to accept terms that would make it possible to achieve a good deal.”
Still, Netanyahu signaled caution about the
prospects for diplomacy.
“I do not hide my general skepticism about the possibility of reaching any agreement with Iran,” he said.
He added that he told the White House any deal must go beyond nuclear limits. “It must include the components that are important to us — not only the nuclear issue, but also ballistic missiles and Iran’s regional proxies,” Netanyahu said.
The “excellent conversation” also addressed the war in the Gaza Strip, he said.
“This was another conversation with a great friend of Israel — a president like no other,” Netanyahu added.
Your browser does not support the video tag.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Vos Iz NeiasGAZA (JNS) – Hamas will not lay down its weapons until Israel is “eliminated,” Osama Hamdan, a senior official in the terror organization, vowed on Wednesday.
“We have been very clear with mediators, and in our messages passed on to the relevant parties, that the matter of Palestinian weapons is linked to the presence or elimination of the occupation,” stated Hamdan, referencing Israel in an interview with Al Jazeera.
“To this day, the Palestinian national motto states that the occupation needs to be eliminated,” he stated. “The weapons are legal according to international law, and by virtue of the will of the Palestinian people, so these weapons will not be laid down until their goal is achieved.”
Hamas’s official charter calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and refers to parts of the Quran that call for Muslims to kill Jews everywhere.
However, Hamdan said, “if the establishment of a Palestinian state is in the cards, it is possible to have some kind of agreement on a hudna,” or a temporary truce, which according to Islamic doctrine can be used to rebuild, rearm and prepare for future hostilities.
During this hudna, “all relevant parties will enable the Palestinians to establish their independent state,” he explained. “This state will be allowed to fulfill its duty of defending its people, land and rights. Then, I believe that the Palestinians as a whole will have their own military, armed forces and security agencies,” the top terrorist said.
U.S. President Donald Trump warned on Jan. 21 that the terror group would be “blown away very quickly” if it fails to lay down its weapons under the second phase of his administration’s peace plan for Gaza.
Speaking at a question-and-answer session in Davos, Switzerland, after his address to the World Economic Forum, the president said Hamas had “agreed to give up their weapons” as part of his 20-point plan.
Phase 2 of the plan calls for Hamas to lay down its arms with the deployment of an International Stabilization Force to the Strip.
Hamdan told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that “the last thing the world should contemplate is sending forces to replace the occupation and clash with the Palestinians on behalf of the occupation.
“No Palestinian will accept this,” he added, noting that since the United Nations Security Council voted to adopt Trump’s plan for international forces, these countries “should deploy at the borders and prevent the enemy [Israel] from going back to its aggression against our people.”
Several of Hamas’s top leaders, including Khaled Mashaal and Musa Abu Marzouk, have publicly rebuffed key parts of Trump’s proposals.
“As long as our people are under occupation,” Mashaal told Al Jazeera earlier this week, “disarmament is an attempt to turn our people into victims, make their elimination easier and facilitate their destruction.”
“Questions about the resistance’s weapons are being raised forcefully. Some want to place it in the context that whoever carried out Oct. 7 must be cornered and made to pay the price,” he said, in reference to Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of 1,200 people.
“As those who participated in the resistance, we must not accept this,” he declared, saying that “resistance is the right of occupied peoples.”
Abu Marzouk told the Qatari outlet on Jan. 28 that Hamas never agreed to disarm. “Not for a single moment did we talk about surrendering weapons,” he said, claiming the issue was never raised in the talks.
The United States is demanding that Hamas give up all weapons capable of being used to attack Israel, but will allow them to keep small arms, at least at first, according to sources cited by The New York Times on Tuesday.
The report, which cited anonymous officials, said draft plans envisioned phased disarmament, which is expected to take “months or longer” to be carried out.
It was not immediately clear who would take possession of the weapons Hamas was to hand over or how the disarmament would be completed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset on Jan. 26 that Phase 2 does not entail Gaza’s reconstruction, but demilitarization.
According to the prime minister, demilitarization “will happen—as our friend Trump said—the easy way or the hard way, but it will happen.”
MatzavThe individual believed to have abducted Nancy Guthrie made a string of clumsy mistakes that defy logic, according to a retired senior FBI official, who said the suspect’s actions suggest he was unlikely to be “a trained assassin.”
James Gagliano, a former supervisory special agent with the FBI, pointed to surveillance footage showing the suspect outside the Tucson home of Savannah Guthrie’s mother. He said the way the man handled and carried his holstered firearm stood out immediately — and not in a way that reflected experience.
“It does not look like a trained assassin or somebody who’s been doing this a long time,” he told “Fox & Friends” early Thursday.
Gagliano emphasized that the manner in which the weapon was positioned appeared unusual and inconsistent with professional training.
“I look at the gun, I’ve never ever seen somebody carry a weapon that way. I carried a weapon in the service of my country for 33 years. I have never seen somebody carry it that way,” the ex-FBI official continued.
Based on what he observed, Gagliano said the suspect’s equipment setup appeared poorly planned.
“This looks like it was thrown together either last minute or the person got a holster from one person and the weapon from somebody else.”
He also questioned why the suspect approached the front entrance of the residence, where he was captured on the homeowner’s doorbell camera, rather than using a less visible access point.
“There are multiple points of entry that you could get into very easily,” he said of the “Today” show host’s mom’s home in Tucson.
Gagliano described a rear entrance that, in his view, would have been far simpler to exploit without attracting attention.
“In the back of the house, there is a door that’s got like nine panel window panes in it, and you could have easily broken one panel, reached in your hand, unlocked the door and gone in with nobody noticing.
“So why did this suspect [go] to the front?” he asked.
“It really boggles the mind.”
Another potential break in the case emerged Wednesday, when The NY Post photographed authorities recovering a black glove in the desert area near Guthrie’s quiet neighborhood on the outskirts of Tucson. Gagliano said that item could prove decisive if it links back to the suspect.
“If the gloves come back to this person, if there’s DNA on it and they ultimately be the item that undoes him … who commits a crime, a violent crime, abducts somebody and then drops off clues 1.3 miles from the house?” he said.
He noted that the glove appears similar to the pair worn by the armed figure seen in video footage, and suggested it could provide critical forensic evidence as investigators race to locate the missing woman, who requires medication to survive.
“And why is that? Well, the DNA aspect. So you can pull off the trace fingerprints, hair, and fiber, any type of body fluids on it,” he said.
On Wednesday afternoon, The NY Post observed at least one member of the FBI’s Evidence Response team retrieving the glove from brush in the desert landscape near the Guthrie home.
Authorities declined to provide details when questioned about the possible evidentiary significance of the recovered item.
{Matzav.com}
Vos Iz NeiasJERUSALEM (VINnews) — The Chief Rabbinate on Wednesday began registering women for its rabbinical certification exams for the first time, following High Court rulings that the long-standing exclusion was unlawful discrimination, according to the Jerusalem Post Thursday.
The exams, which carry professional and financial implications in Israel’s public sector, will include multiple certification tiers, with the first session scheduled after Passover. Registration will run through the end of February.
The legal battle began in July when the High Court ruled that barring women violated state anti-discrimination law, emphasizing that the exams serve as state-recognized certifications affecting employment and salary. The Rabbinate unsuccessfully attempted to limit women to certain subjects, but the court rejected the move in November.
Petitioners, led by ITIM, Kolech, and the Rackman Center, hailed the decision as historic. Rabbi Dr. Seth Farber of ITIM called it a step forward for equality within halacha and a boost to public trust in religious institutions.
The Rabbinate said a professional committee is reviewing broader exam reforms, but women will now be able to sit for the same exams as men under the existing system.
MatzavNYC Mayor Zohran Mandani sparked controversy after quoting religious texts to defend sanctuary policies. The PBD panel debated his policies on immigration and crime in New York City. From rising crime stats to trash-filled streets and policing clashes, the discussion turns fiery and unapologetic.
WATCH:
Vos Iz NeiasALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The appointment of Donald T. Kinsella as the federal government’s top prosecutor by federal judges in northern New York was dead on arrival when word reached Washington’s Justice Department headquarters.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, his smiling picture affixed to his social media feed, ensured that by announcing on Wednesday in a post that judges don’t pick U.S. attorneys, the president does. Then he wrote: “You are fired, Donald Kinsella.”
The online firing of the onetime chief of the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District apparently left John A. Sarcone III in charge even after a federal judge last month concluded he was serving as U.S. attorney unlawfully. Sarcone also was quoted in a news release from the office two days ago.
Those who clicked on “Meet the U.S. Attorney” on the web site for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of New York on Thursday were greeted with the “staff profile” page for Sarcone, though his title is now “First Assistant U.S. Attorney.”
A woman who answered the phone at the federal prosecutor’s office in Albany responded to a request to speak with Kinsella by saying: “Technically, he’s not employed with our office anymore.”
Messages were left for Kinsella at Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP, the law firm where he is a senior counsel and where a web site describes him as a 40-year veteran of “complex criminal and civil litigation over a ”distinguished career.”
Emails sent to the web address for media inquiries at the U.S. attorney’s office bounced back on Thursday. An email sent to Sarcone seeking comment on the latest developments was not immediately returned.
Last month, Judge Lorna G. Schofield in New York City blocked subpoenas requested by Sarcone, saying he was not lawfully serving as U.S. attorney and that any “of his past or future acts taken in that capacity are void or voidable as they would rest on authority Mr. Sarcone does not lawfully have.”
Sarcone is among several prosecutors around the country found by federal judges to lack authority after the Republican administration used unusual maneuvers to place them or keep them in their posts without U.S. Senate confirmation.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Jan. 20 that Lindsey Halligan, who pursued indictments against a pair of Trump’s adversaries, was leaving her position in the Eastern District of Virginia as her months-long tenure had concluded. A judge had concluded in November that her appointment was unlawful and that indictments brought there against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey must be dismissed.
In December, Alina Habba r esigned as the top federal prosecutor for New Jersey after an appeals court said she had been serving in the post unlawfully.
Bondi appointed Sarcone to serve as the interim U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York in March. But when his 120-day term elapsed, judges in the district declined to keep him in the post. That same day, the Department of Justice took coordinated steps to install Sarcone as acting U.S. attorney for the district.
On Jan. 8, Schofield ruled that “federal law does not permit such a workaround.”
Vos Iz NeiasSEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers on Thursday that it believes the teenage daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is close to being designated as the country’s future leader as he moves to extend the family dynasty to a fourth generation.
The assessment by the National Intelligence Service comes as North Korea is preparing to hold its biggest political conference later this month, where Kim is expected to outline his major policy goals for the next five years and take steps to tighten his authoritarian grip.
In a closed-door briefing, NIS officials said they are closely monitoring whether Kim’s daughter — believed to be named Kim Ju Ae and around 13 years old — appears with him before thousands of delegates at the upcoming Workers’ Party Congress, said lawmaker Lee Seong Kweun, who attended the meeting.
First appearing in public at a long-range missile test in November 2022, Kim Ju Ae has since accompanied her father to an increasing number of events, including weapons tests, military parades and factory openings. She traveled with him to Beijing last September for Kim’s first summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in six years on the sidelines of a World War II event.
Speculation about her political future intensified last month when she joined her parents on a New Year’s Day visit to Pyongyang’s Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, a sacred family mausoleum displaying the embalmed bodies of her late grandfather and great-grandfather, the country’s first- and second-generation leaders. Some experts saw the visit as the clearest sign yet that she’s positioned to be the heir to her 42-year-old father.
South Korean officials initially expressed doubt that she could be chosen as a North Korean leader, citing the country’s deeply conservative culture and tradition of male-dominated leadership. But her increasingly prominent appearances in state media have prompted a reassessment.
In its previous assessment of Kim Ju Ae’s status in September, the NIS told lawmakers that Kim Jong Un’s decision to bring her along on his trip to China was likely part of an effort to build a “narrative” possibly paving the way for her succession.
“In the past, (NIS) described Kim Ju Ae as being in the midst of ‘successor training.’ What was notable today is that they used the term ‘successor-designate stage,’ a shift that’s quite significant,” Lee said.
According to Lee, the agency cited her growing presence at high-profile military events, her inclusion in the family visit to Kumsusan, and signs that Kim Jong Un was beginning to seek her input on certain policy matters.
Not much is known about Kim’s daughter
Despite her increased visibility in propaganda, North Korean state media have never published the name of Kim Jong Un’s daughter, only referring to her as his “respected” or “most beloved” child.
The belief that she is named Kim Ju Ae is based on an account by former NBA star Dennis Rodman, in which he recalled holding Kim Jong Un’s baby daughter during a trip to Pyongyang in 2013. South Korean intelligence officials believe she was born sometime that year.
In 2023, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers that Kim Jong Un and his wife also likely have an older son and a younger third child whose gender is unknown.
Since its foundation in 1948, North Korea has been ruled by male members of the Kim family, beginning with the country’s founder Kim Il Sung and followed by his son, Kim Jong Il.
Kim Jong Un was just 26 when he was officially named heir during a 2010 party conference, two years after Kim Jong Il suffered a debilitating stroke. Following his father’s death in December 2011, he was abruptly thrust into the throne with relatively little preparation.
Some analysts suggest that Kim Jong Un’s decision to debut his daughter early possibly reflects his own experience of being rushed into power.
Party congress may offer hints toward succession plans
Kim Ju Ae’s first known visit to Kumsusan last month was also her father’s first visit to the site in three years. Given the palace’s status as a key symbol of the Kim family rule, the trip should be seen as a symbolic gesture by Kim Jong Un to present his daughter as his heir before his grandfather and father as he prepares for the major ruling party congress, said Cheong Seong-Chang, a senior analyst at South Korea’s Sejong Institute.
The Workers’ Party congress in late February, last held in 2016 and 2021, could provide a stage for Kim Jong Un to formalize his succession plans, possibly by giving his daughter the party’s first secretary post, its No. 2 job, although such a decision might not be immediately disclosed to the outside world, Cheong said.
Other analysts question whether she would receive such a high-profile post or any formal party role, given that party rules require members to be at least 18.
If Kim Jong Un does use the party congress to cement his daughter as successor, the signs would be more subtle, said Koh Yu-hwan, former president of South Korea’s Institute of National Unification.
For example, the party may issue self-praise about how North Korea has survived longer than most other Communist states and credit that to how the country established a “successful inheritance of the revolution,” he said.
“If you see comments like that, it would be reasonable to think that Ju Ae has been cemented,” as heir, Koh said.
The Lakewood Scoop
MatzavThe wife of Reb Avraham Ben Dayan, the young avreich who was arrested eight months after his wedding, returned from a prison visit deeply shaken and is leveling serious accusations against military authorities. Speaking to Kikar HaShabbat, she said that her husband has faced mistreatment during his detention, including restrictions on religious observance and inadequate access to kosher food.
Reb Ben Dayan, a graduate of Yeshivas Maor HaTalmud who married approximately eight months ago, was arrested on Motzaei Shabbos and remains incarcerated in Military Prison 10. His family accuses the military of severe harassment and says he has been sentenced to ten days in detention beginning last Motzoei Shabbos.
As previously reported, Ben Dayan had spent Shabbos in Ofakim and was stopped by a traffic officer in the community of Tifrach on suspicion of a traffic violation. During the stop, the officer discovered that he had been classified as a draft “deserter” due to his failure to report to the enlistment office. He was transferred to a local police station and subsequently handed over to military police authorities.
In a phone call with family members shortly before sunset on the day of his arrest, Ben Dayan reportedly said that he had requested several times to put on tefillin but that his requests were denied. His family expressed shock at what they described as the denial of a basic religious mitzvah in the State of Israel and voiced serious concerns about kashrus standards and his ability to maintain a religious lifestyle while in custody.
According to the family, contact with Ben Dayan ceased about twenty minutes before sunset, leaving uncertainty as to whether he was ultimately able to put on tefillin in those final moments.
Responding to the military’s clarification regarding the tefillin incident, Ben Dayan’s wife said, “The IDF spokesperson is lying and trying to claim that the detainee did not request to put on tefillin until two in the morning. It is important for us to say that this is false and untrue, and they did not allow him to put on tefillin until the very last moment.”
She also alleged deficiencies in the food provided to him. “Until yesterday, they did not bring him mehadrin kosher food as is customary. Only yesterday, for the first time, did he eat normal and kosher food. Until now, he mainly lived on fruits and vegetables. This abuse is incomprehensible.”
According to her, he has also been restricted from studying Torah. “He does not have the ability to go and learn in the shul. Avraham, who is a precious avreich, wanted to use the time to sit and learn, but the military authorities, in inexplicable cruelty, are not allowing it. They do not allow him to go to the shul except during davening times.”
She further claimed that authorities are seeking to humiliate him. “They want to degrade him. When they transferred him from the Bahadim base to Prison 10 to meet with me, they decided to shackle him in both hands and feet. It is unclear what they wanted from him and why they needed to humiliate him to that extent. Why are they not placing him with other chareidim? He has no chareidi environment at all. It is absurd that the prison rabbi came to ask him questions from Chumash to determine whether he is chareidi or not.”
Regarding his communication rights, she added, “On the advice of his commander — they did not even assign him a proper commander — he signed a prisoner’s rights form, and they were obligated to give him a phone call on Motzaei Shabbos. From Motzaei Shabbos at eight o’clock until the next day, he was not given the right to speak with his wife. The chaos and search efforts happened only because they did not grant him the legal right to call me.”
In response to the tefillin claims, the IDF spokesperson said, “The detainee was arrested on Motzaei Shabbos by the Israel Police and transferred to the Military Police. He remained in custody overnight until late morning. During his detention, he prayed, and upon arriving in the afternoon at the military prison, he requested to put on tefillin and was told he would be given the opportunity upon arrival at his detention unit. However, due to an unexpected delay in his processing and according to a report received afterward, he ultimately did not manage to put on tefillin.”
The statement continued: “It should be clarified that this is an extremely unusual case that does not align with IDF procedures. The IDF regrets the distress caused. Procedures at the prison have been sharpened for immediate implementation, and the matter will be thoroughly investigated by commanders to prevent similar cases in the future. The detainee is currently being held in a facility that contains all the necessary equipment in accordance with his lifestyle.”
Approximately two hours after publication of the initial report, the IDF spokesperson issued an additional statement: “Contrary to what has been claimed, the detainee is receiving the conditions and rights to which he is entitled, including davening times in a shul, mehadrin kosher food, and phone calls. During the intake interview, the detainee was informed that he is entitled to receive mehadrin kosher food if he requests it, but he did not request it. In the military prison, there is no gap between meat and vegetarian meals in Badatz-level kashrus.”
The statement added, “The detainee is in direct contact with the prison rabbi. The IDF detention system continuously makes adjustments in accordance with detention conditions and the number of detainees and ensures the provision of mehadrin kosher food to allow detainees to maintain their religious lifestyle.”
A military source further stated, “The detainee claims that he did not understand from whom he needed to request Badatz-level kosher food, despite being instructed by his commanders how to do so. In addition, he exercised his right to a phone call on Motzaei Shabbos and is being held in a unit designated for detainees with charges similar to those attributed to him. Every detainee has the option to request gender-specific supervision in the military prison, as was explained to him during the intake process. The detainee was shackled during transfers between detention facilities in accordance with standard procedures.”
As previously reported, Ben Dayan has received strong backing from leading gedolim, including Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch and Rav Dov Landau.
Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch personally called to be mechazeik and encourage Ben Dayan’s wife after he was handed over to military police months after his wedding. During the call, the rosh yeshiva said, “With Hashem’s help, they will do the maximum that can be done. In a few days he will be released, with Hashem’s help,” assuring her, “No more than ten days.”
Rav Dov Landau also sent a handwritten letter of support. Immediately after writing the letter, Rav Landau requested that it be delivered to the avreich without delay, and his attorney conveyed it to him shortly thereafter.
In the letter, Rav Landau wrote, “To the dear avreich, Rabbi Avraham Ben Dayan, may he live long and well, the distressing news about the shocking injustice done to you — that you were imprisoned ‘for the sin’ of Torah study — has caused me great anguish.”
He continued, “I hereby strengthen you and your family. They did not intend this action against you personally, but against all the sons of Torah, whose learning is a thorn in their eyes. It pains them to see the blessed growth of the Torah world, and you have merited to be a representative of Torah learners in order for them to strike at them through their schemes.”
He concluded, “We hope to Hashem that you will merit to be released swiftly and return to your studies, sanctify Heaven in all your ways and conduct, and sit once again in the tent of Torah as before. Seeking your peace and the peace of your Torah, Dov Landau.”
{Matzav.com}
Vos Iz NeiasJERUSALEM (VINnews) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered legal proceedings to begin revoking the citizenship of Israelis convicted of espionage for Iran, marking the first use of a legal provision that allows for such action, officials said Thursday.
The directive, issued with the backing of Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, applies to all Israeli citizens convicted of serious espionage offenses, including Jewish citizens, officials said. Until now, the provision under Israel’s Citizenship Law had primarily been considered for Arab Israelis involved in terrorism.
Netanyahu described acts of espionage against Israel as a “fundamental breach of trust” and instructed authorities to pursue citizenship revocation once legal proceedings are complete and convictions are finalized.
The law allows those stripped of citizenship to retain permanent residency, so individuals without another nationality may still live in Israel. The move, however, carries symbolic weight, affecting voting rights and public status.
Over the past two years, roughly 60 people have been charged with spying for Iran. Most are ordinary citizens with no prior criminal records. Last week, two 20-year-old brothers from Jerusalem were indicted for allegedly passing security information to Iranian operatives for payment.
Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, warned that Iranian recruitment efforts are increasing, highlighting the growing risk posed by espionage within the country.
Vos Iz NeiasWASHINGTON (AP) — A top Democrat is calling for a watchdog investigation after photographs emerged suggesting that the Justice Department has been tracking the search history of lawmakers who are reviewing files from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, asked the Justice Department’s inspector general to investigate what he characterized as “spying” on members of Congress who this week have reviewed less-redacted versions of the Epstein files at a department annex and on department-owned computers.
Photographs taken during Attorney General Pam Bondi’s hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday showed her holding a binder open to a page that said “Jayapal Pramila Search History” and that listed a series of documents that were apparently reviewed. Pramila Jayapal is a Democratic congresswoman and was among the Judiciary Committee members who pressed Bondi during the hearing about the department’s handling of the Epstein files.
Jayapal called it “totally unacceptable” and said lawmakers will be “demanding a full accounting” of how the department is using the search history.
“Bondi has enough time to spy on Members of Congress, but can’t find it in herself to apologize to the survivors of Epstein’s horrific abuse,” Jayapal said in a post on X.
A bipartisan contingent of lawmakers has traveled in recent days to a Justice Department outpost to review less-redacted records from the files, but some who have seen the documents have complained that too much information about Epstein associates remains withheld from view. The Trump administration Justice Department said last month that it was releasing more than 3 million pages along with more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images related to Epstein investigations.
Spokespeople for the Justice Department did not immediately return a request seeking comment Thursday. Representatives for the inspector general’s office also did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
In a statement, Raskin said that not only had the Justice Department withheld records from lawmakers “but now Bondi and her team are spying on members of Congress conducting oversight in yet another blatant attempt to intrude into Congress’s oversight processes.”
He added: “DOJ must immediately cease tracking any Members’ searches, open up the Epstein review to senior congressional staff, and publicly release all files—with all the survivors’ information, and only the survivors’ information, properly redacted—as required by federal law.”
MatzavSenior officials in the Degel HaTorah faction clarified Thursday morning that no instruction has been issued by leading gedolim to oppose the draft legislation currently under discussion. On the contrary, they said they have been directed to continue working vigorously toward an agreed-upon law that would regulate the status of yeshiva students and bring an end to their arrests.
According to senior figures in the party, “There is no directive from the leading rabbinic authorities to oppose the law being discussed at this time. On the contrary, they have instructed us to proceed with negotiations with the Knesset’s legal advisers in an effort to reach legislation that will be acceptable to them and withstand scrutiny by the High Court of Justice.”
They added that other political factions are attempting to derail the process. “There are elements in other parties trying to do everything possible to halt the legislation. They are the ones briefing and speaking in the name of Litvishe rabbonim despite having no connection to them, and they are working forcefully to sabotage the bill’s passage.”
Sources close to Hagaon Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch emphasized Wednesday night that the fundamental position remains unchanged. “Nothing has shifted in the principled stance that the draft law must be legislated and that the status of yeshiva students must be regulated. The instruction to Degel HaTorah’s Knesset members is to continue advancing the legislation.”
Similarly, associates of Hagaon Rav Dov Landau said Thursday morning, “We are continuing efforts to reach a law that will stop the arrest of yeshiva students. This is the most urgent issue for the rosh yeshiva. Sanctions are a secondary matter in importance.”
Despite ongoing talks, senior chareidi lawmakers acknowledged overnight that negotiations with the Knesset’s legal advisory team are not progressing smoothly. “Although we are trying to be flexible with the legal advisers and have agreed that sanctions would take effect immediately, there are still gaps and disagreements,” one senior figure said. “The primary sticking point concerns the question of oversight over Torah learners. It is unclear whether, at the end of the process, we will reach a bill that can pass second and third readings.”
The debate comes amid heightened tensions following the arrest of yeshiva students in recent days. At a special gathering held at Yeshivas Maor HaTalmud after the arrest of Reb Avraham Ben Dayan several months after his wedding, Rav Landau issued a forceful declaration that no yeshiva student would enlist in the army under any framework.
“The entire Jewish world is shocked by the criminal act in which wicked authorities imprisoned in a military jail an outstanding Torah scholar who has nothing in his world but the four cubits of halacha, and this solely because of his desire to learn Torah,” Rav Landau said. “But the dear scholar has merited that, through him, there is such a great awakening to Torah study in public. Merit is brought about through the meritorious — apparently he has great merits.”
“While he sits behind walls and bars, bound in iron chains, the voice of Torah that grows stronger as a result of his imprisonment echoes from one end of the world to the other, shattering walls of falsehood, breaking chains of wickedness, reaching the Heavenly Throne and giving voice to the cry of the Bnei Yisroel from the distress of their oppressors and pursuers.”
“The Torah world is now undergoing severe persecution from misguided brothers. The fears are heavy and widely shared. Their schemes are no longer hidden but carried out openly, and their entire aim is to eradicate the Torah world, God forbid.”
“To those who plot evil and scheme wickedness, who seek to break our spirit and steal the treasure of our world, we say clearly: Do not imagine that you will succeed! In complete contrast to you, we are people of noble spirit. Our hands will not do harm, and we do not wish to use your tools of strife. But know that standing against Torah learners is a war against the eternity of Israel.”
“History is filled with those who sought to make Torah forgotten from Yisroel. They passed and vanished from the world, their names forgotten and their rule gone like a fleeting shadow. But the Torah stands forever. You cannot break those whose lives are spirit alone. Your time and your rule will pass, but we will continue to cling to our eternal Torah, the Torah of Hashem. There is no one who can stand against the Torah of Hashem, against Torah learners, or against the halls of Torah. Jailers may imprison the body, but there is no power in the world that can imprison the spirit.”
“We hereby declare in a loud voice: Whether the authorities agree or not, not even one married scholar, not even one yeshiva student, will go to the army — not in this way and not in any other way,” Rav Landau emphasized. “The place of Torah learners is exclusively within the halls of the yeshivos and kollelim. Let everyone know — whether they understand it or not — this is the reality. So it was, and so it will be.”
He concluded, “May it be the will of Hashem that the emissaries of the Torah world who have been imprisoned be released swiftly from darkness to light, and may we all merit every good, to learn Torah in quiet and tranquility.”
{Matzav.com}
Five Arab-Israelis were murdered in five separate locations within the past 12 hours as the pervasive violence and murders in the sector continue to spiral out of control. The number of murders in the Israeli-Arab sector since the beginning of the year is now 45.
Arab violence has been out of control for years, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and senior police officials have complained in the past that Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara’s obstruction of his policies has worsened the situation, including her refusal to approve technological intelligence means and the use of administrative detention against Arab criminals on the grounds of being “illegal and discriminatory.”
In addition, Israeli judges hand down absurdly light sentences for violent crimes, resulting in a total lack of deterrence in the sector.
Israel Police Chief Danny Levy, who held a situation-assessment meeting on Arab crime on Thursday morning with the police’s senior command, confirmed Ben-Gvir’s complaints against Baharav-Miara.
It should be noted that along with legal difficulties, the majority of serious crimes in the Arab sector, including murders, go unsolved due to the Arabs’ refusal to provide testimony to the police and in court. Additionally, when the police do carry out operations against crime in Israeli-Arab areas, Arab MKs and left-wing Israelis lash out at the police for “discrimination.”
During the meeting, Levy declared that Israel is facing a “national state of emergency” in light of the wave of killings.
Levy called for the mobilization of all government ministries—including the security establishment, the justice system, and local leadership—for a coordinated national effort against organized crime.
“At the outset, I repeat what we have said again and again—we are in a national emergency,” Levy said. “The fight against criminal organizations requires a deep, systemic response by all government ministries: education, welfare, economy, and justice, together with local leadership. Everyone must take part, including the IDF and civil-society organizations.”
“The growing number of murders since the beginning of the year, particularly in Arab society—where many of the victims are innocent people caught in conflicts between criminals and between families and crime organizations—is intolerable and must stop. The overwhelming majority of Arab citizens are law-abiding and are the ones suffering from this violence. We call on local leaders and religious figures to speak out clearly against it.”
Addressing the courts and the State Attorney’s Office, Levy said, “There is an urgent need for tougher sentencing, for legal courage in filing rapid indictments, and for immediate handling of requests for administrative restraining orders. Immediate legislation is required to restore technological tools to the police!
“I call on the Attorney General, the State Attorney’s Office, and the government of Israel—return the technological tools to us immediately. We cannot stop or prevent crime when our hands are tied, our ears are blocked, and our eyes are covered.”
Levy added that while the police are carrying out intensive operations, seizing weapons, making arrests, preventing attacks, and targeting the economic infrastructure of criminal organizations, “it is not enough.”
“This is the time to roll up our sleeves. Winning this fight requires a united national effort.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Vos Iz NeiasJERUSALEM (VINnews)-The Israeli Navy completed a major multi-day maritime exercise this week, involving warships, submarines, elite special forces and other IDF units, aimed at bolstering readiness to protect Israel’s territorial waters and strategic offshore assets, the military said.
The drill, which included hundreds of sailors, centered on defending Israel’s exclusive economic zone, particularly its offshore natural gas and oil rigs, which the Israel Defense Forces described as critical “strategic assets” at sea.
Participants included missile boats, corvettes, submarines and patrol vessels, along with Shayetet 13 naval commandos. The Israeli Air Force, C4I and Cyber Defense Directorate, and additional IDF branches also took part, the military said.
Troops rehearsed a range of scenarios, including repelling seaborne infiltrations, engaging enemy naval forces, countering aerial threats, conducting multi-front operations, fighting in both open waters and coastal areas, and safeguarding key infrastructure such as gas rigs, ports and other maritime facilities.
The exercise comes amid ongoing regional tensions, including threats to Israel’s energy infrastructure from hostile actors in the Mediterranean.
The IDF emphasized that the drill enhanced interoperability across branches and improved the navy’s ability to respond to potential threats in complex maritime environments. No specific dates or further operational details were released.
Vos Iz Neias(AP) – Russia has attempted to fully block WhatsApp in the country, the company said, the latest move in an ongoing government effort to tighten control over the internet.
A WhatsApp spokesperson said late Wednesday that the Russian authorities’ action was intended to “drive users to a state-owned surveillance app,” a reference to Russia’s own state-supported MAX messaging app that’s seen by critics as a surveillance tool.
“Trying to isolate over 100 million people from private and secure communication is a backwards step and can only lead to less safety for people in Russia,” the WhatsApp spokesperson said. “We continue to do everything we can to keep people connected.”
Russia’s government has already blocked major social media like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and ramped up other online restrictions since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said WhatsApp owner Meta Platforms should comply with Russian law to see it unblocked, according to the state Tass news agency.
Earlier this week, Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor said it will introduce new restrictions on the Telegram messaging app after accusing it of refusing to abide by the law. The move triggered widespread criticism from military bloggers, who warned that Telegram was widely used by Russian troops fighting in Ukraine and its throttling would derail military communications.
Despite the announcement, Telegram has largely been working normally. Some experts say it’s a more difficult target, compared with WhatsApp. Some Russian experts said that blocking WhatsApp would free up technological resources and allow authorities to fully focus on Telegram, their priority target.
Authorities had previously restricted access to WhatsApp before moving to finally ban it Wednesday.
Under President Vladimir Putin, authorities have engaged in deliberate and multipronged efforts to rein in the internet. They have adopted restrictive laws and banned websites and platforms that don’t comply, and focused on improving technology to monitor and manipulate online traffic.
Russian authorities have throttled YouTube and methodically ramped up restrictions against popular messaging platforms, blocking Signal and Viber and banning online calls on WhatsApp and Telegram. In December, they imposed restrictions on Apple’s video calling service FaceTime.
While it’s still possible to circumvent some of the restrictions by using virtual private network services, many of them are routinely blocked, too.
At the same time, authorities actively promoted the “national” messaging app called MAX, which critics say could be used for surveillance. The platform, touted by developers and officials as a one-stop shop for messaging, online government services, making payments and more, openly declares it will share user data with authorities upon request. Experts also say it doesn’t use end-to-end encryption.
The Lakewood ScoopThe following is an ‘Ask The Mayor’ question submitted to TLS, and the Mayor’s response. Email your questions for the Mayor to [email protected].
Question:
Dear Mayor,
I’m writing to report a very bumpy area at the intersection of Chateau and River that feels like an unmarked speed bump. I’m surprised that the intersection was left in such bad shape after the state’s construction work, as it’s uncomfortable and potentially dangerous for drivers.
Could you please look into getting this fixed?
Additionally, I’d like to ask if there is an ordinance regarding shoveling snow in front of residential properties, and if so, who is responsible for enforcing it?
Thank you
Response from Mayor Coles:
Good morning. I will ask our engineer to reach out to the state’s contractor to see about the Chateau Dr./River Ave. intersection.
Property owners are responsible for shoveling the sidewalks in front of their property. It has rarely been an issue in the past, but code enforcement would be responsible for enforcement.
Stay warm
Ray
—————–
Have a question for the Mayor? Send it to [email protected]
Have a question for the Chief? Send it to [email protected]
MatzavAt a special gathering held at Yeshivas Maor HaTalmud following the arrest of kollel yungerman Reb Avraham Ben Dayan, Hagaon Rav Dov Landau delivered a forceful and unequivocal declaration that no yeshiva bochur will enlist in the army under any framework.
The event was convened in response to the arrest, which took place months after the young avreich’s chasunah. Addressing the crowd, Rav Landau spoke in sharp terms about the situation and the broader implications for the Torah world.
“The entire Jewish world is shaken by the criminal act in which wicked authorities arrested and imprisoned in a military jail an elevated avreich who has nothing in his world except the four cubits of halachah, and this solely because of his desire to learn Torah,” Rav Landau said. “But the precious avreich has merited that through him there has been such a great awakening to Torah study among the public, and merit is brought about through one who is meritorious — apparently he has great merits.”
“While he sits behind walls and bars, bound in chains of iron, the voice of Torah that grows stronger as a result of his imprisonment echoes from one end of the world to the other, shattering walls of falsehood, breaking chains of wickedness, and piercing until the Heavenly Throne, giving voice to the groans of the Bnei Yisroel from the distress of their oppressors and pursuers.”
Rav Landau continued by describing what he called an intense campaign against the Torah community. “The Torah world is now undergoing a terrible persecution by misguided brothers. The fears are heavy and widely shared. Their schemes are no longer hidden but out in the open, and their entire aim is to uproot the Torah world, Heaven forbid.”
He then addressed those he accused of seeking to undermine the yeshiva world. “To those evildoers and schemers of wickedness who seek to break our spirit and steal the treasure of our world, we say in clear language: Do not imagine that you will succeed! In complete contrast to you, we are people of noble spirit. Our hands will not do evil, and we do not wish to use your tools of strife. But know that standing against Torah learners is a war against the eternity of Israel.”
“History is filled with those who sought to make Torah forgotten from Yisroel. They disappeared from the world, their names forgotten and their rule passing like a fleeting shadow. But the Torah stands forever. You cannot break those whose lives are spirit alone. Your time will pass and your rule will sink away, but we will continue to cling to our eternal Torah, which is the Torah of Hashem. There is none who can stand against the Torah of Hashem, against those who learn it, and against the halls of Torah. Jailers may imprison the body, but there is no power in the world that can imprison the spirit.”
Rav Landau concluded with a sweeping declaration: “We hereby proclaim in a loud voice: Whether the authorities agree to this or not, not even one avreich, not even one yeshiva bochur, will go to the army — not in this form and not in any other form,” he emphasized. “The place of Torah learners is solely within the halls of the yeshivos and kollelim. Let everyone know, whether they understand this or not, this is the reality. So it was and so it will be.”
He ended with a tefillah: “May it be the will of Hashem that the emissaries of the Torah world who were imprisoned emerge quickly from darkness to light, and may we all merit every good, to learn Torah in quiet and tranquility.”
{Matzav.com}
Vos Iz NeiasLYON, France (VINnews) — A French court on Thursday sentenced a 55-year-old man to 18 years in prison for the 2022 killing of his 89-year-old Jewish neighbor in Lyon, rejecting an antisemitic motive in the crime.
The Rhône Assize Court found Rachid Kheniche guilty of murder in the death of René Hadjadj, who was pushed from the 17th floor of his apartment building in Lyon’s 8th district in May 2022.
Prosecutors had sought a 20-year sentence. The court imposed a slightly lighter penalty while confirming the murder conviction.
A central issue during the trial was whether the killing was committed because of the victim’s religion. Jurors declined to apply the aggravating circumstance of antisemitism, determining that the evidence presented did not sufficiently establish that the act was motivated by religious hatred.
The court did, however, recognize that Kheniche’s judgment was impaired at the time of the crime due to psychiatric disorders, according to expert testimony presented during the proceedings. Under French law, diminished responsibility does not eliminate criminal liability but can lead to a reduced sentence.
The verdict prompted expressions of disappointment from the victim’s relatives and members of the Jewish community, who had argued that the religious dimension of the crime was evident.
Prosecutors and civil parties have the option to appeal the decision.
The case has renewed debate in France over how courts address antisemitic motives when mental health issues are involved, echoing previous high-profile cases that sparked national controversy.
Vos Iz Neias(AP) – Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell sharply in January as higher home prices and possibly harsh winter weather kept many prospective homebuyers on the sidelines despite easing mortgage rates.
Existing home sales sank 8.4% in last month from December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.91 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.
Sales fell 4.4% compared with January last year. The latest sales figure fell short of the 4.105 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet.
Home sales slowed sharply across the Northeast, Midwest, South and West.
“The decrease in sales is disappointing,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “The below-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation this January make it harder than usual to assess the underlying driver of the decrease and determine if this month’s numbers are an aberration.”
Despite the sharp drop in sales, home prices continued to climb last month. The national median sales price increased 0.9% in January from a year earlier to $396,800. Home prices have risen on an annual basis for 31 months in a row.
The U.S. housing market has been in a sales slump dating back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. The combination of higher mortgage rates, years of skyrocketing home prices and a chronic shortage of homes nationally following more than a decade of below-average home construction have left many aspiring homeowners priced out of the market. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes remained stuck last year at 30-year lows.
Boropark24By Yisroel R.
The FDNY is stepping up enforcement against drivers who park in front of fire hydrants. Instead of giving regular parking tickets, officials say they are now issuing criminal violations in certain cases for vehicles blocking hydrants.
Fire officials say the change comes after several incidents where parked cars delayed firefighters from connecting to hydrants while responding to serious fires. In one case last February, crews responding to a fire at a Buddhist center in the Bronx found a car blocking the hydrant. Two people died in that fire. Firefighters had to run longer water lines, costing valuable time.
Similar situations happened again throughout the year, including a fire on Jerome Avenue where a food truck was parked in front of a hydrant. Officials say every delay increases the risk to residents and to firefighters working at the scene.
City data shows 311 complaints about cars blocking hydrants have increased by 157 percent over the past six years, rising from 62,126 complaints to 165,021. Parts of Queens and Brooklyn were among the areas with the highest number of complaints.
Drivers who receive the criminal violations must appear in court. So far, 10 have been issued, with fines ranging from $2,500 to $4,000.
FDNY says the goal is to discourage the behavior before it leads to more danger. FDNY hopes that by issuing criminal violations, drivers will think twice before parking in front of a hydrant.
Vos Iz NeiasJERUSALEM (VINnews) — Avivit Eliyahu, a veteran nurse at Hadassah Mount Scopus, never imagined that a routine flight from Ethiopia to Israel would include such dramatic moments. Mid-flight, shortly after the meal was served, one of the passengers noticed something unusual: a man of about 75 seated a row ahead was slumped in his seat, his head tilted at an unnatural angle. He was unresponsive and making strange sounds.
“At first he seemed stable, then he began to gasp,” Avivit recalled. “Two young passengers were sitting next to him asleep — they had no idea anything was wrong.”
Within moments, the familiar call was heard: “Is there a doctor or nurse on board?” Avivit did not hesitate. “I stood up immediately — it’s instinct. I’m a nurse everywhere, even when I’m on vacation.”
When she reached the passenger, the situation quickly became clear. “Because it happened right after the meal and he wasn’t responding, I realized he was likely experiencing partial choking — food had probably entered his airway.”
She checked his pulse and found it extremely weak, barely detectable. “I knew every minute was critical.”
Without equipment but with experience and determination, she began to act. “I asked the two young passengers beside him to lay him down on the firmest surface possible. As required, I started clearing secretions from his mouth, checking his pulse, trying to assess the situation. It was truly a field-condition scenario.”
Flight attendants gathered around her and, she said, were alert and visibly stressed. “They asked whether an emergency landing was necessary. For a moment, there was concern we might have to land in Saudi Arabia. These are split-second decisions, but I stayed focused on the task.”
Avivit said the passenger was traveling alone. “According to people around him, his son had put him on a flight from Israel to Ethiopia to visit relatives.”
Since the man was unconscious and partial choking was suspected, she began chest compressions in an effort to dislodge the obstruction. “At Hadassah, there is a structured resuscitation training program for staff, including periodic refreshers. In moments like this, the training becomes a real lifesaving tool.”
After minutes that felt like an eternity, she said, the passenger suddenly opened his eyes. “It was an enormous sense of relief. He started moving his lips but remained very confused. I asked those nearby to speak to him gently in Amharic, but he was still detached and didn’t truly understand where he was.”
Ultimately, after updating the captain that the passenger’s condition had stabilized, the decision was made to continue the flight as planned. He remained under Avivit’s close supervision until landing. Avivit said fellow passengers approached her to praise her actions. “It was moving, but also exhausting. I felt a great deal of responsibility and stayed on high alert throughout the flight. Even the pilot came over to thank me.”
Vos Iz NeiasWASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week, remaining within the historically healthy range of the past few years.
Applications for jobless aid for the week ending Feb. 7 fell by 5,000 to 227,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s basically in line with the 226,000 new applications that analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet had forecast.
Filings for unemployment benefits are viewed as representative of U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.
On Wednesday, the government reported that U.S. employers added a surprisingly strong 130,000 jobs in January and the unemployment rate fell to a still-low 4.3% from 4.4%. However, government revisions cut 2024-2025 U.S. payrolls by hundreds of thousands. That reduced the number of jobs created last year to just 181,000, a third of the previously reported 584,000 and the weakest since the pandemic year of 2020.
While weekly layoffs have remained in a historically low range mostly between 200,000 and 250,000 for the past few years, a number of high-profile companies have announced job cuts recently, including UPS, Amazon, Dow and the Washington Post in recent weeks.
Mounting layoff announcements in the past year, combined with the government’s own sluggish labor market reports, have left Americans increasingly pessimistic about the economy.
The Labor Department also recently reported that job openings fell in December to the lowest level in more than five years, another sign that the American labor market remains sluggish, even though the economy is registering solid growth.
Data over the past year has broadly revealed a labor market in which hiring has clearly slowed, hobbled by uncertainty raised by President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the lingering effects of the high interest rates the Fed engineered in 2022 and 2023 to tamp down a spike of pandemic-induced inflation.
Economists are conflicted about whether the stronger-than-expected January job gains are a one-off or possibly the first sign of a recovering labor market, which could lead the Fed to further delay more cuts to its key interest rate.
Some Fed officials have specifically argued that last year’s weak hiring shows that borrowing costs are weighing on growth and discouraging companies from expanding. A sustained pickup in hiring could undercut that theory.
Fed officials signaled in December that they expect to reduce their key rate once more this year, while Wall Street investors expect two reductions, according to futures pricing.
Thursday’s unemployment benefits report from the Labor Department also showed that the four-week moving average of jobless claims, which balances out some of the weekly volatility, rose by 7,000 to 219,500.
The total number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the previous week ending Jan. 31 increased by 21,000 to 1.86 million, the government said.
MatzavTensions within the chareidi political camp escalated Wednesday night after a senior Shas official sharply criticized what he called the circulation of “inaccurate quotes” attributed to leading rabbanim regarding the proposed draft law.
The controversy followed a report on Channel 12 News claiming that the Slabodka Rosh Yeshiva HaGaon Rav Moshe Hillel Hirsch said about the bill being advanced by Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Boaz Bismuth, “This is not the law that was promised to us — we will have to vote against it.”
In response, a very senior figure in Shas lashed out at Litvishe political activists, accusing them of irresponsibly publicizing selective statements in the name of gedolei rabbanim. “Litvishe activists without responsibility are putting out quotes every few days from leading rabbanim against the draft law. It is a disgrace and a shame. The rabbanim have clarified time and again that they stand behind the law,” the Shas official said.
According to the Shas source, the publication of such statements appears aimed at creating political pressure and destabilizing the chareidi camp at a particularly sensitive stage of negotiations.
At the same time, those close to Rav Hirsch sought to calm the situation, emphasizing that there has been no change in his fundamental position that a draft law must be enacted to formally regulate the status of yeshiva students.
They added that the directive to Degel HaTorah Knesset members remains to continue advancing the legislation, while safeguarding the core principles that were agreed upon at the outset.
{Matzav.com}
Vos Iz NeiasLONDON (AP) — A U.S. judge said President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC can go to trial in 2027.
Judge Roy K. Altman of the federal court for the Southern District of Florida rejected an attempt by Britain’s national broadcaster to delay proceedings.
He set a February 2027 trial date.
Trump filed a lawsuit in December over the way the BBC edited a speech he gave on Jan. 6, 2021. The claim seeks $5 billion in damages for defamation and $5 billion for unfair trade practices.
New satellite images show Iran quickly working to fortify its most critical remaining nuclear site, signaling growing concern in Tehran about a possible U.S. or Israeli strike.
According to the Institute for Science and International Security, imagery from Feb. 10 reveals intensified construction at a massive underground complex beneath Kolang-Gaz La Mountain near Natanz, long considered the heart of Iran’s nuclear program.
Most major facilities were heavily damaged during the 2025 Israel-Iran war, but this tunnel complex survived. Since then, analysts say, Iran has treated it as a strategic fallback.
“Fordow was already difficult to destroy,” said David Albright, referring to the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant. “This new site may be even harder.”
Images show concrete being poured over tunnel entrances, reinforced headworks, and heavy equipment surrounding the facility — clear signs of “hardening” against airstrikes. The mountain shielding the complex is far taller than Fordow’s, offering deeper protection.
While the site does not yet appear operational, smaller vehicles and interior outfitting suggest preparations are underway.
Israeli and U.S. officials have long warned that Iran could use hardened facilities to revive enrichment activities lost at Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan.
For now, the construction surge may offer a narrow window. But analysts caution that with each layer of concrete, Tehran is making an already difficult target even harder to reach.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Vos Iz NeiasMINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The immigration crackdown in Minnesota that led to mass detentions, protests and two deaths is coming to an end, border czar Tom Homan said Thursday.
“As a result of our efforts here, Minnesota is now less of a sanctuary state for criminals,” Homan said at a news conference.
“I have proposed and President Trump has concurred, that this surge operation conclude,” he continued.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched Operation Metro Surge on Dec. 1.
Federal authorities say the sweeps focused on the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area have led to the arrest of more than 4,000 people. While the Trump administration has called those arrested “dangerous criminal illegal aliens,” many people with no criminal records, including children and U.S. citizens, have also been detained.
“The surge is leaving Minneapolis safer,” Homan said. . “I’ll say it again, it’s less of a sanctuary state for criminals.”
Homan announced last week that 700 federal officers would leave Minnesota immediately, but that still left more than 2,000 on Minnesota’s streets. Homan said Thursday that the drawdown began this week and will continue next week. He said he plans to stay in Minnesota to oversee the drawdown.
Democratic Gov. Tim Walz said Tuesday that he expected Operation Metro Surge to end in “days, not weeks and months,” based on his conversations with senior Trump administration officials. He told reporters he spoke this week with both Homan and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey also said he had a “positive meeting” with Homan on Monday and discussed the potential for a further drawdown of federal officers.
Homan took over the Minnesota operation in late January after the second fatal shooting by federal immigration agents and amid growing political backlash and questions about how the operation was being run.
“We’re very much in a trust but verify mode,” Walz said, adding that he expected to hear more from the administration “in the next day or so” about the future of what he said has been an “occupation” and a “retribution campaign” against the state.
Officials with the Department of Homeland Security did not reply to a request for comment on the governor’s remarks.
Walz said he had no reason not to believe Homan’s statement last week that 700 federal officers would leave Minnesota immediately, but the governor added that that still left 2,300 on Minnesota’s streets. Homan at the time cited an “increase in unprecedented collaboration” resulting in the need for fewer federal officers in Minnesota, including help from jails that hold deportable inmates.
Vos Iz NeiasJERUSALEM (VINnews) — A Jewish American family visiting Syria found themselves eating only fruit for dinner. The food at the hotel was not kosher, and the hotel owner quickly realized there was a problem. Against the backdrop of Jewish tourists returning to Syria under the country’s new regime, he decided, according to a report in The New York Times, to offer a kosher menu for Jewish guests.
The Royal Semiramis, a five-star hotel in Damascus, reopened only in April 2025. Recently, following the introduction of its kosher menu, it has become a central hub for Jews arriving in the city. According to reports, it is the only place in Syria that serves kosher food. Although Syria’s Jewish community now consists of only a handful of individuals, the number of Jews visiting Damascus has been rising since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime — along with the demand for kosher meals.
Bachor Simantov, one of the last remaining members of Damascus’s Jewish community, said that the hotel opened a kosher section in its kitchen. “The plates, the utensils — everything is new and kosher. Jews bring meat from America and eat kosher, but with God’s help, in April, after Passover, a ritual slaughterer will come and slaughter meat for the restaurant in Damascus.”
Simantov said he frequently visits the restaurant. He explained that the kosher section is intended to encourage Jews to come to Syria. “We are encouraging Syrians to return to the country for investment, to open businesses, to pray at the synagogue. If someone wants to return to their old home, there is no problem with that — the government has no problem.”
Rabbi Asher Lepatin, an Orthodox rabbi from Detroit who dined at the kosher restaurant in Damascus , told Israel’s Kan outlet Arab Affairs correspondent Roi Kais:
“The hotel truly did everything to provide kosher food. They wanted us to eat real food, not just fruit. The owner bought new cutlery and genuinely organized kosher meals. We brought the meat from the United States. There is no kosher certification, but it was kosher. The menu mainly included pitas, meat, and salads.”
Rabbi Lopatin in Damascus
American travel influencer Nick Maddock, who has more than 190,000 followers on Instagram, wrote on January 11: “One of the things that surprised me most and that I now appreciate about Syria is how diverse it is. It’s truly a mosaic of cultures, religions and ethnic groups. And Damascus is the center of it all. Although not many remain, Syrian Jews are an integral part of that mosaic — which is why I greatly appreciated that this restaurant has a fully available kosher kitchen.”
Maddock posted the written caption alongside a video from the restaurant, together with Joseph (Joe) Jajati, a Syrian-American Jewish businessman who frequently visits Syria.
In the video, Maddock films the kitchen and explains that there are completely separate utensils for kosher food, as well as different preparation methods. A sign in English can be seen reading, “For kosher food only, do not touch.” Maddock emphasizes that it is likely the cleanest kitchen he saw in all of Damascus.
Vos Iz NeiasKYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a barrage of ballistic missiles and drones at Ukrainian cities in overnight attacks, officials reported on Thursday as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow was “hesitating” about another round of U.S.-brokered talks on stopping the fighting.
Washington has proposed further negotiations next week between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Miami or Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, which was the location of the last meeting, Zelenskyy said late Wednesday.
Ukraine “immediately confirmed” it would attend, he said. “So far, as I understand it, Russia is hesitating,” Zelenskyy told reporters in a messaging app interview late Wednesday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that another round of talks was expected “soon” but gave no further details.
American officials made no comment on the possibility of further talks as part of a yearlong peace effort by the Trump administration. Zelenskyy said last week that the United States has given Ukraine and Russia a June deadline to reach a deal.
But with Russia’s invasion of its neighbor marking its fourth anniversary later this month, disagreements between Moscow and Kyiv over key issues have held up a comprehensive settlement. The issues include who keeps the Ukrainian land that Russia’s army has so far occupied, especially in the eastern Donbas industrial heartland, and Moscow’s demands for Kyiv to surrender more territory.
Ukraine wants Western-backed security guarantees, including a date for joining the European Union, and a postwar reconstruction package in place before it can contemplate signing a proposed 20-point settlement, Zelenskyy said.
Russia hammers civilian areas
Russia has meanwhile continued to pound Ukrainian civilian areas, including residential areas and the power grid, and Moscow has not responded to a U.S. proposal for an “energy ceasefire” that would also halt Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil facilities, Zelenskyy said.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, urged Russia to stop hitting electricity infrastructure, reminding Moscow in a statement that targeting civilian infrastructure is prohibited under international humanitarian law.
Overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, Russia fired 219 long-range strike drones, 24 ballistic missiles and a guided aircraft missile at Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian air force.
The main targets were the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, the second-largest city of Kharkiv, Dnipro in central Ukraine, and the southern port city of Odesa, the air force said — all cities that have come under relentless bombardment.
In Dnipro, Russian strikes injured four people, including a 4-year-old girl and a newborn boy, regional head Oleksandr Hanzha wrote on Telegram.
In Kyiv, several residential buildings were damaged, and two people were injured, according to the city administration.
In Odesa, one person was injured as a residential high-rise was partially destroyed and a market and a supermarket caught fire, regional head Oleksandr Hanzha wrote on Telegram.
Temperatures have moved above freezing point in Kyiv, but it is still bitterly cold in the city.
Oleksii Kuleba, Deputy Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine, said 2,600 buildings were left without heating after the Kyiv attack in addition to 1,100 buildings in the capital that already were without heating due to previous attacks.
In Odesa, nearly 300,000 residents were left without running water, Kuleba said, while in Dnipro the central heating system stopped working for some 10,000 people.
Ukraine strikes Russian oil and equipment
Ukraine has hit back at Russia with long-range strikes on military targets and oil refineries that generate a large slice of Russia’s income.
Ukraine’s General Staff said Thursday that one of its domestically produced, long-range “Flamingo” missiles hit one of the Russian military’s biggest storage sites for missiles, ammunition and explosives in the Volgograd region and caused major explosions.
Separately, Ukrainian forces also hit and started a fire at the Michurinsk Progress Plant in Russia’s Tambov region, a defense enterprise producing high-technology equipment for aviation and missile systems, the General Staff said.
Ukraine’s military also confirmed it damaged the Volgograd oil refinery in a strike the previous
MatzavThe Pentagon is moving forward with plans to potentially send a second U.S. Navy aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East, as President Donald Trump intensifies pressure on Iran and makes clear that nuclear negotiations must yield concrete results.
Trump has publicly reiterated that while diplomacy remains his preferred path, military action remains an available option if talks fail.
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, defense officials are drafting operational plans that would dispatch another carrier to reinforce the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group currently deployed in the region.
Such a step would substantially increase American naval strength in an area already facing rising tensions.
Earlier this week, Trump signaled that a breakdown in discussions with Tehran would prompt a swift U.S. response, including bolstering American forces in the Middle East.
“We’re not going to let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters, adding that while discussions are ongoing, “if we don’t make a deal, we’ll handle it the other way.”
He stressed that although he favors a diplomatic resolution, sustained pressure is an essential component of his strategy.
“They understand that,” he said of Iranian leaders. “We want peace, but it has to be real peace.”
The Journal reported that the USS George H.W. Bush is currently being prepared and could be deployed once the president issues a final authorization.
Meanwhile, the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group has shifted from its prior operations in the Indo-Pacific to waters near the Arabian Sea, restoring a continuous U.S. aircraft carrier presence across the broader Middle East.
At the core of a carrier strike group is a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that operates as a floating air base capable of conducting extended combat missions.
Each carrier typically carries between 60 and 75 aircraft, including F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets, EA-18G Growler electronic warfare planes, E-2D Hawkeye early warning aircraft, and MH-60 Seahawk helicopters.
In addition to the carrier, the strike group includes guided-missile cruisers and destroyers outfitted with the Aegis combat system, enabling both air defense and protection against ballistic missiles. An attack submarine is often attached as well, providing underwater warfare capability.
Together, these assets provide long-range strike capacity, missile interception, maritime security enforcement, and rapid-response capabilities during regional crises.
Deploying a second carrier would represent the largest American naval buildup in the Middle East in recent months and would significantly strengthen the military backing behind U.S. diplomatic efforts.
Indirect negotiations between Washington and Tehran resumed on Feb. 6 in Muscat, Oman, marking the first sustained engagement since last year’s confrontation involving Iranian-backed militias and U.S. forces.
American officials have maintained that any future agreement must permanently block Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and include rigorous inspection and verification requirements.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that “Iran can never have a nuclear weapon,” stressing that enforcement and transparency are non-negotiable elements of any deal.
The Trump administration has also sought to widen the scope of negotiations to cover Iran’s ballistic missile development and its support for proxy groups throughout the region.
Tehran, however, has resisted expanding the framework of talks, insisting its nuclear activities are peaceful and rejecting what it calls unrelated demands.
Iran continues enriching uranium to elevated levels, and Western officials warn that the enrichment process is nearing weapons-grade thresholds, sharply reducing the time Iran would need to produce a nuclear weapon.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said this week that Iran “does not seek nuclear weapons” and is prepared to provide assurances about its nuclear activities, though he did not signal a halt to enrichment.
On Wednesday, Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, with Iran emerging as the central topic of discussion.
Following the meeting, Trump said he “insisted that negotiations continue to see whether or not a deal can be consummated,” but reiterated that “we will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
Netanyahu stated that Israel believes any agreement must address not only uranium enrichment but also Iran’s missile arsenal and its backing of armed groups across the Middle East.
Israeli officials have consistently warned that a limited nuclear arrangement would fail to neutralize broader regional threats posed by Tehran.
The Pentagon has not yet made a final determination regarding the additional deployment, though defense officials noted that preparing the strike group ensures the United States can act swiftly if the president gives the order.
{Matzav.com}
Vos Iz NeiasTEL AVIV (AP) — Two Israelis have been charged with using classified military information to place bets on how future events will unfold, Israeli authorities said Thursday, accusing the individuals of “serious security offenses.”
A joint statement by the Israeli Ministry of Defense, domestic security service Shin Bet and police said that a civilian and a reservist are suspected of placing bets on the U.S.-based prediction market Polymarket on future military operations based on information that the reservist had access to.
Israel’s Attorney General’s Office decided to prosecute the two individuals following a joint investigation by police, military intelligence and other security agencies that resulted in several arrests. The two face charges including bribery and obstruction of justice.
Authorities offered no details on the identity of the two individuals or the reservist’s rank or position in the Israeli military but warned that such actions posed a “real security risk” for the military and the Israeli state.
Israel’s public broadcaster Kan had reported earlier that the bets were placed in June ahead of Israel’s war with Iran and that the winnings were roughly $150,000.
Israel’s military and security services “view the acts attributed to the defendants very seriously and will act resolutely to thwart and bring to justice any person involved in the activity of using classified information illegally,” the statement said.
The accused will remain in custody until the end of legal proceedings against them, the Prosecutor’s Office said.
Prediction markets are comprised of typically yes-or-no questions called event contracts, with the prices connected to what traders are willing to pay, which theoretically indicates the perceived probability of an event occurring.
Their use has skyrocketed in recent years, but despite some eye-catching windfalls, traders still lose money everyday. In the U.S., the trades are categorized differently than traditional forms of gambling, raising questions about transparency and risk.
MatzavIsraeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu announced in Washington that Israel will take part in President Donald Trump’s newly formed “Board of Peace,” signing on to the initiative during meetings with Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Following his discussion with Rubio, Netanyahu wrote on X that he “signed Israel’s accession as a member of the “Board of Peace.””
Netanyahu traveled to the U.S. capital primarily for talks with Trump focused on Iran, but the visit also included discussions about the new international body.
The Board of Peace was established under a U.N. Security Council resolution passed in mid-November. The resolution authorized the board, along with participating countries, to organize an international stabilization force in Gaza. A fragile ceasefire there began in October under a Trump-backed proposal approved by both Israel and the Hamas militant group.
According to the original framework of Trump’s Gaza plan, the board was intended to oversee the enclave’s temporary administration. Trump later indicated that, with him serving as chair, the body would broaden its mandate to address conflicts beyond Gaza on a global scale.
The board’s inaugural session is set for Feb. 19 in Washington, where members are expected to focus on plans for rebuilding Gaza.
International reaction to Trump’s invitation to join the initiative, first introduced in late January, has been measured. A number of analysts have expressed concern that the new body could weaken or sideline the United Nations.
Although several U.S. partners in the Middle East have opted to participate, many of America’s longstanding Western allies have declined to join.
The ceasefire in Gaza has been repeatedly tested by renewed violence. Gaza health officials report that at least 580 Palestinians have been killed since the truce began in October, while four Israeli soldiers have also reportedly died during the same period.
According to the Gaza health ministry, Israel’s military campaign has resulted in more than 72,000 Palestinian deaths and triggered widespread hunger while displacing the territory’s entire population.
Various human rights specialists, academics and a U.N. investigative body have described the campaign as amounting to genocide. Israel rejects that characterization, saying it is acting in self-defense after Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and abducted more than 250 hostages in an attack in late 2023.
{Matzav.com}
Vos Iz NeiasJERUSALEM (VINnews) — In today’s world, where Israel is fighting for its public legitimacy in the international arena, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama stands out as an exceptional phenomenon. He leads a country with a clear Muslim majority, yet has become one of the sharpest and most articulate voices supporting Israel’s right to defend itself against its enemies. He did not hesitate to wear the hostages’ pin on the lapel of his coat during official speeches, and he holds positions on Hamas that would make even the most militant Israelis nod in agreement.
Rama, who visited Israel about two weeks ago, is a painter and former professor of art. He is known to paint routinely between cabinet meetings and fateful phone calls.
In an interview with journalist Shlomo Cooperman in Mishpacha magazine, published on Thursday morning, the prime minister was asked: “If you had to sketch one drawing right now that captures the state of the world today, what would we see?”
“Chaos,” he replied in a single word. “That’s what I would draw. And it wouldn’t be particularly difficult,” he added with a weary smile, “since all my paintings are absolute chaos. Apparently, the world and my studio speak the same language.”
“I don’t know how familiar you are with our history,” he continued, “but we have a deep connection with the Jewish people, who arrived in Albania in different waves over the centuries. In the city of Sarandë, we have the remains of an ancient 5th-century synagogue with a beautiful menorah mosaic. Jews were always welcomed here when they fled persecution in Europe. In the Middle Ages, in the city of Vlorë, Jews even formed the majority of the population.”
Rama spoke proudly of this history: “On the eve of the war, only about 200 Jews lived in Albania, and we are the only country where more Jews lived after the Holocaust than before it. The population grew to around 3,000 because we protected them like no one else. We did not hand over a single Jew to the Nazis. About 75 Albanians were officially recognized as Righteous Among the Nations, but in practice the entire population mobilized.”
For Rama, Israel and Albania stand on the same side of the divide not only because of history, but because of a shared contemporary existential threat. “Albania experienced direct Iranian cyber aggression, and we responded decisively,” he said, referencing the severing of ties with what he called “the butchers of Iran.” For him, it is a matter of national pride that Albania stands alongside Israel and the United States against what he described as “hell on earth,” where innocent people are murdered on a massive scale, with reports indicating tens of thousands killed within days. “The fact that we are acting against a common enemy explains – very cruelly, unfortunately – why we stand together. This is not political convenience, but moral principle.”
Rama has repeatedly stated that Hamas are the “Nazis of the 21st century.” When asked whether he still stands by those words, he did not hesitate: “I believe this completely,” he said firmly. “For me, this is not a political slogan but a historical analysis. We are a people who saved Jews from the original Nazis, and anyone who studies history can easily recognize the same ideology of annihilation. Hamas’s ideology is a threat to humanity itself, just as the Nazis were eighty years ago.”
The Lakewood ScoopAfter completing rigorous training, 25 firefighter recruits received their volunteer fire company badges during graduation ceremonies held February 9 at Lacey High School.
The graduates were joined by family members, friends, instructors, and fellow first responders as they marked the start of their service to communities throughout Ocean County.
Manchester Mayor Joseph Hankins, a former chief of the Manchester Fire Department, delivered the keynote address, reflecting on the responsibility and honor associated with earning a firefighter’s badge. Ocean County Commissioner Robert S. Arace also addressed the class, congratulating the recruits on behalf of the Ocean County Board of Commissioners.
“Becoming a firefighter is not just about mastering skills or completing training, it is about earning the trust of your community,” Arace said. “That trust is earned, and tonight you’ve earned it, and Ocean County is proud of you.”
The graduates and their respective fire companies are:
Robert Ackerman Jr., Kreisler Fortes, and Jack Koehler, Forked River Fire Department; Madison Braun and Nicholas Knipple, Seaside Heights Fire Department; Nathan Brindley and Scott Brindley, Barnegat Light Fire Department; Tyler Chervencik, Lanoka Harbor Fire Department; Christopher Colacci and Christopher Pollina, West Tuckerton Fire Department; Joshua Davis and Daniel Mitchell, Lakehurst Fire Department; Elvir Divanovic, Bradden Galassi, and Robert Price Jr., Waretown Fire Department; Michael Ford, Lavallette Fire Department; Matthew Linsley, Beachwood Fire Department; Melissa Myslinski, Mystic Island Fire Department; Austin Nahrwold, Manitou Park Fire Department; Matthew Perez, Pleasant Plains Fire Department; Jonathan Rainforth and Trent Stanfield, Pinewald Pioneer Fire Department; Cole Rizzolo and Reece Rizzolo, Whiting Fire Department; and Ricardo Rubio, Stafford Township Fire Department.
Several recruits also received special recognition during the ceremony. The Father Mychal Judge Award for Leadership was presented to Tyler Chervencik of the Lanoka Harbor Fire Department. Melissa Myslinski of the Mystic Island Fire Department received the Stanley Marks/Alex Letyshev High Achievement Award, and the Davenport Brotherhood Award was presented to Madison Braun of the Seaside Heights Fire Department.
The graduates will now begin active service with their respective volunteer fire companies across Ocean County.
As tension soars over issues surrounding the legislation of a Chareidi draft law, Channel 12 News reported on Thursday that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu attempted to speak by phone to HaGaon HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch but did not receive a response.
However, the report added that despite the cold shoulder, messages were passed through intermediaries indicating that efforts are still underway to formulate solutions that would prevent “political escalation.”
Earlier on Thursday, Kikar H’Shabbat reported that senior Degel HaTorah officials clarified that in accordance with the instructions of Gedolei HaTorah, they are continuing attempts to advance a draft law that will regulate the status of bnei yeshivos. The report comes after HaGaon HaRav Dov Landau declared on Wednesday evening that “not even one Ben Torah will join the army, whether the authorities agree or not.” In addition, HaGaon HaRav was quoted as saying that the Chareidi MKs will vote against the law in its current formulation.
“There is no instruction from Gedolei Yisrael to oppose the law currently being discussed,” the sources said. “On the contrary, they are the ones who instructed us to move forward in negotiations with the Knesset’s legal adviser in an attempt to reach a law that will be agreed upon and will withstand review by the Supreme Court.”
They added, “There are elements from other factions who are trying to do everything in order to stop the legislation. They are the ones briefing and speaking in the name of the Gedolei Yisrael despite having no connection to them and are trying to sabotage the passage of the law.”
Sources close to HaGaon HaRav Hirsch clarified on Wednesday evening: “Nothing has changed in the fundamental position that a draft law must be enacted and the status of bnei yeshivos must be regulated. The instruction to Degel HaTorah’s Knesset members is to continue working for the legislation.”
In addition, those close to HaGaon HaRav Landau said on Thursday morning: “Efforts are continuing to reach a law that will stop the arrests of bnei yeshivos. This is the most urgent issue for the Rosh Yeshiva; the sanctions issue is secondary in importance.”
Meanwhile, senior figures in the Chareidi parties told Kikar HaShabbat, “Even though we are trying to show flexibility with the legal adviser and we agreed that the sanctions would take effect immediately, there are still disputes—primarily and especially regarding the question of oversight over lomdei Torah. It is impossible to know whether, at the end of the process, we will succeed in reaching a law that will pass its second and third readings (in the Knesset).”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
MatzavA legislative proposal by opposition leader Yair Lapid seeking to formally classify Qatar as an enemy state is scheduled to be discussed this Sunday by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation.
Under the terms of the bill, Qatar would be officially designated an enemy state, and all existing Israeli legal provisions that apply to such countries would automatically extend to it.
The explanatory section accompanying the proposal asserts that Qatar provides financial backing and support to the Hamas terrorist organization, operates and funds a global propaganda apparatus that amplifies its messaging, consistently incites against Israel, and inflicts significant harm on Israel’s standing internationally.
{Matzav.com}
Vos Iz NeiasJERUSALEM (VINnews) — In what is being described by some as a move of vindictiveness and seemingly selective enforcement, Rishon LeZion Mayor Raz Kinstlich has issued a demolition order over a building addition at the study hall of Rabbi Shlomo Yehuda Beeri, known as “the Yanuka”, located in the city. On Thursday morning municipal police forces arrived to supervise the demolition, and currently negotiations are under way with the rabbi and his followers.
Local residents gathering at the site told Bechadrei Charedim that the step constitutes improper targeting of a synagogue. “This is religious persecution in the Land of Israel. There are many unapproved and unregulated structures in the area, yet the mayor chose, for irrelevant reasons, to act specifically against a synagogue. This is bullying, selective and discriminatory enforcement,” they said.
The Yanuka, Rav Shlomo Yehuda Beeri
Shlomi N., a regular worshipper at the synagogue, told Bechadrei Charedim: “The mayor is trying to spread claims as if the neighborhood has a problem with the synagogue. The opposite is true. We draw holiness and support from this place. We all love the synagogue and the rabbi, and we oppose this harassment. We will settle accounts at the ballot box.”
A source close to the synagogue’s management said: “There is an improper effort by the mayor to clash with the synagogue and with the Yanuka, to whom many people flock for blessings and salvation. The claim about congestion in the area is nonsense. We approached the municipality countless times to regulate an alternative, suitable, and larger location. But there has been no willingness on the mayor’s part to resolve the matter, only to fight and provoke.”
Other sources at the synagogue hinted at possible political involvement behind the move, though no evidence has yet been provided.
Efforts are currently underway to regulate the situation without harming the synagogue.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani defended his push to raise taxes on the city’s highest earners on Wednesday, arguing that soaring living costs and persistent budget pressures leave City Hall with few alternatives — even as new revenue figures complicate his case.
Testifying before state lawmakers in Albany at a joint legislative budget hearing, Mamdani was pressed to explain why he is urging the Legislature to approve a 2 percent income tax increase on residents earning more than $1 million a year.
“I think the why comes from the fact that we are the most expensive city in the United States,” Mamdani said in response to questioning from Assembly member Amanda Septimo.
“There simply isn’t enough money that we wish there could be,” he added, framing the proposal as a necessary response to mounting fiscal and affordability pressures.
Mamdani warned that failing to invest in public services and infrastructure would only accelerate the departure of working- and middle-class residents, a trend that has increasingly worried city and state leaders.
“If we take that approach year after year, what happens is we do see the exodus that’s happening right now,” Mamdani said. “Working middle-class people leave the city, leave the state, trying to find a place where their ends can be a little bit easier to meet.”
Mamdani has consistently argued that New York’s long-term stability depends on asking more from its wealthiest residents, calling for a 2 percent increase in personal income taxes and a 4 percent hike in corporate taxes.
Since assuming office, he has pointed to what he initially described as a multibillion-dollar budget gap in the current and upcoming fiscal years as justification for the increases. In recent weeks, the administration has warned that without new revenue, the city could face painful cuts to housing, transit, education, and social services.
But new disclosures this week have complicated that narrative.
Mamdani’s budget director, Sherif Soliman, told lawmakers that the city’s previously projected $12 billion shortfall failed to account for roughly $7.2 billion in end-of-year tax revenue. The revelation significantly reduced the size of the projected deficit and raised fresh questions about whether sweeping tax increases are still necessary.
The revised numbers prompted skepticism among some lawmakers and fiscal watchdogs, who argue that the administration may be overstating the urgency of new taxes.
Critics say the shrinking gap undermines Mamdani’s claim that New York is facing an immediate fiscal crisis and strengthens the case for restraint at a time when high-income residents and major employers already complain about the state’s tax burden.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has repeatedly pushed back against raising income taxes, warning that New York is already among the most heavily taxed states in the country and risks driving away investment and talent. Hochul has emphasized economic competitiveness and retention of high earners as central to her fiscal strategy, putting her at odds with progressive lawmakers and the city’s new mayor.
The dispute highlights a familiar fault line in New York politics: whether the state’s affordability crisis is best addressed through higher taxes on the wealthy or through spending restraint and economic growth.
Mamdani and his allies argue that without new revenue, the city will struggle to fund affordable housing, transit upgrades, and public safety initiatives, which they say are essential to keeping New York livable for working families.
Opponents counter that repeated tax hikes have contributed to population losses and business relocations, particularly since the pandemic, and warn that further increases could deepen those trends.
The debate is likely to intensify as Albany negotiates its final budget in the coming months.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
MatzavBy Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
This week’s parsha opens with the words, “Ve’aileh hamishpotim asher tosim lifneihem — These are the laws that you shall place before them.”
Rabi Akiva, in the Mechilta, hears in these words not merely a command to teach, but a lesson in how Torah must be transmitted. Tosim lifneihem, he explains, does not mean to present information in the abstract, but to lay it out like a shulchan aruch, a fully prepared table, arranged with care, clarity, and invitation. Torah is not meant to be delivered as raw data, but as nourishment: accessible, enticing, and alive.
Great teachers exhaust themselves in pursuit of this ideal. They labor not only to know Torah, but to serve it, presenting it with flavor, with structure, with an inner music that allows the student not merely to learn, but to taste and appreciate. A good rebbi does not speak at his talmidim. He sets a table before them and invites them into a feast.
One such rebbi was Rav Mendel Kaplan. His shiur was not simply a classroom. It was an atmosphere. We did not merely absorb Torah from him. We breathed it in. He fed us a wide menu of spiritual food, equipping us not only with knowledge, but with the tools to interpret the world beyond the walls of the bais medrash. Headlines became texts, and world events became commentaries, refracted through the prism of Torah until their deeper meanings emerged.
There is a story told of a villager in the legendary town of Chelm who returned home from shul one Shabbos and repeated the rov’s sermon to his wife.
“The rov says that Moshiach may come very soon,” he told her, “and he will take us all to Eretz Yisroel.”
His wife wrung her hands in distress. “But what will be with our chickens? Who will feed them? How will we live?”
The husband stroked his beard thoughtfully. “You know, life here is hard. The goyim harass us, we are poor, the roof leaks, and our feet freeze all winter. Maybe it will be better there.”
She thought for a moment, and then her face lit up. “I have a solution,” she said. “We’ll ask Hashem to send the goyim to Eretz Yisroel — and we’ll stay here with the chickens.”
We smile at the foolishness of Chelm, but too often, we are no different. We live inside history, yet fail to read it. We experience events, but miss their meaning.
This past weekend, a kind of living commentary was on full display during the annual Rubashkin Alef Bais Gimmel Shabbaton. At a time when headlines scream instability and fear, hundreds gathered not to analyze geopolitics or speculate about what comes next, but to be inspired by a Yid who has lived through the harshest challenges and emerged with unshaken faith. His message was not theoretical. It was not abstract. It was Torah lived, tasted, and tested — tosim lifneihem in its most literal sense.
What resonated with the Shabbos attendees was not only Reb Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin’s story, but his clarity. Instead of anxiety, there was perspective. Instead of bitterness, gratitude. Instead of confusion, trust in Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The uplifting Shabbos spent with Reb Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin, his family, and so many wonderful Yidden looking to grow as maaminim was a reminder that emunah is not just a slogan, but a lens through which life itself becomes understandable. That, too, is how history is meant to be read.
We often mistake warning signs for noise, and blessings for burdens. We assume we understand the world, when in truth we need teachers — living meforshim — to explain to us what is really happening between the lines of the newspaper.
Chazal tell us: “Why was the mountain called Sinai? Because from it descended sinah — hatred.” From the moment the Torah was given and the Jewish people became a nation with a mission, a new force entered the world, a relentless, irrational hostility that would accompany us until the arrival of Moshiach.
This hatred is not merely a historical artifact. It is not confined to ancient exile or medieval blood libels. It is alive. It breathes. It mutates. It adapts to each generation’s language and technology.
The world recently marked the 81st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Much has changed since those dark years. Entire institutions were built to ensure that such horrors would never return. And yet, the ancient sinah remains intact, resurfacing in new forms, under new banners, with old obsessions. Jews are mocked, judged by double standards, and vilified. The very state created as a refuge from hatred has become a magnet for it.
Anti-Semitism rises not only in Europe, but in America. Digital platforms amplify it, spread it, and normalize it. What once required mobs now needs only algorithms.
Rashi tells us that Yisro came to join the Jewish people after hearing about Krias Yam Suf and Milchemes Amaleik. The meforshim explain that these events conveyed not only how deeply Hashem loves the Jewish people, but how intensely the nations of the world oppose them. Yisro recognized the paradox at the heart of Jewish existence — to be beloved by Hashem and resisted by history. He understood that truth itself provokes opposition, and that the more transformative the truth, the more violently it is resisted.
When Albert Einstein introduced relativity, the scientific world initially mocked him. A book titled One Hundred Scientists Against Einstein appeared. When asked about it, Einstein reportedly shrugged and said, “If I were really wrong, why would one not be enough?” He understood what Jews have always known: Truth does not generate mild disagreement. It generates disproportionate fury.
From Har Sinai onward, the Jewish people have lived inside that fury.
After World War I, the League of Nations was created to ensure peace. After World War II, the United Nations rose from the ashes of Auschwitz, pledging that tyranny would never again be allowed to flourish. After 9/11, world leaders announced a new era with a global war on terror, a united front against evil.
And yet, history keeps repeating itself, not because of a lack of institutions, but because of a surplus of illusion. They did not factor in apathy. They did not factor in corruption. They did not factor in moral exhaustion. They did not factor in hatred.
Everything now moves at a blistering pace. Wars begin, fade, and are replaced before their consequences are understood. Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia, China, Iran — each crisis dissolves into the next.
The world feels unstable, yet we continue our routines as though nothing is hanging above us.
The sword is suspended — and we discuss the wallpaper.
As anti-Semitism intensifies and the old sinah resurfaces, we argue over trivialities, chase distractions, and obsess over matters of little weight. We scroll while history groans.
Perhaps, a place to begin is with what we allow into our minds and homes. Since the invention of print, ideas have traveled disguised as information. Newspapers and books have always been vehicles for more than news. They are carriers of values, assumptions, and worldviews. The Maskilim mastered this art, writing heresy in poetic Hebrew, quoting Chazal while emptying their teachings of meaning, as they mocked gedolim, rabbonim, lomdei Torah, and shomrei Torah umitzvos. Generations were torn away not by open rebellion, but by subtle infiltration.
Words are never neutral. They shape taste. They train perception. They define what feels normal.
That is why those who write, teach, and speak bear responsibility under the same command: “Aileh hamishpotim asher tosim lifneihem.” What we place before others must be honest, just, and true — a table that nourishes, not poisons.
The Alter of Kelm taught that tosim lifneihem k’shulchan aruch means that real intelligence emerges only when learning has flavor. Depth is not dryness. Wisdom is not sterile. A melamed who teaches with clarity, elegance, and taste awakens in his students not only understanding, but desire and a hunger for more.
The difference between superficial knowledge and deep understanding is the difference between eating and tasting. One sustains life. The other transforms it.
The task of man, the Alter concludes, is to become truly intelligent — not clever, not informed, but wise.
That wisdom begins with refusing to settle for shallow readings of Torah or of life. It demands that we study more deeply, interpret more honestly, and live more consciously. It requires that we understand not only what is happening around us, but also what it is asking of us.
We must speak more truthfully, treat people more carefully, and live in a way that creates kiddush Hashem rather than its opposite.
The Meshech Chochmah, in one of his classic elucidations, writes in his sefer on last week’s parsha that the Jews merited the many miracles Hakadosh Boruch Hu performed for them upon leaving Mitzrayim even though they were still entangled with avodah zorah because their middos and interpersonal conduct were refined. But in generations whose people speak lashon hora, quarrel, and act without derech eretz and sensitivity, Hashem removes His Shechinah from their midst, as He did at the time of the Second Bais Hamikdosh. Even though the people were engaged in Torah study and observance, nevertheless, because there was sinas chinom — hatred — among them, the Bais Hamikdosh was destroyed.
I saw in a new sefer by Rav Yitzchok Kolodetsky something both amazing and frightening that Rav Chaim Greineman would relate from his father, Rav Shmuel Greineman, brother-in-law of the Chazon Ish. He would say that the Chazon Ish taught that the Holocaust came about as a result of sins bein adam lachaveiro, failures in how Jews treated each other.
When we look around us, when we contemplate what is happening in the world and wonder what we can do, what is demanded of us, and how we can help draw Moshiach closer, it would do us well to ponder the message the Chazon Ish and the Meshech Chochmah sent.
Parshas Yisro, in which the Torah discusses how Klal Yisroel was presented with the gift of the Aseres Hadibros and the Torah, is followed by Parshas Mishpotim, which we study this week. By arranging the parshiyos in this way, the Torah teaches us that to maintain the lofty levels reached at Har Sinai, we must properly follow the laws of Mishpotim, which deal with interpersonal conduct.
It is not sufficient to be on a high spiritual level intellectually and theoretically. We must match that with our actions and conduct. If we cut corners financially, if we are careless with another person’s dignity, and if we are not scrupulous in ensuring that we do not harm others financially, then we are lacking in fulfilling the obligations we accepted upon ourselves at Har Sinai.
In Parshas Mishpotim, Klal Yisroel reaches its highest moment when it declares, “Na’aseh v’nishma — We will do, and later we will hear and understand.” Action before comprehension. Commitment before clarity. A nation stepping into destiny with certainty, armed and motivated by faith.
May we merit to return to that summit, to toil in Torah, taste its depth, refine our character, and hear in the background of all we do the sounds of Sinai, so that we can raise ourselves and our people and bring us closer to the geulah sheleimah bekarov b’yomeinu. Amein.
Vos Iz NeiasJERUSALEM (VINnews) — The charedi community in Lod was in uproar after the municipality demolished overnight the “Ohel Reuven” synagogue in the Achisamach neighborhood, under orders from Mayor Yair Revivo.
While residents slept overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday, municipal bulldozers, accompanied by Border Police officers, moved in on the site. One worshipper said, “At 4:00 a.m., under cover of darkness and with unmatched cruelty, the synagogue was razed to the ground. This is not law enforcement, this is bureaucratic terror.”
Community leaders described the demolition as “outrageous selective enforcement.” Members of the congregation said, “The excuse of ‘illegal construction’ is a mockery. Within walking distance of the ruins stand at least five other synagogues built in exactly the same way. There, for some reason, the bulldozers never arrived. Why? Who at city hall has an interest in trampling one community while turning a blind eye to others?”
Residents also questioned the timing of the operation. “Those who act fairly do not show up at 4:00 a.m. like criminals. Where is the equality? How is enforcement carried out only against one specific community while others appear immune? Where is the heart? Destroying a place of worship in such a manner is a wound that will not heal quickly.”
Rabbi Shlomo Zaafrani, the community’s rabbi, tore his garment and wept over the destruction of the synagogue, citing verses from Lamentations: “She weeps bitterly in the night, tears upon her cheek,” and “For Mount Zion, which lies desolate, foxes prowl over it.” He also quoted Yirmiyahu: “If you do not heed it, my soul shall weep in secret.”
Professional sources in the municipality stressed that “significant expansion work was carried out at the site without any engineering plans, supervision, or building permits, creating exposed and dangerous electrical hazards in the heart of a residential neighborhood filled with children. The structure posed a real risk of collapse. We cannot wait for a disaster and then ask, ‘Where were the authorities?’ The responsibility to protect human life overrides all other considerations.”
The municipality added that it is advancing “a rapid legal solution for the construction of a permanent facility for the community” and will assist in arranging a temporary site meeting all required engineering and safety standards.
The Lod Municipality said: “Despite repeated warnings and explicit notices, expansion work continued, including the construction of eight-meter-high walls without permits or engineering oversight. Such building activity presents a tangible danger to life in a residential neighborhood. We will not wait for tragedy. Out of our duty to safeguard lives, we acted to remove the hazard.”
A statement from the mayor’s office read: “The operation was conducted in accordance with the law, with enforcement authorities, and during the early morning hours to prevent friction and maintain public order. There is no selective enforcement and no targeting of any specific community. Each case is handled based on its legal and safety circumstances.”
The municipality further noted: “Just this week, two large illegal homes were demolished in the Pardes Snir neighborhood, not out of desire, but out of obligation to uphold the law and ensure public safety. At the same time, we remain in contact with the community and are prepared to advance a lawful, regulated, and safe solution that respects the sanctity of the synagogue while protecting human life.”
Iran’s foreign minister denied reports that Tehran secretly executed thousands of protest participants, dismissing the claims as politically motivated and accusing Israeli media of advancing a hostile narrative.
In remarks posted publicly, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi rejected a report published by Yisrael Hayom alleging that Iran’s regime carried out mass executions after privately assuring Washington it would refrain from doing so.
“Whenever Miriam Adelson’s mouthpiece pushes a dramatic claim about Iran, it’s worth asking who it serves,” Araghchi said, referencing the newspaper’s ownership. “Even the U.S. president has acknowledged where her primary loyalties lie.”
He categorically denied the substance of the allegations.
“The facts: No executions have taken place, no court process has been concluded, and more than 2,000 prisoners have been pardoned,” he said. “Before buying the narrative being peddled, consider who benefits from it and who may actually be doing the deceiving.”
The original report claimed that Iranian authorities had quietly executed thousands of individuals involved in anti-government protests, despite conveying to U.S. officials that no such actions would occur. The allegations, if substantiated, would represent a major human rights violation and a breach of diplomatic assurances.
Analysts note that the sharp tone of Araghchi’s response suggests Iranian officials view the report as potentially damaging to ongoing diplomatic efforts. By dismissing the claims outright and emphasizing prisoner pardons, Tehran appears to be attempting to blunt international backlash and preserve leverage in talks with Washington.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
MatzavTwo members of Iran’s Jewish community have been released from detention following intervention by senior communal leaders, while a third Jewish detainee remains behind bars, according to a report aired on Kan Reshet Bet.
The two men, one from Tehran and the other from Shiraz, had been arrested on suspicion of involvement in protests against the regime of the Ayatollahs. Their release came after prominent figures within Iran’s Jewish community engaged with government authorities on their behalf.
All three were reportedly detained as part of a broader sweep carried out by Iranian security forces in recent weeks, during which numerous individuals were taken into custody. While two of the Jewish detainees have now been freed, efforts are continuing to secure the release of the third individual, with senior community members said to be actively pressing the matter with officials.
At the same time, members of the Jewish community took part over the past day in official events commemorating the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. Their participation was widely viewed as a public demonstration of solidarity with the ruling regime.
Homayoun Sameh, the Jewish representative in Iran’s parliament, together with Rabbi Younes Hammami, one of the community’s rabbinic leaders, spoke favorably about the government and what they described as its positive treatment of religious minorities.
Both Sameh and Hammami also granted interviews to Iranian media outlets in which they voiced support for the Islamic Revolution. In one widely circulated image, Shamkh was seen standing alongside Rabbi Hammami while holding a placard that read: “The Islamic Revolution Day is the day of light overcoming darkness.
{Matzav.com}
A heated clash between Attorney General Pam Bondi and Rep. Becca Balint erupted Wednesday during a marathon House Judiciary Committee hearing, turning a routine oversight session into a charged confrontation over antisemitism, political accountability, and past investigations.
The exchange unfolded as lawmakers questioned Bondi about the Justice Department’s priorities and enforcement record. Balint, a Vermont Democrat, had pressed the department on civil rights and oversight issues when Bondi abruptly pivoted to Balint’s past handling of matters related to Jeffrey Epstein.
“I was curious if you, congresswoman, asked Bill Clinton that,” Bondi said, referring to Bill Clinton. “Didn’t see one tweet, not one, I didn’t see one tweet when Joe Biden was in office about Bill Clinton. Didn’t ask Merrick Garland anything about Epstein, not once, when he was.”
Bondi also cited Joe Biden and Merrick Garland in her criticism, suggesting that Balint had failed to pursue aggressive oversight during the previous administration.
The attorney general then escalated the exchange by turning to Balint’s voting record.
“And also, I want the record to reflect that, you know, with this anti-Semitic culture right now, she voted against a resolution condemning…” Bondi said, trailing off as Balint reacted.
Balint immediately pushed back, raising her voice.
“Oh, oh, do you want to go there, attorney general, do you want to go there? Are you serious?!” she said.
“Talking about anti-Semitism to a woman who lost her grandfather in the Holocaust! Really? Really?” Balint added, before standing up and walking out of the hearing room.
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(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
A major drama unfolded early this week in central Israel when a civilian drone was spotted hovering over the home of a “very senior security official,” i24 News reported.
Following the detection of the drone, security alert levels were immediately raised in the area, and protection measures around the residence were reinforced. Members of the official’s security team acted to intercept it, while police bomb-disposal units from the Central District were called to the scene out of fears that the drone was rigged with explosives.
The tension lasted for several hours as investigators examined all possible lines of inquiry, including the alarming possibility that the drone had been operated by a “hostile foreign actor.” Security forces conducted extensive searches and set up ambushes in the surrounding residential area in an effort to locate the operator of the drone that penetrated “the most sensitive compound in the country.”
The security forces eventually succeeded in locating both the drone and the operator, a resident of a city in central Israel, and he was detained for urgent questioning. The suspect said that he works as a real estate broker and was simply “filming a property as part of his work” and had no malicious intent.
The police confiscated the drone’s memory card and transferred it for forensic and technological examination in order to verify the operator’s version of events and rule out the collection of sensitive information.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
An indictment unsealed Thursday in the Tel Aviv District Court charged an IDF reservist and a civilian with using classified military information to place bets on the online Polymarket prediction market.
A joint statement released to the public by the Shin Bet, the Defense Ministry’s security unit, and Israel Police said that following an investigation, several suspects, including the IDF reservist and civilian, were arrested and interrogated.
The State Attorney’s Office decided to file criminal charges, and indictments have now been filed against two of the suspects for “severe national security offenses, bribery, and obstruction of justice.”
Most of the details of the case are still under a gag order.
The indictment follows a report by Kan News last month about a new security case linked to defense officials using classified information on a betting site. However, contrary to reports circulating in recent days, the case does not involve senior defense officials.
The Kan report last month said that defense officials were examining concerns that classified information related to potential strikes on Iran had been exploited on the Polymarket platform. In June 2025, an anonymous Polymarket user placed a series of highly accurate bets on Israeli military activity in Iran, wagering tens of thousands of dollars and earning a profit of about $150,000. The user correctly predicted, among other events, the timing of an Israeli strike and the announcement of the end of the operation.
The report said that security bodies were initially debating whether to open an official investigation after suspicions arose that a person with access to classified material was using such information on the betting site.
“The defense establishment emphasizes that the placement of bets based on secret and classified information poses a real security risk to IDF operations and the security of the state,” the joint statement said. “The security bodies view the acts attributed to the defendants with great severity and will act decisively to thwart and bring to justice anyone involved in the unlawful use of classified information.”
Similar concerns have been raised in the US. In early January, a Polymarket user reportedly earned almost $500,000 after correctly betting that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro would be removed from office—only hours before a secret U.S. operation in Caracas.
Illustrative. Bets placed on Polymarket regarding Maduro’s ouster. (AP/Wyatte Grantham-Philips)
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
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Two Jews in Iran who were arrested on suspicion of involvement in protests against the regime in Tehran and Shiraz were released following efforts by senior figures in the Jewish kehilla, Kan News reported on Thursday.
A third Jew that was also arrested during the mass detentions during the protests is still in prison, and major efforts are being made to secure his release.
The Jewish kehilla has denied that the detainees had any connection to the protests, saying that their arrests were a mistake.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Vos Iz Neiasby Rabbi Yair Hoffman
Every so often, individuals emerge in Jewish history who, by dint of their personality and intellect, literally change the topography of Torah life. One such person was Rav Yerucham Levovitz. In the annals of Torah education, no single title has become so completely identified with one man as the title “The Mashgiach.” Among the hundreds of talmidim who passed through the Mir Yeshiva in the interwar years, and among the thousands who inherited their tradition, one did not need to specify which mashgiach was meant. “The Mashgiach” meant Rav Yerucham Levovitz—and no one else. It was not merely a title of respect. It was a statement of fact: in the minds of those who knew him, Rav Yerucham had so perfectly embodied the role of spiritual guide and mentor that he had become inseparable from it.
Almost all of us were shaped by someone, who was shaped by someone that came under his influence. It is somewhat strange, however, that very little has been written in English about this remarkable Mussar giant. Rav Yerucham’s influence on the Mir Yeshiva—and through the Mir, on the entire post-war Torah world—is almost impossible to overstate. He served as mashgiach from 1908 until the outbreak of World War I in 1914, accompanied the yeshiva through its wartime exile, and then returned to the position in 1923, serving until his death on the 18th of Sivan, 5696—June 8, 1936. In those years, he shaped the character and spiritual life of the yeshiva so profoundly that even today, nearly a century later, the Mir’s identity bears the imprint of his personality and teachings.
Rav Yerucham was born in approximately 1873 in the town of Lyuban (Luban), near Slutsk, in the Minsk province of the Russian Empire. His father, Reb Avraham, was a cheder Rebbe. Little is known about his earliest years. As a youth, he studied in the yeshivos near Pohost (Fahust) and Halusk, near Minsk, and then in the Bobruisk yeshiva.
During this early period, the young Rav Yerucham was sent on a remarkable mission of pidyon shvuyim—the redemption of captives—deep into the heart of Russia. The person who was imprisoned was a Talmid Chochom, and Rav Yerucham extended every effort he could in freeing him. Rav Yoseph Leib Nendik, an early student of Rav Yerucham, once said that his Rebbe attained his greatness on account of this extraordinary act of self-sacrifice for another Jew. It was a revealing episode: even before he had received his formal training in Mussar, the young Yerucham displayed the selfless devotion to others that would define his life.
From Bobruisk, Rav Yerucham made his way to the Slabodka Yeshiva, where he became one of the prized students of the Alter of Slabodka, Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel. The Alter recognized in the young Yerucham a soul of extraordinary potential and devoted himself to his new student with unusual intensity, passing on to him his great love of Mussar and his vision of what a Torah personality could become.
At Slabodka, Rav Yerucham also developed a close relationship with Rav Yitzchok Blaser (Rav Itzele Peterburger), one of the greatest students of Rav Yisroel Salanter himself. Rav Yerucham adopted Rav Blaser’s method of Mussar study, adding yet another layer to the rich tapestry of influences that would shape his unique approach. Through Rav Blaser, Rav Yerucham became a living repository of the teachings of Rav Yisroel Salanter, the Sabba of Kelm, and the Alter of Slabodka—three streams of the Mussar tradition converging in a single individual.
Like the other yeshiva boys in Slabodka, Rav Yerucham relied upon the essen teg system, eating his meals at the homes of various host families. Some lived in Slabodka itself, while others lived across the bridge in Kovno. Slabodka—technically meaning “suburb” in Slavic, originally called Vilyampoleh—was connected to Kovna by a famous rickety wooden bridge over the Vilaya River that cracked almost every year on account of the melting ice. The Alter used to say of this bridge that “it was always meant to be a one-way bridge—from the turbulence of Kovno to the spirituality of Slabodka.” The trip to Kovno for meals was not difficult during the summer, but during the winter it was often hazardous. The bridge would weigh down with ice and the top layer of the river would freeze as well. To eat in Kovno during the winter meant staying there over Shabbos, and the boys who did so would sleep on a bench in one of the local shuls. Those who did not get chosen for Shabbos meals would go to the Water-Carrier’s Shul in Kovno, where challah and fish were distributed for free.
The Alter of Slabodka recognized that Rav Yerucham needed exposure to a different stream of the Mussar tradition. In 1897, at the Alter’s urging, Rav Yerucham left Slabodka to study at the Kelm Talmud Torah—the legendary institution founded by Rav Simcha Zissel Ziv, the greatest and most systematic thinker among the direct students of Rav Yisrael Salanter.
The Kelm Talmud Torah was unlike any other institution in the Torah world. Entry was extraordinarily restricted; new students were admitted only after a rigorous evaluation process that could take months. When Rav Yerucham first arrived, he was permitted to enter the yeshiva but was not allowed to remain in the beis midrash while Rav Simcha Zissel delivered his shmuessen. This probationary period lasted seven months. Only after the Alter of Kelm gave his formal approval was Rav Yerucham accepted as a full member of the Talmud Torah.
By this time, Rav Simcha Zissel was in failing health, but he still continued to give to his talmidim. He had a special group of students with whom he shared his most remarkable insights—they were called the Devek Tov—and Rav Yerucham was admitted to that elite circle. In the months that followed, Rav Yerucham absorbed an approach to Mussar that would define the rest of his life. What did he learn in Kelm? He learned, above all, that Mussar is not mere moralizing or emotional exhortation. It is a rigorous intellectual discipline—a systematic study of human nature, of the workings of the soul, of the relationship between knowledge and action, between understanding truth and living by it. The Kelm approach demanded meticulous self-examination, precise thinking, and an almost scientific attention to one’s inner life.
On Erev Tisha B’Av, Wednesday, July 26, 1898—shortly after reciting Shma—Rav Simcha Zissel was niftar. Rav Yerucham’s sense of loss was profound. Though he had spent fewer than eight months under the Alter of Kelm’s direct tutelage, the experience transformed him. Rav Tzvi Hirsch Broide, the Alter of Kelm’s own son-in-law, later said that Rav Yerucham was his shver’s greatest talmid. Later in his own teaching, Rav Yerucham would replicate the Devek Tov model, sharing special ethical insights with select talmidim in the intimate manner that the Alter of Kelm had employed—the student becoming the teacher, the tradition passing forward.
Rav Simcha Zissel had kept detailed records of how he spent every hour of his day, and Rav Yerucham adopted this practice for the rest of his life, maintaining a personal log that tracked his waking hour, how long it took him to dress, how much time he spent in the beis midrash, when he ate, and when he slept. This was not obsessive behavior. It was the application of intellectual rigor to the most important subject of all: the formation of a human being in the image of his Creator. As the Sabba of Kelm himself had taught: Chanoch lanoar al pi darko, gam ki yazkin lo yasur mimeno—and what does this mean? “If one masters self-education in his youth, then even as he ages he will grow in that manner.” The discipline of self-knowledge was not an exercise for beginners. It was a lifelong practice.
After his time in Kelm and a brief period under Rav Nachum Velvel Ziv, Rav Simcha Zissel’s son, Rav Yerucham married his wife Rivkah, a relative of Rav Simcha Zissel, from the town of Ozovnet. He was then offered several positions as a mashgiach ruchani. He declined them all. He felt that deep lomdus—mastery of Talmudic learning at the highest level—was an indispensable prerequisite for anyone who wished to guide others in the path of Mussar. A mashgiach who could not hold his own with the finest Talmudic minds in the yeshiva would lack the intellectual authority that the role demanded.
Rav Yerucham therefore returned to Kelm and to intensive Torah study, spending the next eight years in virtual seclusion, covering the entire Shas and Shulchan Aruch with the thoroughness and analytical depth that characterized everything he did. Only after this extraordinary investment in his own growth did he feel prepared to take on the responsibility of guiding others. The lesson was one he would later impart to his own students: before you can teach, you must first master. Before you can lead, you must first become. He desired to run a yeshiva in the time-tested manner of the yeshivos of old—tzu halten a yeshiva oif a fartzeitigen oifen—and he understood that such a task required a foundation of total mastery.
Rav Yerucham’s first major appointment came in approximately 1903, when he joined Rav Yisrael Meir Kagan’s Kollel Kodshim in Radin. Soon he was appointed the Mashgiach of the yeshiva in Radin. The very first shmuess he delivered there was on the subject of emunah—faith. Among the young students who heard that shmuess was Rav Yechezkel Levenstein, who would himself become one of the towering mashgichim of the twentieth century. Decades later, Rav Levenstein testified that from the moment he heard that shmuess, he resolved never to experience a moment of hesech hadaas—a lapse of attention—from the reality of Hashem’s presence, for the rest of his life. One shmuess. A lifetime of transformation. That was the power of Rav Yerucham.
At Radin, Rav Yerucham formed a close friendship with Rav Naftoli Trop, and together they molded and shaped great talmidim. He maintained a lifelong close relationship with the Chofetz Chaim, seeking him out for deeper questions regarding the running of a yeshiva. Throughout his years at the Mir, he would continue to consult the Chofetz Chaim on the most sensitive matters of yeshiva leadership.
From Radin, Rav Yerucham became the mashgiach at the yeshiva in Kelm. He would travel back to his home in Ozovnet for the Yomim Tovim. In 1908, a son was born to him; he named the child Simcha Zissel, after the Alter of Kelm—a testament to the depth of his devotion to his teacher’s memory. That same year, he received a letter inviting him to come to the Mir and serve as mashgiach alongside the new Rosh Yeshiva, the Alter of Slabodka’s son.
In 1908, Rav Yerucham came to the Mir Yeshiva as mashgiach. Rav Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, the Rosh Yeshiva, appointed him to a position he was to retain for the rest of his life. The Alter had been asked to help the Mir establish a Mussar program, and he responded with characteristic decisiveness: he dispatched ten of his top students from Slabodka to serve as Mussar role models in the yeshiva, and he sent Rav Yerucham to lead them.
The early years were challenging. The Mir in the pre-war period was still finding its identity in the Mussar world, and not all the students were receptive to the new emphasis on ethical self-development. But Rav Yerucham’s personal example—his extraordinary piety, his intellectual depth, his genuine warmth toward every talmid—gradually won over even the skeptics. When World War I broke out in 1914, Rav Yerucham accompanied the yeshiva into exile in Poltava, sharing in its wanderings and suffering, his presence a source of spiritual strength through the darkest years.
One stop of the yeshiva during its wartime wanderings was in Stavitz—the town where a young Rav Avrohom Yeshayahu Karelitz, the future Chazon Ish, then in his thirties, had resided. Rav Yerucham and the Chazon Ish developed a warm relationship during this period. Years later, the Chazon Ish wrote fondly in his Kovetz Igros (Volume I, Letter 154) about “the Saba of the Mir Yeshiva”—a term of deep affection and respect for Rav Yerucham.
After the war, Rav Yerucham traveled to Slabodka in order to re-establish that great citadel of Torah during the German occupation, holding it together until the Alter of Slabodka was able to return from the Ukraine. He also served briefly as the mashgiach of the Ponevezh Yeshiva. But Rav Leizer Yudel Finkel, who understood that the Mir’s ascent to greatness required the mashgiach’s return, brought him back to the Mir in 1923.
The year 1923 marked the beginning of the Golden Age of the Mir, as the greatest students of Torah began to gather. Bochurim came from all over—from Western Europe, from Chassidish families in Poland and Hungary, and from the United States. They grew and were shaped and molded into giants of Torah under the meticulous watch of Rav Yerucham. It was a decision that would prove to be one of the most consequential in the history of Jewish education.
In 1925, the Chofetz Chaim expressed his wish to immigrate to Eretz Yisrael. Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, recognizing that the Jews of Europe needed the Chofetz Chaim in Europe, organized a delegation of the greatest Torah leaders to dissuade him. Rav Chaim Ozer asked Rav Yerucham to join that delegation alongside Rav Boruch Ber Leibowitz, Rav Pesach Prusskin (who would later be Rav Moshe Feinstein’s Rebbe), Rav Elchonon Wasserman, and Rav Eliezer Yehuda Finkel. That Rav Yerucham was included in such company—among the acknowledged leaders of the generation—spoke volumes about the stature he had achieved.
The heart of Rav Yerucham’s work at the Mir was the shmuess—the formal Mussar discourse delivered to the assembled student body. Rav Yerucham gave shmuessen four times a week: regular discourses on Monday and Wednesday to the full yeshiva, and more intimate talks at his home on Friday evening and Motzoei Shabbos. These shmuessen became the signature experience of the Mir Yeshiva, the element that more than any other defined its character and drew students from across the world.
What made Rav Yerucham’s shmuessen so powerful? Those who experienced them speak of an atmosphere that was almost otherworldly. The talmidim would crowd around the mashgiach in the beis midrash, sitting as close as they could, straining to hear every word. And they had to strain, because Rav Yerucham began his shmuessen in a voice so quiet that it was barely audible. He did not declaim or thunder. He did not employ the fiery rhetoric that characterized some other Mussar teachers. Instead, he spoke as though he were thinking aloud—as though he were addressing himself, working through a problem of enormous complexity and importance, and the students had the privilege of listening in.
Perhaps no account captures the experience of a shmuess more vividly than that of Rabbi W. Wolf Wernick, a talmid who set down his memories in writing. His description transports us into the Mir on a Motzoei Shabbos, into the world of those five hundred young men who gathered in the darkened beis midrash to hear their Mashgiach speak.
It began in the boarding houses. In a dark and barely furnished room, over the shalosh seudos table, one of the students would ask the question: “Er zogt?—Will the Mashgiach speak?” “Where?” At times, when he did not feel well, he spoke at his home. But in most cases, the yeshiva was the place. Hurriedly, the scanty food—the leftovers of the afternoon Shabbos meal—was eaten. They bentsched and were off. In pairs of twos and threes, from all sides of the street, from alleys and little passageways between the typical small, dilapidated European houses, the yeshiva students hastened in the direction of the yeshiva. The liveliness in their walk was due to the eagerness with which they awaited the Mashgiach’s talk.
Opposite each other at the head of the yeshiva lane stood the houses of the Rosh HaYeshiva and the Rav. Quickly, the students passed through the big wooden doors that separated the yeshiva estate from the faculty’s abodes, up the lane and into the yeshiva. The beis midrash was enveloped in darkness, except for the little lamp-light coming from above the amud near the bimah. One vast hall divided into three long aisles of big wooden benches—in the center aisle near the front where the bimah stood, a square was formed and occupied by the students. An assemblage of about five hundred, well arranged from all sides, awaited the Mashgiach. From afar, they appeared as silhouettes against the light blue walls.
Suddenly, the sound of shtenders being moved—those in the front, acting as vanguards, making way for the Mashgiach to enter. He took his seat behind the bimah and soon became the focus of every eye.
Silence. The Mashgiach’s voice rose and the words were heard: “A man never so much as moves his finger, but it has been so decreed from above.” He paused and thought. A deadly silence settled on the yeshiva. No one stirred. He was crouched at his elbows on the edges of the shtender, swaying to and fro. The Mashgiach was old, sixty or more, his beard white with a silver whiteness. The hair on the side of his head, protruding from underneath his black hat, was like newly fallen snow. His face was that of a man who had endured many hardships, but his eyes—unlike the eyes of men of his age—were black and glowing. They showed cleverness. In them, one could see the experience acquired over twenty-five years in the yeshiva world as mashgiach of the Mir, Radin, and other yeshivos—the one from whom all mashgichim attained their instruction and guidance.
Then the tension relaxed. A warmth began to glow within him. By degrees his voice rose; his face kindled; his very soul resolved into his speech. The Divine Presence hovered over him and he drank in its sweetness. The way he spoke gripped the heart of everyone. His voice dilated with the full knowledge of irrefutable proof. Beads of sweat stood out on his forehead. He swung to and fro on his shtender, clasped his hands together and brought them up to his chin. He shut his eyes, stood still, and began intoning.
At the end of his speech, he rose and walked over to the bimah and with great enthusiasm explained, argued, and proved his point, reading the sonorous phrases and following their echoes with delight, as though he himself were not excluded from the philosophic lesson taught. Then he nodded with his head. “A guten.” This signified that the inyan—the discourse—was concluded.
The students left and took their seats. They meditated over his deep thoughts and tried to apply to themselves the lesson in ethics. About fifteen minutes afterward, the Mashgiach went over to the amud and, with the traditional Kelemer pathos, began: “Vehu rachum yechaper avon—And He, the Merciful, will forgive transgressions…” And the Motzoei Shabbos Maariv began, carrying the spiritual charge of the shmuess directly into the prayers.
The content was as distinctive as the delivery. Rav Yerucham’s shmuessen were built on the foundation of rigorous textual analysis. He would take a passuk in Chumash, a teaching of Chazal, a comment of Rashi, and subject it to the same kind of penetrating, multi-layered analysis that the greatest Talmudic minds applied to a sugya in Gemara. His emphasis on unveiling the true intention of Rashi became legendary—he would demonstrate, with stunning precision, that what appeared to be a simple comment on the text actually contained worlds of insight into human nature, divine providence, and the spiritual life. Rav Leib Malin, one of his most devoted talmidim, later said that in Rav Yerucham’s Mussar shmuessen he found not only ethical and educational messages but also a derech halimud—a method of Torah study.
Rav Yerucham would often give a moshol drawn from real-life incidents. He explained that when he had visited the spas at Marienbad in Czechoslovakia, the new arrivals would come bathe in the mineral-rich and curative waters first and only then arrange for their lodgings. Talmidim of the Mir who had become Rabbonim and taken other positions of Torah instruction would often return to the Mir for Elul and the Yomim Noraim. They would arrange for lodging and then come to the yeshiva. By Torah, Rav Yerucham taught, it should be no different—the healing waters of Torah study come first; everything else follows.
The published collections of Rav Yerucham’s teachings—Daas Torah, a six-volume commentary on the weekly parashah; Daas Chochmah U’Mussar, a multi-volume collection of his shmuessen; and Sifsai Daas on Pirkei Avos—remain staples of yeshiva libraries and Orthodox Jewish homes to this day. But those who heard the shmuessen in person testified that the printed page could capture only a fraction of their impact. The experience was not merely intellectual. It was the encounter with a living embodiment of everything he taught.
Rav Yerucham’s relationship with his students went far beyond the public shmuess. He viewed each and every talmid in the yeshiva as his own child. The Gemara in Sanhedrin (19b) teaches that whoever teaches his friend’s son Torah, it is as if he gave birth to him. The traditional understanding of this idea refers to the reward one receives for teaching another person Torah. The Slonimer Rebbe, however, gives a different understanding: the successful learning that the child experiences can only happen if the teacher displays the love of a parent toward that student. Only then can the child fully experience true learning. For Rav Yerucham, this was not a homiletical flourish. It was a literal description of his relationship with his talmidim. He knew each one intimately—his strengths, his weaknesses, his struggles, his potential. He gave private counsel with the sensitivity of a master psychologist and the love of a father.
He kept in touch with his talmidim by letter long after they left the Mir. When Rav Shimon Schwab received his first shteller as a Rav and subsequently became engaged, Rav Yerucham sent him a letter of Mazel Tov and then traveled to serve as his mesader kiddushin. On another occasion, Rav Yerucham instructed a young man who was fearful of the Russian draft to register at a particular city. He then personally contacted the doctor responsible for the medical exam and ensured that the talmid received an exemption. These were not extraordinary acts for Rav Yerucham. They were the natural expressions of a teacher who genuinely considered his students his own children.
The American bochurim who came to the Mir in the late 1920s and 1930s were a particular challenge and a particular triumph. These were young men who, as one account memorably put it, “knew of baseball and hot dogs”—products of a modern, secular culture vastly different from the world of the Lithuanian yeshiva. Rav Yerucham took these young Americans under his wing and transformed them into G-d-fearing bnei Torah. He had an uncanny ability to find the right path to every talmid’s heart, to speak to each person in the language they could understand, to challenge them at precisely the level they needed to be challenged. The American students, many of whom went on to become pioneers of Torah education in the United States, remembered their time with Rav Yerucham as the defining experience of their lives.
Rav Yerucham brought to the Mir a distinctive approach to Mussar that blended elements from all of his great teachers. From the Alter of Slabodka, he absorbed the emphasis on gadlus ha’adam—the inherent greatness of the human being created in the image of G-d—and the conviction that Mussar should elevate rather than crush the spirit. From the Alter of Kelm, he learned the importance of intellectual precision in the study of human nature, the discipline of meticulous self-observation, and the integration of Mussar with the deepest levels of Torah learning. From Rav Yitzchok Blaser, he inherited the direct transmission of Rav Yisroel Salanter’s original vision of Mussar as a movement of genuine inner transformation.
The synthesis was uniquely his own. Rav Yerucham’s Mussar was neither the ascetic self-denial of Novardok nor the primarily emotional approach that some critics associated with the early Mussar movement. It was intellectual, analytical, deeply rooted in the text of Torah and the teachings of Chazal, and at the same time profoundly personal and transformative. He taught his students to think—to think about themselves, about their assumptions, about the gap between what they knew to be true and how they actually lived. He demanded authenticity above all else. Superficial piety, rote observance without inner life, the performance of mitzvos without genuine understanding—these were the enemies he fought with every shmuess.
What made the Mir unusual among the great yeshivos of the interwar period was the extraordinary authority that the mashgiach wielded in the internal affairs of the institution. In most yeshivos, the Rosh Yeshiva was the dominant figure, with the mashgiach serving in a supporting role—important but clearly subordinate. At the Mir, the dynamic was different. Rav Leizer Yudel Finkel, in an act of remarkable humility and strategic wisdom, assumed primary responsibility for the yeshiva’s finances, fundraising, and external relations, while deferring the spiritual and educational leadership of the yeshiva to Rav Yerucham.
This arrangement was not born of weakness on Rav Leizer Yudel’s part. He was a Torah giant in his own right, and his shiurim were renowned for their analytical brilliance. But he recognized that Rav Yerucham possessed a unique gift for molding souls, and he had the wisdom to step aside and let that gift flourish. The result was that the mashgiach’s shmuessen—not the Rosh Yeshiva’s shiurim—became the primary draw for many students who came to the Mir. The charisma of the mashgiach, the depth of his Mussar, the transformative power of his personal example—these were what made the Mir the Mir.
The senior talmidim of Rav Yerucham, known reverently as the “lions of the Mir,” occupied a special position in the yeshiva’s hierarchy. They served as informal mentors and guides to newer students, assigned arrivals to their respective chaburahs, and carried an authority within the yeshiva that reflected the extraordinary devotion they felt toward their teacher. Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, who arrived at the Mir after Rav Yerucham’s passing, testified that the reverence for the mashgiach was still palpable years later. Rav Leib Malin saw Rav Yerucham as such a towering figure that, as one source recounts, he felt like dust before him—“to the point where had the Mashgiach instructed him to go into a fire, he would have done so.”
Rav Yerucham’s personal piety was the foundation of everything he taught. He demanded of himself far more than he demanded of others, and those closest to him knew that the man behind the podium was, if anything, even greater than the teacher who stood before the yeshiva. A story was told of the end of one Yom Kippur, after a long day of fasting, praying, and serving Hashem with extraordinary intensity. As the students filed out of the beis midrash, one talmid lingered behind, hiding under a bench. He watched as Rav Yerucham, believing himself to be alone, began to pace the length of the empty hall. Back and forth he walked, pointing to himself and repeating the verse from Bereishis: “Perhaps my father will feel me and I shall be a mocker in his eyes.” Even after a full day of the holiest avodah of the year, Rav Yerucham feared that his service had been insufficiently sincere, that he had fallen short of the truth that Hashem demands.
It was not without reason that his Rebbetzin Rivkah said to her children on the day of his passing: “Know, my children, that your father was a malach Elokim—an angel of G-d.”
In his later years, Rav Yerucham’s health declined significantly. The truth was that every time a wagon arrived in the town of Mir, the noise and vibration would cause Rav Yerucham tremendous pain and agony. It is likely that the Mashgiach had an undiagnosed brain tumor that caused these painful headaches.
Furthermore, the relentless demands of his position—the shmuessen, the private counseling, the emotional burden of carrying the spiritual welfare of hundreds of students—took their toll on a body that had never been robust.
The political situation in Poland added to his anguish. Soon the evil of National Socialism was rising across the border, and even within Poland, those who opposed the Nazis wished to demonstrate their own antisemitic credentials. On March 20, 1936, the lower house of the Polish Parliament—the Sejm—passed an amendment severely restricting kosher shechita, pushed by Janina Prystorova, wife of the Polish Senate’s president. A week later the Polish Senate adopted the bill. This assault on one of the most fundamental practices of Jewish religious life caused the Mashgiach great anguish.
On the 18th of Sivan, 5696—June 8, 1936—Rav Yerucham Levovitz was niftar from complications of a stroke. He was approximately sixty-three years old. The funeral drew the entire yeshiva and much of the Torah world of Poland and Lithuania. The Mir had lost its soul—the man who, more than any other, had shaped its character and defined its identity. He was buried in the town of Mir, Belarus.
The void was immense. Rav Shlomo Wolbe, who would become one of the pre-eminent Mussar masters of the post-war generation, later testified that a single Mussar shmuess of the Mashgiach had given him the strength and fortitude to withstand the fearful years of the Second World War. Rav Wolbe, who helped thousands of refugees in Sweden and was deeply involved in the rescue effort for the bochurim of the Mir, traced his ability to sustain others back to the spiritual resources he had received from Rav Yerucham. One man’s teaching, internalized by one student, rippling outward to touch thousands of lives—this was the measure of the Mashgiach’s influence.
The list of Rav Yerucham’s talmidim reads like a roster of the builders of post-war Torah Jewry: Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, Rav Dovid Povarsky, Rav Nochum Partzovitz, Rav Leib Malin, Rav Abba Berman, Rav Zelik Epstein, Rav Shimon Schwab, Rav Shlomo Wolbe, Rav Aryeh Leib Bakst, Rav Chaim Wysoker, Rav Binyomin Zeilberger, Rav Yechezkel Levenstein, and many, many others. One of his talmidim, Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, married Rav Leizer Yudel’s daughter in 1929 and six years later joined the hanhala of the yeshiva in 1935.
Rav Yerucham’s own son, Rav Simcha Zissel Halevi Levovitz, founded a yeshiva in Boro Park, Brooklyn, and devoted himself to publishing his father’s writings. His son-in-law, Rav Yisroel Chaim Kaplan, served as Rosh Yeshiva at Beis Medrash Elyon in Monsey. Ten of Rav Yerucham’s senior talmidim would later convene to establish Yeshivas Beis HaTalmud in Brooklyn—an institution that sought to perpetuate the unique synthesis of lomdus and Mussar that had characterized the Mir under the Mashgiach’s guidance. Led by Rav Leib Malin and Rav Chaim Wysoker, Beis HaTalmud became a living monument to Rav Yerucham’s educational vision.
Following the Mashgiach’s passing, his senior talmidim—the “lions of the Mir”—undertook the sacred task of publishing his words. Working from their own notes and those of their colleagues, Rav Simcha Zissel Levovitz edited and published the first volume of Daas Chochmah U’Mussar in Vilna in 1940, in the very shadow of the approaching catastrophe. The talmidim continued publishing additional pamphlets throughout their years of exile in Shanghai, as if to affirm that even in the most desperate circumstances, the Mashgiach’s Torah would not be silenced. In all, Rav Simcha Zissel would publish his father’s shmuessen and thoughts in nine seforim, which are found in virtually every yeshiva library in the world.
The appointment of Rav Yechezkel Levenstein as Rav Yerucham’s successor as mashgiach of the Mir brought a worthy inheritor to the position. Rav Levenstein, who had been transformed by Rav Yerucham’s very first shmuess in Radin decades earlier, carried the tradition forward through the yeshiva’s harrowing wartime journey and into the post-war era at Ponevezh. But among those who had known the Mashgiach, there was a universal recognition that Rav Yerucham was irreplaceable—that the Mir under his guidance had achieved a level of spiritual intensity that could not be fully replicated.
Rav Yerucham Levovitz gave the Mir Yeshiva its soul. He transformed it from a great institution of Talmudic learning into something more: a place where the study of Torah and the refinement of character were fused into a single, seamless whole, where the quest for knowledge and the quest for holiness were one and the same. That vision—transmitted through his talmidim to their talmidim, and through them to yet another generation—continues to animate the Mir and the broader Torah world to this day. In the deepest sense, the Mashgiach never left the Mir. His presence abides.
The author can be reached at [email protected]
MatzavIn an emotional and uplifting moment for his family and תלמידים, Rav Yitzchak Hacker, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Grodna in Be’er Yaakov and a member of the Degel Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, attended his grandson’s wedding this evening after having been in serious condition for several months.
The chasunah took place at the Heichalei Malchus Hall in Bnei Brak. This marked the first time the Rosh Yeshiva has appeared publicly since his health crisis, bringing great excitement and gratitude among his talmidim.
Rav Hacker arrived for the chuppah and was honored with reciting brachah acharita. Following the chuppah, he remained at the chasunah and joined in the dancing.
The chosson is a grandson of Rav Yitzchak Hacker and also a grandson of Rav Tzvi Rotberg, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Beis Meir. He is a son of Rav Tuvia Rotberg, a ram at Yeshivas Beis Meir. The kallah is the daughter of Rav Yaakov Sokolovsky of Yerushalayim.
The Rosh Yeshiva’s presence at the simchah, after a prolonged period of serious illness, was seen as a moving and hopeful moment for his family, talmidim, and the broader Torah community.
{Matzav.com}
MatzavNew York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday defended his push to raise taxes on the city’s highest earners, arguing before state lawmakers that the soaring cost of living in the five boroughs justifies the increase.
Appearing in Albany, Mamdani was asked to explain why he is urging the state legislature to approve a 2% income tax increase for residents earning more than $1 million annually. The mayor framed the proposal as a response to the financial pressures facing the city.
“I think the why comes from the fact that we are the most expensive city in the United States,” Mamdani said, answering a question from Assembly member Amanda Septimo (D-Bronx).
“There simply isn’t enough money that we wish there could be,” he added.
Mamdani cautioned that failing to address the city’s fiscal needs could accelerate an ongoing population shift.
“If we take that approach year after year, what happens is we do see the exodus that’s happening right now for working middle-class people leave the city, leave the state, trying to find a place where their ends can be a little bit easier to meet.”
Since launching his mayoral campaign, Mamdani has advocated for multiple tax increases, including the proposed 2% hike on personal income for top earners and a 4% increase in the corporate tax rate.
After assuming office in January, he pointed to what he described as a looming multibillion-dollar budget deficit in the current and upcoming fiscal years as a key reason for seeking additional revenue.
However, that projected shortfall has narrowed considerably in recent weeks.
On Wednesday, Mamdani’s budget director, Sherif Soliman, disclosed that the previously cited $12 billion deficit estimate did not factor in $7.2 billion in tax revenue collected at the close of the year.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has consistently resisted calls to raise state income taxes, maintaining that New York already ranks among the highest-taxed states in the nation.
{Matzav.com}
Vos Iz NeiasLONG ISLAND, N.Y. (VINnews) — After the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre in Israel, New York fashion designer Marlene Kolangi shifted her focus from business to humanitarian work, founding Israel Orphans of 10/7 to aid children who lost one or both parents in the attacks and ensuing war.
Kolangi, founder of the Queens-based bridal and modest fashion brand Kaituz, said the scale of the tragedy compelled her to act.
“These children lost everything in a single day,” she said on Episode 47 of the Alan Skorski Reports podcast. “They need more than sympathy — they need stability, support and a future.”
The organization provides emergency financial assistance, establishes long-term savings accounts for each orphan, funds milestones such as bar and bat mitzvahs, education and weddings, and offers emotional support services, including play therapy.
Kolangi said she regularly travels to Israel to meet families personally and deliver aid directly, whether through funds, clothing, gift cards or ongoing support.
“The most important thing is dignity,” she said. “These children should feel embraced by the entire Jewish people.”
A single mother, Kolangi has been featured in several Jewish media outlets and speaks at communal events, urging others to transform tragedy into action.
She described the initiative as a long-term commitment. “This is not a six-month project,” she said. “We are committed to walking with them for years.”
Supporters can learn more through the group’s fundraising campaigns, including those hosted on CauseMatch under the Healing Heroes initiative. For information, email [email protected]
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MatzavThe Republican-led House of Representatives approved legislation Wednesday that would require individuals to provide proof of U.S. citizenship in order to vote in the November midterm elections, a move Democrats argue would create new obstacles for voters and shift greater influence over elections toward President Donald Trump.
In a 218-213 vote, lawmakers passed the SAVE America Act, with just one Democrat joining Republicans in support. The measure now heads to the GOP-controlled Senate, where it is expected to be brought to the floor but faces steep odds, as it would likely need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.
The proposal revives election-related legislation first introduced during the 2024 presidential campaign, when Trump repeatedly claimed—without evidence—that large numbers of people living in the country illegally were casting ballots in federal elections. Similar versions of the bill cleared the House twice before, once last April and again in 2024, but stalled in the Senate.
The vote came shortly after Trump urged Republicans to “take over” elections in more than a dozen jurisdictions. Under the legislation, individuals registering to vote in the midterms would be required to present documentation proving citizenship. The bill would also establish criminal penalties for election officials who register voters lacking the required proof.
In addition, House Republicans incorporated a photo identification requirement for voters casting ballots in person or by mail in future federal elections. They pointed to polling data, including a Pew Research Center survey indicating that 83% of voters—among them 71% of Democrats—support voter photo ID requirements.
House Speaker Mike Johnson characterized the measure as “common sense legislation to just ensure that American citizens decide American elections.” Democratic leaders, however, contend that the bill is designed to restrict access to the ballot and weaken their electoral prospects at a time when some independent analysts predict Democrats could regain control of the House.
Republicans have faced a series of setbacks in recent special elections, including a Texas state Senate race viewed within the party as a warning sign.
“The SAVE America Act is part of a comprehensive Republican strategy to cement power this year. Speaker Johnson wants to make it harder for Americans to vote, easier for Washington Republicans to control how elections are run,” said Rep. Joe Morelle, the top Democrat on the House committee that oversees elections.
Federal law already bars non-citizens from voting in federal elections. Reviews conducted by organizations across the political spectrum, along with state election officials, have consistently found instances of such voting to be exceedingly rare.
The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, which leans left, has cautioned that the SAVE America Act could prevent millions of eligible citizens from voting if they lack immediate access to documents such as passports or birth certificates needed to verify citizenship.
Advocates for voting rights argue the legislation fits into a broader confrontation between the Trump administration and state governments. That conflict has included withholding federal funds, deploying National Guard troops, and an FBI search of a county election office in Georgia.
“We have checks and balances in place that include state and local officials acting as a check against federal overreach,” said Mai Ratakonda, program director of election protection at States United Democracy Center, a nonpartisan group that works to safeguard free and fair elections. “That’s what the federal government is trying to undermine.”
Republicans are also preparing a separate and more expansive election proposal, the Make Elections Great Again Act. That bill would require paper ballots, limit the use of mail-in voting, and ban ranked-choice voting in federal general elections. It was the subject of a hearing before the House Administration Committee on Tuesday.
{Matzav.com}
Vos Iz NeiasTEHRAN, Iran (VINnews) — Iran’s foreign minister on Wednesday criticized billionaire Miriam Adelson, a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump, over claims published in her newspaper alleging Tehran secretly carried out executions after promising not to do so.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, writing on social media, accused Adelson’s media outlet of promoting unfounded allegations about Iran ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House.
“Whenever Miriam Adelson’s mouthpiece pushes a dramatic claim about Iran, it’s worth asking who it serves,” Araghchi wrote. “Even the U.S. president has acknowledged where her primary loyalties lie.”
Whenever Miriam Adelson’s mouthpiece pushes a dramatic claim about Iran, it’s worth asking who it serves. Even the U.S. President has acknowledged where her primary loyalties lie.
In its latest piece, Adelson's outlet declared—just an hour before Netanyahu’s White House… pic.twitter.com/pJK3JFqRz8
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) February 11, 2026
Araghchi included a screenshot of an article published by Israel Hayom, the Israeli newspaper owned by Adelson, which reported that Iran had “deceived” Trump by carrying out thousands of executions despite assurances to the contrary.
In his post, Araghchi denied the allegations, saying no executions had taken place and that no related court proceedings had been finalized. He added that more than 2,000 prisoners had been pardoned.
“Before buying the narrative being peddled, consider who benefits from it — and who may actually be doing the deceiving,” he wrote.
Adelson, a major Republican donor and longtime ally of Trump, is widely seen as influential in shaping U.S. policy discussions related to Israel and the Middle East.
The exchange comes amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington over Iran’s nuclear program and regional activities.
Vos Iz NeiasMEXICO CITY (AP) — The temporary closure of airspace over El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday caused unease south of the U.S.-Mexico border and put the spotlight on the use of drones by Mexican cartels.
The criminal groups have used the technology to modernize their operations, smuggle fentanyl, organize migrant border crossings, surveil territory and wage war on rival cartels and Mexican authorities.
U.S. officials initially said the airspace was closed to halt an incursion by Mexican cartel drones, though others familiar with the situation later put that explanation in doubt.
Steven Willoughby, deputy director of the Department of Homeland Security’s counter-drone program, told Congress in July that cartels use drones almost daily to move drugs across the border and to monitor Border Patrol agents.
According to their data, in the last six months of 2024 more than 27,000 drones were detected within 500 meters (1,640 feet) of the U.S. southern border, mainly at night.
Here’s what you need to know:
‘The Lord of the Skies’
Drug trafficking by air is not new and is linked to the history of Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso.
In the 1990s, drug trafficker Amado Carrillo Fuentes, founder of the Juarez Cartel, specialized in transporting large drug shipments in small aircraft, earning him the nickname “The Lord of the Skies.”
When he died under suspicious circumstances following botched plastic surgery in 1997, his brothers and sons continued operating out of Ciudad Juarez.
Fifteen years later, when his brother Vicente was arrested — Vicente was sent from Mexico to the United States last year — it was estimated that 70% of the cocaine entering the United States came through Juarez.
2010s: The beginning
Mexico issued an international alert in 2010 about drug traffickers’ use of remotely piloted aircraft systems, and from then on the practice grew.
Between 2012 and 2014, U.S. authorities detected 150 unmanned aircraft systems crossing the border with Mexico. A decade later, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 10,000 incursions in the Rio Grande Valley area of southern Texas alone, according to data from the International Narcotics Control Board.
Over time, the drugs flowing into the U.S. were changing too, shifting from heavy bales of marijuana to more compact synthetics like methamphetamine and fentanyl that drones could carry.
Drones as attack weapons
In 2021, the Mexican government began publicly reporting the use of explosive-laden drones to attack security forces.
At the time, it was a tactic of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) detected in the states of Michoacan, Guanajuato and Jalisco.
The army said then that the drones were not as effective as criminals would like because they could only carry small explosive charges, sometimes taped onto the drone.
A widespread weapon
The use of drones spread to nearly all criminal groups and, according to Mexican authorities, they are used both for attacks and for surveillance, even transmitting real-time images.
In states such as Michoacan, both commercial drones and larger agricultural drones about one meter (3.3 feet) in diameter are used; instead of sprayers, they are fitted with adapters for explosives, according to data from that state’s government.
In 2025, the International Narcotics Control Board reported that cartels were increasingly using this method to smuggle fentanyl, sometimes with homemade drones capable of carrying up to 100 kilograms (220.46 pounds) of cargo, because with new satellite technologies traffickers can pre-program precise landing sites and reduce risks in deliveries.
Government efforts to fight drones
Mexico’s government, too, has used drones for their own purposes, both to combat cartels and to monitor migrant caravans in 2018 and 2019. It has also used specialized anti-drone equipment to fight back in states.
The army operates such systems along the borders dividing Sinaloa, Jalisco and Michoacan, primarily, although the latter state has its own unit dedicated to that work.
Last July, the southern state of Chiapas went a step further, announcing the purchase of a fleet of armed drones to battle the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels that were fighting for control of Mexico’s southern border.
MatzavThe Federal Trade Commission has formally cautioned Apple that its Apple News app could be running afoul of consumer protection laws if it is sidelining right-leaning publications, according to a sharply worded letter sent Wednesday by FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson to Apple CEO Tim Cook.
The warning followed an exclusive report by The NY Post highlighting a study that suggested the Apple News app may be favoring left-leaning outlets. President Donald Trump amplified that report on his Truth Social platform early Wednesday.
The Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog, reviewed 620 articles that received prominent placement from Apple News editors in January. According to its findings, none of the featured stories came from outlets categorized as right-leaning.
“These reports raise serious questions about whether Apple News is acting in accordance with its terms of service and its representations to consumers,” Ferguson wrote in the Wednesday letter to Cook obtained by The NY Post.
In the same correspondence, Ferguson pressed Cook to “conduct a comprehensive review of Apple’s terms of service and ensure that Apple News’ curation of articles is consistent with those terms and representations made to consumers and, if it is not, to take corrective action swiftly.”
Ferguson referenced Section 5 of the FTC Act, which governs unfair or deceptive business practices and “prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices,” including “material misrepresentations and material omissions.”
“The First Amendment protects the speech of Big Tech firms,” Ferguson wrote. “But the First Amendment has never extended its protection to material misrepresentations made to consumers, nor does it immunize speakers from conduct that Congress has deemed unfair under the FTC Act, even if that conduct involves speech.”
In conducting its analysis, the Media Research Center relied on bias ratings compiled by AllSides. That organization uses a bipartisan panel made up of two members from the left, two from the center, and two from the right, all trained to evaluate media bias. It also incorporates blind surveys of everyday Americans to determine ideological leanings.
Earlier this year, in February 2025, Ferguson initiated a broader probe into alleged censorship by major technology firms. The stated aim was to “better understand how these firms may have violated the law by silencing and intimidating Americans for speaking their minds.”
“Any act or practice by Apple News to suppress or promote news articles based on the perceived ideological or political viewpoint of the article or publication, if inconsistent with Apple’s terms of service or the reasonable expectations of consumers, may violate the FTC Act,” Ferguson wrote on Wednesday.
“As an American citizen, I abhor and condemn any attempt to censor content for ideological reasons,” he added. “Such efforts, whether taken to appease overzealous activists, at the behest of foreign governments, or simply to advance the political views of Silicon Valley elites, stifle the free exchange of ideas, manipulate the public discourse and are inconsistent with American values.”
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The NY Post.
According to The Post’s earlier reporting, the Media Research Center found that of the 620 prominently featured articles in January, 440 were published by outlets rated as left-leaning, while 180 came from centrist organizations.
Apple promotes Apple News as the leading news app in the United States. The platform combines stories selected by in-house editors with content surfaced through algorithmic recommendations.
Data cited by the Media Research Center showed that in January, Apple News featured 72 articles from The Washington Post, 54 from the Associated Press, 50 from NBC News, 34 from The Guardian, and 25 from NPR. The Wall Street Journal, which is classified as centrist, had 54 articles highlighted. The app did not feature any stories from The NY Post, Fox News, or other outlets identified as right-leaning.
Responding to the watchdog group’s conclusions, an Apple spokesperson stated that the News app “provides access to news spanning a wide range of topics from more than 3,000 publications including the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Bloomberg, USA Today, Washington Examiner, New York Post, CBS News, local outlets, and more.”
“Apple News users can tailor the app to their interests by choosing to follow or block specific publications or topics,” the spokesperson added.
{Matzav.com}
Vos Iz Neiasby Rabbi Yair Hoffman
Every so often, individuals emerge in Jewish history who, by dint of their personality and intellect, literally change the topography of Torah life. One such person was Rav Yerucham Levovitz. In the annals of Torah education, no single title has become so completely identified with one man as the title “The Mashgiach.” Among the hundreds of talmidim who passed through the Mir Yeshiva in the interwar years, and among the thousands who inherited their tradition, one did not need to specify which mashgiach was meant. “The Mashgiach” meant Rav Yerucham Levovitz—and no one else. It was not merely a title of respect. It was a statement of fact: in the minds of those who knew him, Rav Yerucham had so perfectly embodied the role of spiritual guide and mentor that he had become inseparable from it.
Almost all of us were shaped by someone, who was shaped by someone that came under his influence. It is somewhat strange, however, that very little has been written in English about this remarkable Mussar giant. Rav Yerucham’s influence on the Mir Yeshiva—and through the Mir, on the entire post-war Torah world—is almost impossible to overstate. He served as mashgiach from 1908 until the outbreak of World War I in 1914, accompanied the yeshiva through its wartime exile, and then returned to the position in 1923, serving until his death on the 18th of Sivan, 5696—June 8, 1936. In those years, he shaped the character and spiritual life of the yeshiva so profoundly that even today, nearly a century later, the Mir’s identity bears the imprint of his personality and teachings.
Rav Yerucham was born in approximately 1873 in the town of Lyuban (Luban), near Slutsk, in the Minsk province of the Russian Empire. His father, Reb Avraham, was a cheder Rebbe. Little is known about his earliest years. As a youth, he studied in the yeshivos near Pohost (Fahust) and Halusk, near Minsk, and then in the Bobruisk yeshiva.
During this early period, the young Rav Yerucham was sent on a remarkable mission of pidyon shvuyim—the redemption of captives—deep into the heart of Russia. The person who was imprisoned was a Talmid Chochom, and Rav Yerucham extended every effort he could in freeing him. Rav Yoseph Leib Nendik, an early student of Rav Yerucham, once said that his Rebbe attained his greatness on account of this extraordinary act of self-sacrifice for another Jew. It was a revealing episode: even before he had received his formal training in Mussar, the young Yerucham displayed the selfless devotion to others that would define his life.
From Bobruisk, Rav Yerucham made his way to the Slabodka Yeshiva, where he became one of the prized students of the Alter of Slabodka, Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel. The Alter recognized in the young Yerucham a soul of extraordinary potential and devoted himself to his new student with unusual intensity, passing on to him his great love of Mussar and his vision of what a Torah personality could become.
At Slabodka, Rav Yerucham also developed a close relationship with Rav Yitzchok Blaser (Rav Itzele Peterburger), one of the greatest students of Rav Yisroel Salanter himself. Rav Yerucham adopted Rav Blaser’s method of Mussar study, adding yet another layer to the rich tapestry of influences that would shape his unique approach. Through Rav Blaser, Rav Yerucham became a living repository of the teachings of Rav Yisroel Salanter, the Sabba of Kelm, and the Alter of Slabodka—three streams of the Mussar tradition converging in a single individual.
Like the other yeshiva boys in Slabodka, Rav Yerucham relied upon the essen teg system, eating his meals at the homes of various host families. Some lived in Slabodka itself, while others lived across the bridge in Kovno. Slabodka—technically meaning “suburb” in Slavic, originally called Vilyampoleh—was connected to Kovna by a famous rickety wooden bridge over the Vilaya River that cracked almost every year on account of the melting ice. The Alter used to say of this bridge that “it was always meant to be a one-way bridge—from the turbulence of Kovno to the spirituality of Slabodka.” The trip to Kovno for meals was not difficult during the summer, but during the winter it was often hazardous. The bridge would weigh down with ice and the top layer of the river would freeze as well. To eat in Kovno during the winter meant staying there over Shabbos, and the boys who did so would sleep on a bench in one of the local shuls. Those who did not get chosen for Shabbos meals would go to the Water-Carrier’s Shul in Kovno, where challah and fish were distributed for free.
The Alter of Slabodka recognized that Rav Yerucham needed exposure to a different stream of the Mussar tradition. In 1897, at the Alter’s urging, Rav Yerucham left Slabodka to study at the Kelm Talmud Torah—the legendary institution founded by Rav Simcha Zissel Ziv, the greatest and most systematic thinker among the direct students of Rav Yisrael Salanter.
The Kelm Talmud Torah was unlike any other institution in the Torah world. Entry was extraordinarily restricted; new students were admitted only after a rigorous evaluation process that could take months. When Rav Yerucham first arrived, he was permitted to enter the yeshiva but was not allowed to remain in the beis midrash while Rav Simcha Zissel delivered his shmuessen. This probationary period lasted seven months. Only after the Alter of Kelm gave his formal approval was Rav Yerucham accepted as a full member of the Talmud Torah.
By this time, Rav Simcha Zissel was in failing health, but he still continued to give to his talmidim. He had a special group of students with whom he shared his most remarkable insights—they were called the Devek Tov—and Rav Yerucham was admitted to that elite circle. In the months that followed, Rav Yerucham absorbed an approach to Mussar that would define the rest of his life. What did he learn in Kelm? He learned, above all, that Mussar is not mere moralizing or emotional exhortation. It is a rigorous intellectual discipline—a systematic study of human nature, of the workings of the soul, of the relationship between knowledge and action, between understanding truth and living by it. The Kelm approach demanded meticulous self-examination, precise thinking, and an almost scientific attention to one’s inner life.
On Erev Tisha B’Av, Wednesday, July 26, 1898—shortly after reciting Shma—Rav Simcha Zissel was niftar. Rav Yerucham’s sense of loss was profound. Though he had spent fewer than eight months under the Alter of Kelm’s direct tutelage, the experience transformed him. Rav Tzvi Hirsch Broide, the Alter of Kelm’s own son-in-law, later said that Rav Yerucham was his shver’s greatest talmid. Later in his own teaching, Rav Yerucham would replicate the Devek Tov model, sharing special ethical insights with select talmidim in the intimate manner that the Alter of Kelm had employed—the student becoming the teacher, the tradition passing forward.
Rav Simcha Zissel had kept detailed records of how he spent every hour of his day, and Rav Yerucham adopted this practice for the rest of his life, maintaining a personal log that tracked his waking hour, how long it took him to dress, how much time he spent in the beis midrash, when he ate, and when he slept. This was not obsessive behavior. It was the application of intellectual rigor to the most important subject of all: the formation of a human being in the image of his Creator. As the Sabba of Kelm himself had taught: Chanoch lanoar al pi darko, gam ki yazkin lo yasur mimeno—and what does this mean? “If one masters self-education in his youth, then even as he ages he will grow in that manner.” The discipline of self-knowledge was not an exercise for beginners. It was a lifelong practice.
After his time in Kelm and a brief period under Rav Nachum Velvel Ziv, Rav Simcha Zissel’s son, Rav Yerucham married his wife Rivkah, a relative of Rav Simcha Zissel, from the town of Ozovnet. He was then offered several positions as a mashgiach ruchani. He declined them all. He felt that deep lomdus—mastery of Talmudic learning at the highest level—was an indispensable prerequisite for anyone who wished to guide others in the path of Mussar. A mashgiach who could not hold his own with the finest Talmudic minds in the yeshiva would lack the intellectual authority that the role demanded.
Rav Yerucham therefore returned to Kelm and to intensive Torah study, spending the next eight years in virtual seclusion, covering the entire Shas and Shulchan Aruch with the thoroughness and analytical depth that characterized everything he did. Only after this extraordinary investment in his own growth did he feel prepared to take on the responsibility of guiding others. The lesson was one he would later impart to his own students: before you can teach, you must first master. Before you can lead, you must first become. He desired to run a yeshiva in the time-tested manner of the yeshivos of old—tzu halten a yeshiva oif a fartzeitigen oifen—and he understood that such a task required a foundation of total mastery.
Rav Yerucham’s first major appointment came in approximately 1903, when he joined Rav Yisrael Meir Kagan’s Kollel Kodshim in Radin. Soon he was appointed the Mashgiach of the yeshiva in Radin. The very first shmuess he delivered there was on the subject of emunah—faith. Among the young students who heard that shmuess was Rav Yechezkel Levenstein, who would himself become one of the towering mashgichim of the twentieth century. Decades later, Rav Levenstein testified that from the moment he heard that shmuess, he resolved never to experience a moment of hesech hadaas—a lapse of attention—from the reality of Hashem’s presence, for the rest of his life. One shmuess. A lifetime of transformation. That was the power of Rav Yerucham.
At Radin, Rav Yerucham formed a close friendship with Rav Naftoli Trop, and together they molded and shaped great talmidim. He maintained a lifelong close relationship with the Chofetz Chaim, seeking him out for deeper questions regarding the running of a yeshiva. Throughout his years at the Mir, he would continue to consult the Chofetz Chaim on the most sensitive matters of yeshiva leadership.
From Radin, Rav Yerucham became the mashgiach at the yeshiva in Kelm. He would travel back to his home in Ozovnet for the Yomim Tovim. In 1908, a son was born to him; he named the child Simcha Zissel, after the Alter of Kelm—a testament to the depth of his devotion to his teacher’s memory. That same year, he received a letter inviting him to come to the Mir and serve as mashgiach alongside the new Rosh Yeshiva, the Alter of Slabodka’s son.
In 1908, Rav Yerucham came to the Mir Yeshiva as mashgiach. Rav Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, the Rosh Yeshiva, appointed him to a position he was to retain for the rest of his life. The Alter had been asked to help the Mir establish a Mussar program, and he responded with characteristic decisiveness: he dispatched ten of his top students from Slabodka to serve as Mussar role models in the yeshiva, and he sent Rav Yerucham to lead them.
The early years were challenging. The Mir in the pre-war period was still finding its identity in the Mussar world, and not all the students were receptive to the new emphasis on ethical self-development. But Rav Yerucham’s personal example—his extraordinary piety, his intellectual depth, his genuine warmth toward every talmid—gradually won over even the skeptics. When World War I broke out in 1914, Rav Yerucham accompanied the yeshiva into exile in Poltava, sharing in its wanderings and suffering, his presence a source of spiritual strength through the darkest years.
One stop of the yeshiva during its wartime wanderings was in Stavitz—the town where a young Rav Avrohom Yeshayahu Karelitz, the future Chazon Ish, then in his thirties, had resided. Rav Yerucham and the Chazon Ish developed a warm relationship during this period. Years later, the Chazon Ish wrote fondly in his Kovetz Igros (Volume I, Letter 154) about “the Saba of the Mir Yeshiva”—a term of deep affection and respect for Rav Yerucham.
After the war, Rav Yerucham traveled to Slabodka in order to re-establish that great citadel of Torah during the German occupation, holding it together until the Alter of Slabodka was able to return from the Ukraine. He also served briefly as the mashgiach of the Ponevezh Yeshiva. But Rav Leizer Yudel Finkel, who understood that the Mir’s ascent to greatness required the mashgiach’s return, brought him back to the Mir in 1923.
The year 1923 marked the beginning of the Golden Age of the Mir, as the greatest students of Torah began to gather. Bochurim came from all over—from Western Europe, from Chassidish families in Poland and Hungary, and from the United States. They grew and were shaped and molded into giants of Torah under the meticulous watch of Rav Yerucham. It was a decision that would prove to be one of the most consequential in the history of Jewish education.
In 1925, the Chofetz Chaim expressed his wish to immigrate to Eretz Yisrael. Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, recognizing that the Jews of Europe needed the Chofetz Chaim in Europe, organized a delegation of the greatest Torah leaders to dissuade him. Rav Chaim Ozer asked Rav Yerucham to join that delegation alongside Rav Boruch Ber Leibowitz, Rav Pesach Prusskin (who would later be Rav Moshe Feinstein’s Rebbe), Rav Elchonon Wasserman, and Rav Eliezer Yehuda Finkel. That Rav Yerucham was included in such company—among the acknowledged leaders of the generation—spoke volumes about the stature he had achieved.
The heart of Rav Yerucham’s work at the Mir was the shmuess—the formal Mussar discourse delivered to the assembled student body. Rav Yerucham gave shmuessen four times a week: regular discourses on Monday and Wednesday to the full yeshiva, and more intimate talks at his home on Friday evening and Motzoei Shabbos. These shmuessen became the signature experience of the Mir Yeshiva, the element that more than any other defined its character and drew students from across the world.
What made Rav Yerucham’s shmuessen so powerful? Those who experienced them speak of an atmosphere that was almost otherworldly. The talmidim would crowd around the mashgiach in the beis midrash, sitting as close as they could, straining to hear every word. And they had to strain, because Rav Yerucham began his shmuessen in a voice so quiet that it was barely audible. He did not declaim or thunder. He did not employ the fiery rhetoric that characterized some other Mussar teachers. Instead, he spoke as though he were thinking aloud—as though he were addressing himself, working through a problem of enormous complexity and importance, and the students had the privilege of listening in.
Perhaps no account captures the experience of a shmuess more vividly than that of Rabbi W. Wolf Wernick, a talmid who set down his memories in writing. His description transports us into the Mir on a Motzoei Shabbos, into the world of those five hundred young men who gathered in the darkened beis midrash to hear their Mashgiach speak.
It began in the boarding houses. In a dark and barely furnished room, over the shalosh seudos table, one of the students would ask the question: “Er zogt?—Will the Mashgiach speak?” “Where?” At times, when he did not feel well, he spoke at his home. But in most cases, the yeshiva was the place. Hurriedly, the scanty food—the leftovers of the afternoon Shabbos meal—was eaten. They bentsched and were off. In pairs of twos and threes, from all sides of the street, from alleys and little passageways between the typical small, dilapidated European houses, the yeshiva students hastened in the direction of the yeshiva. The liveliness in their walk was due to the eagerness with which they awaited the Mashgiach’s talk.
Opposite each other at the head of the yeshiva lane stood the houses of the Rosh HaYeshiva and the Rav. Quickly, the students passed through the big wooden doors that separated the yeshiva estate from the faculty’s abodes, up the lane and into the yeshiva. The beis midrash was enveloped in darkness, except for the little lamp-light coming from above the amud near the bimah. One vast hall divided into three long aisles of big wooden benches—in the center aisle near the front where the bimah stood, a square was formed and occupied by the students. An assemblage of about five hundred, well arranged from all sides, awaited the Mashgiach. From afar, they appeared as silhouettes against the light blue walls.
Suddenly, the sound of shtenders being moved—those in the front, acting as vanguards, making way for the Mashgiach to enter. He took his seat behind the bimah and soon became the focus of every eye.
Silence. The Mashgiach’s voice rose and the words were heard: “A man never so much as moves his finger, but it has been so decreed from above.” He paused and thought. A deadly silence settled on the yeshiva. No one stirred. He was crouched at his elbows on the edges of the shtender, swaying to and fro. The Mashgiach was old, sixty or more, his beard white with a silver whiteness. The hair on the side of his head, protruding from underneath his black hat, was like newly fallen snow. His face was that of a man who had endured many hardships, but his eyes—unlike the eyes of men of his age—were black and glowing. They showed cleverness. In them, one could see the experience acquired over twenty-five years in the yeshiva world as mashgiach of the Mir, Radin, and other yeshivos—the one from whom all mashgichim attained their instruction and guidance.
Then the tension relaxed. A warmth began to glow within him. By degrees his voice rose; his face kindled; his very soul resolved into his speech. The Divine Presence hovered over him and he drank in its sweetness. The way he spoke gripped the heart of everyone. His voice dilated with the full knowledge of irrefutable proof. Beads of sweat stood out on his forehead. He swung to and fro on his shtender, clasped his hands together and brought them up to his chin. He shut his eyes, stood still, and began intoning.
At the end of his speech, he rose and walked over to the bimah and with great enthusiasm explained, argued, and proved his point, reading the sonorous phrases and following their echoes with delight, as though he himself were not excluded from the philosophic lesson taught. Then he nodded with his head. “A guten.” This signified that the inyan—the discourse—was concluded.
The students left and took their seats. They meditated over his deep thoughts and tried to apply to themselves the lesson in ethics. About fifteen minutes afterward, the Mashgiach went over to the amud and, with the traditional Kelemer pathos, began: “Vehu rachum yechaper avon—And He, the Merciful, will forgive transgressions…” And the Motzoei Shabbos Maariv began, carrying the spiritual charge of the shmuess directly into the prayers.
The content was as distinctive as the delivery. Rav Yerucham’s shmuessen were built on the foundation of rigorous textual analysis. He would take a passuk in Chumash, a teaching of Chazal, a comment of Rashi, and subject it to the same kind of penetrating, multi-layered analysis that the greatest Talmudic minds applied to a sugya in Gemara. His emphasis on unveiling the true intention of Rashi became legendary—he would demonstrate, with stunning precision, that what appeared to be a simple comment on the text actually contained worlds of insight into human nature, divine providence, and the spiritual life. Rav Leib Malin, one of his most devoted talmidim, later said that in Rav Yerucham’s Mussar shmuessen he found not only ethical and educational messages but also a derech halimud—a method of Torah study.
Rav Yerucham would often give a moshol drawn from real-life incidents. He explained that when he had visited the spas at Marienbad in Czechoslovakia, the new arrivals would come bathe in the mineral-rich and curative waters first and only then arrange for their lodgings. Talmidim of the Mir who had become Rabbonim and taken other positions of Torah instruction would often return to the Mir for Elul and the Yomim Noraim. They would arrange for lodging and then come to the yeshiva. By Torah, Rav Yerucham taught, it should be no different—the healing waters of Torah study come first; everything else follows.
The published collections of Rav Yerucham’s teachings—Daas Torah, a six-volume commentary on the weekly parashah; Daas Chochmah U’Mussar, a multi-volume collection of his shmuessen; and Sifsai Daas on Pirkei Avos—remain staples of yeshiva libraries and Orthodox Jewish homes to this day. But those who heard the shmuessen in person testified that the printed page could capture only a fraction of their impact. The experience was not merely intellectual. It was the encounter with a living embodiment of everything he taught.
Rav Yerucham’s relationship with his students went far beyond the public shmuess. He viewed each and every talmid in the yeshiva as his own child. The Gemara in Sanhedrin (19b) teaches that whoever teaches his friend’s son Torah, it is as if he gave birth to him. The traditional understanding of this idea refers to the reward one receives for teaching another person Torah. The Slonimer Rebbe, however, gives a different understanding: the successful learning that the child experiences can only happen if the teacher displays the love of a parent toward that student. Only then can the child fully experience true learning. For Rav Yerucham, this was not a homiletical flourish. It was a literal description of his relationship with his talmidim. He knew each one intimately—his strengths, his weaknesses, his struggles, his potential. He gave private counsel with the sensitivity of a master psychologist and the love of a father.
He kept in touch with his talmidim by letter long after they left the Mir. When Rav Shimon Schwab received his first shteller as a Rav and subsequently became engaged, Rav Yerucham sent him a letter of Mazel Tov and then traveled to serve as his mesader kiddushin. On another occasion, Rav Yerucham instructed a young man who was fearful of the Russian draft to register at a particular city. He then personally contacted the doctor responsible for the medical exam and ensured that the talmid received an exemption. These were not extraordinary acts for Rav Yerucham. They were the natural expressions of a teacher who genuinely considered his students his own children.
The American bochurim who came to the Mir in the late 1920s and 1930s were a particular challenge and a particular triumph. These were young men who, as one account memorably put it, “knew of baseball and hot dogs”—products of a modern, secular culture vastly different from the world of the Lithuanian yeshiva. Rav Yerucham took these young Americans under his wing and transformed them into G-d-fearing bnei Torah. He had an uncanny ability to find the right path to every talmid’s heart, to speak to each person in the language they could understand, to challenge them at precisely the level they needed to be challenged. The American students, many of whom went on to become pioneers of Torah education in the United States, remembered their time with Rav Yerucham as the defining experience of their lives.
Rav Yerucham brought to the Mir a distinctive approach to Mussar that blended elements from all of his great teachers. From the Alter of Slabodka, he absorbed the emphasis on gadlus ha’adam—the inherent greatness of the human being created in the image of G-d—and the conviction that Mussar should elevate rather than crush the spirit. From the Alter of Kelm, he learned the importance of intellectual precision in the study of human nature, the discipline of meticulous self-observation, and the integration of Mussar with the deepest levels of Torah learning. From Rav Yitzchok Blaser, he inherited the direct transmission of Rav Yisroel Salanter’s original vision of Mussar as a movement of genuine inner transformation.
The synthesis was uniquely his own. Rav Yerucham’s Mussar was neither the ascetic self-denial of Novardok nor the primarily emotional approach that some critics associated with the early Mussar movement. It was intellectual, analytical, deeply rooted in the text of Torah and the teachings of Chazal, and at the same time profoundly personal and transformative. He taught his students to think—to think about themselves, about their assumptions, about the gap between what they knew to be true and how they actually lived. He demanded authenticity above all else. Superficial piety, rote observance without inner life, the performance of mitzvos without genuine understanding—these were the enemies he fought with every shmuess.
What made the Mir unusual among the great yeshivos of the interwar period was the extraordinary authority that the mashgiach wielded in the internal affairs of the institution. In most yeshivos, the Rosh Yeshiva was the dominant figure, with the mashgiach serving in a supporting role—important but clearly subordinate. At the Mir, the dynamic was different. Rav Leizer Yudel Finkel, in an act of remarkable humility and strategic wisdom, assumed primary responsibility for the yeshiva’s finances, fundraising, and external relations, while deferring the spiritual and educational leadership of the yeshiva to Rav Yerucham.
This arrangement was not born of weakness on Rav Leizer Yudel’s part. He was a Torah giant in his own right, and his shiurim were renowned for their analytical brilliance. But he recognized that Rav Yerucham possessed a unique gift for molding souls, and he had the wisdom to step aside and let that gift flourish. The result was that the mashgiach’s shmuessen—not the Rosh Yeshiva’s shiurim—became the primary draw for many students who came to the Mir. The charisma of the mashgiach, the depth of his Mussar, the transformative power of his personal example—these were what made the Mir the Mir.
The senior talmidim of Rav Yerucham, known reverently as the “lions of the Mir,” occupied a special position in the yeshiva’s hierarchy. They served as informal mentors and guides to newer students, assigned arrivals to their respective chaburahs, and carried an authority within the yeshiva that reflected the extraordinary devotion they felt toward their teacher. Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, who arrived at the Mir after Rav Yerucham’s passing, testified that the reverence for the mashgiach was still palpable years later. Rav Leib Malin saw Rav Yerucham as such a towering figure that, as one source recounts, he felt like dust before him—“to the point where had the Mashgiach instructed him to go into a fire, he would have done so.”
Rav Yerucham’s personal piety was the foundation of everything he taught. He demanded of himself far more than he demanded of others, and those closest to him knew that the man behind the podium was, if anything, even greater than the teacher who stood before the yeshiva. A story was told of the end of one Yom Kippur, after a long day of fasting, praying, and serving Hashem with extraordinary intensity. As the students filed out of the beis midrash, one talmid lingered behind, hiding under a bench. He watched as Rav Yerucham, believing himself to be alone, began to pace the length of the empty hall. Back and forth he walked, pointing to himself and repeating the verse from Bereishis: “Perhaps my father will feel me and I shall be a mocker in his eyes.” Even after a full day of the holiest avodah of the year, Rav Yerucham feared that his service had been insufficiently sincere, that he had fallen short of the truth that Hashem demands.
It was not without reason that his Rebbetzin Rivkah said to her children on the day of his passing: “Know, my children, that your father was a malach Elokim—an angel of G-d.”
In his later years, Rav Yerucham’s health declined significantly. The truth was that every time a wagon arrived in the town of Mir, the noise and vibration would cause Rav Yerucham tremendous pain and agony. It is likely that the Mashgiach had an undiagnosed brain tumor that caused these painful headaches.
Furthermore, the relentless demands of his position—the shmuessen, the private counseling, the emotional burden of carrying the spiritual welfare of hundreds of students—took their toll on a body that had never been robust.
The political situation in Poland added to his anguish. Soon the evil of National Socialism was rising across the border, and even within Poland, those who opposed the Nazis wished to demonstrate their own antisemitic credentials. On March 20, 1936, the lower house of the Polish Parliament—the Sejm—passed an amendment severely restricting kosher shechita, pushed by Janina Prystorova, wife of the Polish Senate’s president. A week later the Polish Senate adopted the bill. This assault on one of the most fundamental practices of Jewish religious life caused the Mashgiach great anguish.
On the 18th of Sivan, 5696—June 8, 1936—Rav Yerucham Levovitz was niftar from complications of a stroke. He was approximately sixty-three years old. The funeral drew the entire yeshiva and much of the Torah world of Poland and Lithuania. The Mir had lost its soul—the man who, more than any other, had shaped its character and defined its identity. He was buried in the town of Mir, Belarus.
The void was immense. Rav Shlomo Wolbe, who would become one of the pre-eminent Mussar masters of the post-war generation, later testified that a single Mussar shmuess of the Mashgiach had given him the strength and fortitude to withstand the fearful years of the Second World War. Rav Wolbe, who helped thousands of refugees in Sweden and was deeply involved in the rescue effort for the bochurim of the Mir, traced his ability to sustain others back to the spiritual resources he had received from Rav Yerucham. One man’s teaching, internalized by one student, rippling outward to touch thousands of lives—this was the measure of the Mashgiach’s influence.
The list of Rav Yerucham’s talmidim reads like a roster of the builders of post-war Torah Jewry: Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, Rav Dovid Povarsky, Rav Nochum Partzovitz, Rav Leib Malin, Rav Abba Berman, Rav Zelik Epstein, Rav Shimon Schwab, Rav Shlomo Wolbe, Rav Aryeh Leib Bakst, Rav Chaim Wysoker, Rav Binyomin Zeilberger, Rav Yechezkel Levenstein, and many, many others. One of his talmidim, Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, married Rav Leizer Yudel’s daughter in 1929 and six years later joined the hanhala of the yeshiva in 1935.
Rav Yerucham’s own son, Rav Simcha Zissel Halevi Levovitz, founded a yeshiva in Boro Park, Brooklyn, and devoted himself to publishing his father’s writings. His son-in-law, Rav Yisroel Chaim Kaplan, served as Rosh Yeshiva at Beis Medrash Elyon in Monsey. Ten of Rav Yerucham’s senior talmidim would later convene to establish Yeshivas Beis HaTalmud in Brooklyn—an institution that sought to perpetuate the unique synthesis of lomdus and Mussar that had characterized the Mir under the Mashgiach’s guidance. Led by Rav Leib Malin and Rav Chaim Wysoker, Beis HaTalmud became a living monument to Rav Yerucham’s educational vision.
Following the Mashgiach’s passing, his senior talmidim—the “lions of the Mir”—undertook the sacred task of publishing his words. Working from their own notes and those of their colleagues, Rav Simcha Zissel Levovitz edited and published the first volume of Daas Chochmah U’Mussar in Vilna in 1940, in the very shadow of the approaching catastrophe. The talmidim continued publishing additional pamphlets throughout their years of exile in Shanghai, as if to affirm that even in the most desperate circumstances, the Mashgiach’s Torah would not be silenced. In all, Rav Simcha Zissel would publish his father’s shmuessen and thoughts in nine seforim, which are found in virtually every yeshiva library in the world.
The appointment of Rav Yechezkel Levenstein as Rav Yerucham’s successor as mashgiach of the Mir brought a worthy inheritor to the position. Rav Levenstein, who had been transformed by Rav Yerucham’s very first shmuess in Radin decades earlier, carried the tradition forward through the yeshiva’s harrowing wartime journey and into the post-war era at Ponevezh. But among those who had known the Mashgiach, there was a universal recognition that Rav Yerucham was irreplaceable—that the Mir under his guidance had achieved a level of spiritual intensity that could not be fully replicated.
Rav Yerucham Levovitz gave the Mir Yeshiva its soul. He transformed it from a great institution of Talmudic learning into something more: a place where the study of Torah and the refinement of character were fused into a single, seamless whole, where the quest for knowledge and the quest for holiness were one and the same. That vision—transmitted through his talmidim to their talmidim, and through them to yet another generation—continues to animate the Mir and the broader Torah world to this day. In the deepest sense, the Mashgiach never left the Mir. His presence abides.
The author can be reached at [email protected]
Vos Iz NeiasLOS ANGELES (AP) — Adam Mosseri, the head of Meta’s Instagram, testified Wednesday during a landmark social media trial in Los Angeles that he disagrees with the idea that people can be clinically addicted to social media platforms.
The question of addiction is a key pillar of the case, where plaintiffs seek to hold social media companies responsible for harms to children who use their platforms. Meta Platforms and Google’s YouTube are the two remaining defendants in the case, which TikTok and Snap have settled.
At the core of the Los Angeles case is a 20-year-old identified only by the initials “KGM,” whose lawsuit could determine how thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies would play out. She and two other plaintiffs have been selected for bellwether trials — essentially test cases for both sides to see how their arguments play out before a jury.
Mosseri, who’s headed Instagram since 2018 said it’s important to differentiate between clinical addiction and what he called problematic use. The plaintiff’s lawyer, however, presented quotes directly from Mosseri in a podcast interview a few years ago where he said the opposite, but he clarified that he was probably using the term “too casually,” as people tend to do.
Mosseri said he was not claiming to be a medical expert when questioned about his qualifications to comment on the legitimacy of social media addiction, but said someone “very close” to him has experienced serious clinical addiction, which is why he said he was “being careful with my words.”
He said he and his colleagues use the term “problematic use” to refer to “someone spending more time on Instagram than they feel good about, and that definitely happens.”
It’s “not good for the company, over the long run, to make decisions that profit for us but are poor for people’s well-being,” Mosseri said.
Mosseri and the plaintiff’s lawyer, Mark Lanier, engaged in a lengthy back-and-forth about cosmetic filters on Instagram that changed people’s appearance in a way that seemed to promote plastic surgery.
“We are trying to be as safe as possible but also censor as little as possible,” Mosseri said.
In the courtroom, bereaved parents of children who have had social media struggles seemed visibly upset during a discussion around body dysmorphia and cosmetic filters. Meta shut down all third-party augmented reality filters in January 2025. The judge made an announcement to members of the public on Wednesday after the displays of emotion, reminding them not to make any indication of agreement or disagreement with testimony, saying that it would be “improper to indicate some position.”
During cross examination, Mosseri and Meta lawyer Phyllis Jones tried to reframe the idea that Lanier was suggesting in his questioning that the company is looking to profit off of teens specifically.
Mosseri said Instagram makes “less money from teens than from any other demographic on the app,” noting that teens don’t tend to click on ads and many don’t have a level of disposable income that they spend on products from ads they receive.
“Often people try to frame things as you either prioritize safety or you prioritize revenue,” he said. “It’s really hard to imagine any instance where prioritizing safety isn’t good for revenue.”
In recent years, Instagram has added a slew of features and tools it says have made the platform safer for young people. But this does not always work. A report last year, for instance, found that teen accounts researchers created were recommended age-inappropriate sexual content, including “graphic sexual descriptions, the use of cartoons to describe demeaning sexual acts, and brief displays of nudity.”
In addition, Instagram also recommended a “range of self-harm, self-injury, and body image content” on teen accounts that the report says “would be reasonably likely to result in adverse impacts for young people, including teenagers experiencing poor mental health, or self-harm and suicidal ideation and behaviors.” Meta called the report “misleading, dangerously speculative” and said it misrepresents its efforts on teen safety.
Meta is also facing a separate trial in New Mexico that began this week.
MatzavA section of the Bronx has effectively been transformed into an unauthorized encampment, with squatters occupying more than a dozen trailers, RVs, and even a retired ambulance, creating what neighbors describe as worsening health and safety conditions, the NY Post reports.
Along the stretch of roadway, illegal generators hum beside propane tanks placed directly on the sidewalk, while waste from chemical toilets is allegedly being emptied into the street itself. Residents say the situation has deteriorated steadily and has remained largely unchecked.
According to people who live nearby, the encampment has been in place for roughly two years. The conditions, they say, are no secret to the community.
“They pump s–t out into the streets and then they don’t move, so the street sweepers can’t even clean them up,” a lifelong Bronx resident, who asked not to be publicly identified, told The Post Wednesday. “It smells like a chemical toilet and it gets worse in the summer.
“I understand people need a place to live, but this is only getting worse,” he said.
Just one day earlier, The Post reported on a similar unauthorized trailer settlement near Citi Field in Queens. There, dozens of families were reportedly living in motorhomes and trailers in what authorities described as another illegal encampment.
At that Queens location, squatters were allegedly operating illicit car-service repair operations, drawing electricity from nearby utility poles and siphoning water from fire hydrants.
“We gave up calling the police,” local business owner Luke Huwang said. “The police don’t touch them.”
In the Bronx, approximately 15 trailers and recreational vehicles were parked along Bronx Boulevard between Duncombe Avenue and East 211th Street. Some of the vehicles were outfitted with security cameras, and nearly all appeared to have solar panels and digital TV antennas attached.
The entire area is posted as a no-standing zone, prohibiting extended parking.
Gasoline containers and propane tanks were visible outside many of the vehicles. Several generators were running, providing power either to the trailers themselves or to nearby cars—some bearing out-of-state license plates and others displaying no plates at all.
Among the vehicles was an old ambulance propped up on jack stands, with a generator running outside. Parked nearby were two compact cars and a Chevy SUV, each carrying New Hampshire license plates. When reporters from The NY Post knocked on doors to inquire about the situation, several individuals inside reportedly turned off the generator and remained silent.
One man who stepped out of an RV was asked whether police had visited the encampment.
“No, they don’t bother us,” he said. “We keep the place clean. There ain’t no reason to bother us. I’ve been to all 48 states for work and this is nothing.”
A nearby gas station appeared to serve as a supply hub for residents of the encampment, offering items ranging from camping gear to knives and brass knuckles.
A short distance away, on Gun Hill Road, an old school bus added another dimension to the scene. The bus, painted with marijuana leaves and emblazoned with the words “the Green Empress,” featured a walk-up window where customers could knock to purchase cannabis.
Inside, a man described the price of a $10 marijuana joint as “a donation.”
Photo: James Keivom
At a special event held at Me’or HaTalmud Yeshiva following the arrest of the newlywed avreich Avraham Ben Dayan, HaGaon HaRav Dov Landau declared unequivocally that no ben yeshiva will join the army in any framework.
“The entire Jewish world is shocked by the abominable act in which the wicked authorities imprisoned an outstanding avreich whose entire world is nothing but the four amos of halacha, and this, solely because of his ratzon to learn Torah,” HaRav Landau said. “But the precious avreich has merited that in his zechus, there has been such a great hissorerus for limmud Torah b’rabbim and since merit is brought about through one who is worthy (מגלגלין זכות על ידי זכאי), apparently he has great zechuyos.”
“While he sits behind lock and key, bound in iron chains, the voice of Torah, which grows stronger and stronger as a result of his imprisonment, echoes from one end of the world to the other, shattering walls of falsehood, smashing chains of wickedness, and breaking through to the Kisei Hakavod, and proclaiming the groans of Bnei Yisrael from the suffering inflicted by their oppressors and persecutors.”
“The Olam HaTorah is now undergoing terrible persecution at the hands of wayward brothers. The fears are heavy and shared by many. Their schemes are no longer carried out in secret but openly, and their entire aim is to eradicate the Olam HaTorah, rachmanah litzlan.”
“To those evildoers and plotters of wickedness who seek to break our spirit and to rob us of the delight of our world, we say clearly: Don’t imagine that you will succeed! In complete contrast to you, we are people of noble spirit; our hands will not wreak harm, and we don’t wish to use your instruments of strife. But know that your standing against lomdei Torah is a war against Netzach Yisrael.”
“History is full of those who sought to make the Torah be forgotten from Yisrael. They have vanished from the world, their names were forgotten, and their rule passed like a fleeting shadow. But the Torah stands forever. You have no power to break one whose life is nothing but spirit. Your time will pass and your rule will sink away, but we will continue to cleave to our eternal Torah, which is the Toras Hashem. And there is no one who can stand against the Toras Hashem—against Lomdei Torah and the Heichalei HaTorah. Jailers can imprison the body, but there is no power in the world that can imprison the spirit.”
“We hereby declare loudly: whether the authorities agree to this or not—not even one avreich, not even one ben yeshivah, will go to the army—not in this way and not in any other way,” HaRav Landau emphasized. “The place of lomdei Torah is only within the halls of yeshivos and kollelim. Everyone should know—whether one understands it or doesn’t understand it—this is the fact. This is how it was, and this is how it will be.”
“May it be Hashem’s will that the shlichim of the Olam HaTorah who were imprisoned emerge quickly from darkness to light, and may we all merit all good, to learn Torah in quiet and tranquility,” the Rosh Yeshivah concluded.
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(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Vos Iz NeiasUNITED NATIONS (AP) — Syria’s president, interior minister and foreign minister were the targets of five foiled assassination attempts last year, the U.N. chief said in a report on threats posed by Islamic State militants released Wednesday.
The report said President Ahmad al-Sharaa was targeted in northern Aleppo, the country’s most populous province, and southern Daraa by a group called Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah, which was assessed to be a front for the Islamic State group.
The report, issued by Secretary-General António Guterres and prepared by the U.N. Office of Counter-Terrorism, gave no dates or details of the attempts against al-Sharaa or Syrian Interior Minister Anas Hasan Khattab and Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani.
The assassination attempts are more evidence that the militant group remains intent on undermining the new Syrian government and “actively exploiting security vacuums and uncertainty” in Syria, the report said.
It said the front group provided IS with plausible deniability and “improved operational capacity.”
Al-Sharaa has led Syria since his rebel forces ousted longtime Syrian President Bashar Assad in December 2024, ending a 14-year civil war.
Al-Sharaa was previously the leader of Hayar Tahrir al-Sham, a militant group that was once affiliated with al-Qaida, although it later cut ties.
In November, his government joined the international coalition formed to counter the Islamic State group, which once controlled a large part of Syria.
The U.N. counter-terrorism experts said the militant group still operates across the country, primarily attacking security forces, particularly in the north and northeast.
In one ambush attack on Dec. 13 on U.S. and Syrian forces near Palmyra, two U.S. servicemen and an American civilian were killed and three Americans and three members of Syria’s security forces were wounded. President Donald Trump retaliated, launching military operations to eliminate IS fighters.
According to the U.N. counter-terrorism experts, the Islamic State group maintains an estimated 3,000 fighters across Iraq and Syria, the majority of them based in Syria.
The U.S. military in late January began transferring IS detainees who were held in northeastern Syria to Iraq to ensure they remain in secure facilities. Iraq has said it will prosecute the militants.
Syrian government forces had taken control of a sprawling camp housing thousands of IS detainees following the withdrawal of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces as part of a ceasefire with the Kurdish fighters.
The report released Wednesday to the U.N. Security Council said as of December, before the ceasefire deal, more than 25,740 people remained in the al-Hol and Roj camps in the northeast, more than 60% of them children, with thousands more in other detention centers.
MatzavPresident Donald Trump is taking a direct and deeply involved role in efforts to remake the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, reportedly going so far as to personally contact the facility’s maintenance chief for updates on repairs and improvements.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the 79-year-old president has obtained the cellphone number of the head of building maintenance and “calls regularly for updates on fixes at the venerated cultural institution.” The report describes Trump as intensely focused on transforming the iconic Washington arts venue as part of a broader MAGA-driven restructuring.
Plans under discussion would close the Kennedy Center for two years beginning in July, allowing what administration officials describe as a “complete rebuilding” and modernization of the complex. The proposed shutdown is intended to facilitate sweeping renovations and structural changes.
The initiative has generated unease among segments of the public and the arts world. In December, The Athletic reported that the Trump administration takeover has “horrified many in the arts community.” Some performers chose to withdraw from scheduled appearances in protest, while certain longtime patrons opted not to attend events.
The reaction appears to have had a measurable impact. The Wall Street Journal reported that ticket sales earlier this year dropped by 70 percent compared with the same timeframe over the previous three years.
The U.S. has ordered the deployment of an additional aircraft carrier, the USS George H.W. Bush, to the Gulf region, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. The carrier is expected to join the USS Abraham Lincoln, strengthening American firepower as preparations for a possible military strike if talks with Tehran collapse.
The move follows comments by President Donald Trump on suggesting he was considering sending more U.S. forces to the Middle East. Speaking Tuesday, Trump said additional deployments were under review as negotiations with Iran continue under mounting pressure.
The heightened military posture comes as Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a high-profile meeting at the White House on Wednesday, with Iran the central focus of their discussions. According to officials familiar with the talks, Netanyahu urged the president not to settle for a limited or partial agreement with Tehran and pressed him to prioritize Israel’s security concerns.
After the meeting, Trump offered a cautiously optimistic assessment in a post on Truth Social.
“I have just finished meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, of Israel, and various of his Representatives. It was a very good meeting, the tremendous relationship between our two Countries continues,” Trump wrote.
Turning to the Iran issue, the president emphasized that no final decision had been made.
“There was nothing definitive reached other than I insisted that negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a Deal can be consummated,” he said. “If it can, that will be a preference. If it cannot, we will just have to see what the outcome will be.”
In a pointed reference to past confrontations, Trump warned that Tehran should carefully weigh its next steps.
“The last time Iran decided that they were better off not making a Deal, and they were hit with Midnight Hammer — that did not work well for them,” he wrote. “Hopefully this time they will be more reasonable and responsible.”
Trump also linked the Iran talks to broader regional developments, praising what he described as “tremendous progress” in Gaza and across the Middle East.
“There is truly PEACE in the Middle East,” he added.
Defense analysts say the deployment of a second aircraft carrier sends a clear signal to Tehran that Washington is preparing for multiple scenarios — including the possibility of military action. Aircraft carriers serve as floating airbases, capable of launching sustained operations without relying on regional allies.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Senior Hamas leader Osama Hamdan says the terrorist group has not received any formal proposals from mediators regarding the surrender of its weapons.
“We have not received from mediators any draft or official proposals relating to the weapons of the resistance,” Hamdan told Al Jazeera, adding that Hamas has yet to adopt an official stance on “freezing” its arms — a measure the group has previously floated as an alternative to full disarmament.
Reiterating Hamas’s long-standing position, Hamdan insisted that armed struggle remains legitimate.
“The resistance is a right as long as the occupation remains,” he said, using language Hamas typically applies to all of Israel, not only territories captured in 1967.
The comments came a day after a report by The New York Times said mediators working under a U.S.-led “Board of Peace” framework were considering allowing Hamas to retain limited small arms while requiring it to surrender most long-range weapons. According to the report, the proposal was expected to be presented to Hamas in the coming weeks.
Israeli officials have repeatedly stated that the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip will be contingent on the full disarmament of Hamas, a demand the group has consistently rejected.
Hamdan also addressed plans for an International Stabilization Force under President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace initiative. He said Hamas believes the force should operate only along Gaza’s border with Israel.
Its role, he argued, should be limited to “preventing hostilities against our people,” in line with what he described as Trump’s plan.
However, official documents outlining the initiative say the force is intended to train and support vetted Palestinian police units, provide long-term internal security, and help secure border areas — far beyond the narrow role described by Hamdan.
He said Hamas has conveyed its position to Indonesia, which announced this week that it would contribute thousands of troops to the stabilization force. Indonesian forces are expected to be among the first to deploy.
Beyond the weapons dispute, Hamdan accused Israel of undermining key elements of the ceasefire framework. He claimed that Israeli authorities are preventing the entry of a 12-member technocratic committee tasked with administering Gaza under the proposed agreement.
An Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel that the committee will not enter the territory until it is adequately prepared to govern, suggesting internal coordination challenges remain unresolved.
Hamdan also accused Israel of restricting movement through the Rafah border crossing, saying only a small number of people have been allowed to pass since it reopened earlier this month as part of the ceasefire arrangements.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Vos Iz NeiasWASHINGTON (VINnews) — Carrie Prejean Boller said she has not been removed from President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, disputing a public statement by the panel’s chairman claiming she had been ousted.
In a letter posted on social media Wednesday night, Prejean Boller addressed Chairman Patrick by name and said he lacked the authority to remove her from the commission.
“As the name states, this is President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, not yours,” she wrote. “You did not appoint me to the Commission, and you lack authority to remove me from it.”
Prejean Boller said the commission was created by executive order and that members were appointed by the president. She argued that nothing in the order grants the chairman the power to dismiss presidential appointees and said she would continue serving unless she received written notice from the president requesting her removal.
“Unless and until I receive written notice from the President of the United States requesting my removal, I will continue to defend religious freedom for all religions on this Commission,” she wrote.
Dear Chairman Patrick,
I write in response to your public statement falsely claiming that you “removed” me from President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission.
As the name states, this is President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, not yours.
You did not appoint me to the… https://t.co/r4VoEXSrPp
— Carrie Prejean Boller (@CarriePrejean1) February 11, 2026
In the letter, she also accused the chairman of overstepping his role and alleged that his actions reflected a “Zionist political agenda,” rather than the mission of the commission or the Constitution. She said she was targeted for her “deeply held religious beliefs” and vowed to continue participating in upcoming hearings.
Prejean Boller concluded by stating she would not step down and reaffirmed her commitment to what she described as defending religious liberty for all Americans.
It was not immediately clear whether the White House had issued any formal notice regarding her status on the commission.
The Lakewood Scoop
The Lakewood Scoop
