New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that homeowners and property owners could face a tax increase if state lawmakers decline to approve his proposal to raise income taxes on high earners.

While unveiling the city’s preliminary budget for fiscal year 2027, Mamdani stated that a 9.5% increase in property taxes would be imposed on certain residents if Albany refuses to authorize a 2% income tax hike targeting wealthy New Yorkers.

“There are two paths that we can walk: One that offers long-term stability, and a second one with significant pain that we deeply hope to avoid,” Mamdani said.

According to the mayor, the possible property tax hike would impact more than three million residential properties as well as over 100,000 commercial buildings, though The National News Desk (TNND) was unable to independently verify those figures. The proposed wealth tax would apply to individuals earning more than $1 million per year.

Governor Kathy Hochul appeared to temper the mayor’s warning. Speaking at a separate press conference, she said she was not convinced that such an increase would ultimately take place, telling Spectrum News NY1 that she wasn’t “certain there’s a property tax increase.”

“[The city] is required by law to announce where it is today, but it’s not resolved until there’s a lot of negotiation with the city council and a review with his budget team of what their real expenses are and what they need to be, and that’s not due until July, so there’s a lot of time to work this out,” Hochul explained.

City officials have reported a $5.4 million budget gap. Mamdani has argued that the current financial strain stems from decisions made by his predecessor, former Mayor Eric Adams, accusing him of mishandling the city’s finances. Adams, however, has defended his approach to managing the budget.

Mamdani described the deficit as a “steep mountain,” saying it can be addressed if the city’s financial relationship with the state is recalibrated. He contended that New York City has been sending more money to Albany than it receives in return.

“We know that for far too long, New Yorkers have given far more to the state than what we have received in return,” the mayor said. “It is time to end the drain.”

Although Hochul did not respond to TNND’s request for comment, she announced Monday that the state would direct $1.5 billion to assist New York City in managing its fiscal challenges. In that announcement, she emphasized her support for the city and noted that she has also pledged to expand universal childcare, a key plank of Mamdani’s campaign platform.

“A strong New York City means a stronger New York State,” Hochul said.

“New Yorkers expect the state and the city to work together, and I’m proud to partner with the Mayor to deliver for working families,” the governor added.

More than 200 Jewish military chaplains, service members, and cadets from around the world gathered from February 11–15 for the 19th Annual Aleph Military Symposium, but one deeply personal moment came to define this year’s gathering: a 102-year-old World War II veteran putting on tefillin for the first time in his life.

The five-day conference, hosted by the Aleph Institute, is the largest professional gathering of Jews in the U.S. armed forces. It brings together Jewish personnel for professional training, spiritual growth, and community-building.

During the symposium, Harold Terens, a former U.S. Army Air Corps serviceman who fought in Normandy and the North Africa Campaign, participated in a Bar Mitzvah ceremony, putting on tefillin and being called up to the Torah for an aliyah.

The symposium drew participants from across the United States and overseas bases in Spain, Germany, Japan, and Hawaii. International military representatives attended from Israel and NATO countries, including the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Germany, and Canada.

Among the participants were 25 cadets from the United States Military Academy, representing nearly 20 percent of its Jewish student population, along with cadets and personnel from the Naval, Air Force, and Coast Guard academies.

“The symposium is the fulcrum of Jewish life in the military,” said Chaplain Maj. Elie Estrin, director of Aleph’s military programs. “Jewish chaplains and lay leaders use the information, inspiration, and mutual mentorship they gain here all year long.”

For many service members, the annual symposium is their primary opportunity to gather in person with fellow Jewish personnel.

“The Aleph Institute Military Training and Symposium is unquestionably my most highly anticipated non-holiday annual event,” said Chaplain Lt. Col. Joseph Friedman, deputy director of the Air National Guard Chaplain Corps.

The symposium’s featured programs included “The Rebbe’s Approach to Handling Suicidal Ideation,” presented by Rabbi Yechiel Krisch, and “Halachic Decisions in Wartime,” by Rabbi Shlomo Yaffe of Congregation B’nai Torah in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Speakers also included representatives from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, Chief Judge Matthew Solomson, and officials from the IDF Chief Rabbinate.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

President Donald Trump cautioned the British government on Wednesday against relinquishing control of the strategically vital Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean, arguing that the United States may require the facility if Iran declines to reach an agreement with Washington.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump pointed to the military importance of the island and a separate airfield in the United Kingdom, writing, “Should Iran decide not to make a deal, it may be necessary for the United States to use Diego Garcia, and the Airfield located in Fairford, in order to eradicate a potential attack by a highly unstable and dangerous regime.”

Trump added that any such strike could be aimed at protecting Britain as well as other allied nations, warning that the threat would extend to the UK and other “friendly countries.”

The president sharply criticized Prime Minister Keir Starmer over a recently signed lease arrangement concerning the island, arguing that sovereign territory should not be handled through long-term leasing agreements. He described the decision as a “big mistake.”

“Prime Minister Starmer should not lose control, for any reason, of Diego Garcia, by entering a tenuous, at best, 100 Year Lease,” Trump wrote.

He further asserted that Britain is effectively surrendering authority over the strategically located island due to what he described as questionable claims by unfamiliar parties. Calling those claims fabricated, Trump stated, “This land should not be taken away from the U.K. and, if it is allowed to be, it will be a blight on our Great Ally.”

Trump emphasized that the United States stands firmly behind Britain militarily but said the UK must demonstrate resolve. He declared that America would remain prepared to defend its ally while urging British leaders to stay strong “in the face of wokeism, and other problems put before them.”

“Do not give away Diego Garcia,” he said.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt reinforced the president’s message, saying the post “should be taken as the policy of the” Trump administration.

Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos Archipelago, has functioned as a joint British-American military installation since the 1970s. Under a treaty finalized in May, sovereignty over the Chagos Islands will shift from the United Kingdom to Mauritius, while the military base itself is set to remain under British control for a minimum of 99 years.

Trump’s warning comes at a time of rising friction between Washington and Tehran and a major expansion of U.S. forces in the Middle East as diplomatic talks continue.

Earlier this year, Trump came close to approving an additional military strike following Iran’s crackdown on protesters. He ultimately held back after Tehran halted the executions of demonstrators.

photos: Issac Y.

The Slonimer Rebbe, who recently concluded his annual visit to the United States to spend time with his chassidim, left behind a strongly worded letter cautioning his American followers about the spiritual dangers of modern technology and artificial intelligence, which he likened to “a venomous snake.”

The Rebbe visited his chassidim in Monsey and participated in a farewell gathering that included the writing of a Sefer Torah last week at his beis medrash in Boro Park. During the trip, he spoke publicly about concerns surrounding the draft decree in Eretz Yisroel and also addressed the issue of increasingly tall shtreimels.

After returning home, the Rebbe sent a letter to members of the American community explaining that due to the many demands on his time and the constant stream of people seeking meetings throughout his visit, he felt he had not sufficiently addressed the serious spiritual threats posed by technology.

Opening his letter warmly to his followers in the United States, he wrote of the special atmosphere he experienced during his stay and expressed his hope that the unity and inspiration would continue.

He then explained that because of the heavy schedule and large crowds, he felt he had not adequately warned about what he described as a major spiritual stumbling block. He wrote that technological devices spread impurity and act like a deadly poison to souls, adding that many have fallen as a result. He cautioned that those who were lenient with themselves, offering various justifications, have paid a very heavy price, including harm to their sons and daughters both physically and spiritually. He warned that no one should assume they are immune, noting that even strong families have been affected. He cited the posuk, “A wise man fears and turns away from evil, but a fool rages and is confident.”

The Rebbe emphasized the obligation to educate children to regard such devices as forbidden and to distance themselves from those connected to them. Even for those who require technology for their livelihood and use approved filtering systems, he warned of the inherent danger. He wrote that such devices are “like a venomous snake bound in iron chains,” explaining that if they are not watched with extreme vigilance, they can break free and cause spiritual destruction. He cautioned followers not to rely on lenient opinions that easily permit tools whose damage is great, quoting the verse, “Do not come near the entrance of her house,” and the teaching, “Go, go, say to the nazir, do not come near the vineyard.”

Turning specifically to artificial intelligence (AI), the Rebbe wrote that he became aware of its growing presence during his stay in the United States. He described it in especially harsh terms, calling it “the father of all impurity and heresy,” and warning that its destructive potential is very great. He wrote that one must distance oneself from it with all strength, because it is a danger and a trap for those ensnared in its web.

In closing, the Rebbe called on members of the community to unite in strengthening spiritual boundaries and standing firm against harmful influences. He urged them to help one another and to encourage each other to remain strong, to sanctify themselves even in permitted matters, and to live as free people not bound by the net of the yeitzer hara.

{Matzav.com}

The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission has rolled out a new statewide service aimed at improving communication with customers who have limited English proficiency.

All NJMVC agencies are now equipped with handheld Pocketalk translation devices, allowing staff and customers to engage in real-time, two-way conversations in more than 80 languages. The devices are also being deployed with NJMVC Mobile Units as they travel throughout the state.

“These advanced language translation devices represent a significant step forward in our customer service capabilities,” said Acting NJMVC Chief Administrator Rosalie Johnson. “By bridging language gaps more effectively, we are affirming our commitment to improving service for every New Jerseyan and making sure all of our customers are supported, respected, and understood.”

According to state data, more than 30 percent of New Jersey residents age five and older speak a language other than English at home. Nearly 1.2 million residents report some degree of limited English proficiency.

Officials say the Pocketalk devices are designed to be user-friendly and provide quick, accurate translations, helping reduce confusion and streamline in-person transactions. The technology is expected to shorten wait times and make it easier for customers to complete their business.

The statewide rollout follows a pilot program conducted in fall 2025, which officials say received positive feedback from both staff and customers. Each agency and mobile unit is currently outfitted with between five and twelve translation devices.

The NJMVC has previously implemented several language-access initiatives, including a multilingual website, driver manuals published in multiple languages, driver knowledge tests offered in more than a dozen languages, and a bilingual phone system providing assistance in English and Spanish.

Israeli forces overnight demolished the home of a senior Hamas operative accused of carrying out two deadly attacks in the West Bank in 2024. According to the IDF, troops operated in the town of Silat al-Harithiya and destroyed the residence of Raafat Dawasi, a top member of a Hamas terror network in the Jenin area.

Dawasi was killed in an Israeli drone strike on August 17, 2024. The military says he played a central role in multiple attacks that left two Israelis dead and more than a dozen wounded.

The IDF said Dawasi was involved in a roadside bomb attack in Jenin on June 27, 2024, in which Alon Sacgiu hy”d, 22, was killed and 16 other soldiers were injured. He was also linked to a shooting attack in the Jordan Valley on August 11, 2024, that killed Yonatan Deutsch hy”d, 23, and wounded another man.

In a statement, the military described Dawasi as a key figure in a regional terror network affiliated with Hamas, responsible for coordinating and executing attacks against Israeli forces and civilians.

The demolition comes amid continued Israeli military operations in the northern West Bank, particularly in the Jenin area, which has been a focal point of militant activity and counterterrorism raids.

The IDF said it will continue to act against what it called terror infrastructure in the region, vowing to pursue those responsible for attacks “wherever they operate.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

JERUSALEM (VINnews)-President Trump has directly pressed conservative commentator Tucker Carlson to help de-escalate heated divisions within the Republican Party over support for Israel, according to Melissa Francis, a former Fox News and Fox Business anchor involved in pro-Israel advocacy.

Francis told The Jerusalem Post in an interview Wednesday that Trump has urged Carlson and others to “turn down the temperature” amid growing tensions in conservative circles over U.S. policy toward Israel and “America First” arguments against foreign entanglements.

“President Trump is telling everyone, including Tucker, ‘Let’s take this down,’” Francis said.

The comments came as Carlson conducted a brief sit-down interview with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel. Sources told the Post that Carlson did not leave the airport complex during his short visit, which lasted only a few hours.

Francis described the Carlson-Huckabee conversation as an effort to shift the dispute from online confrontations to structured dialogue and prevent Israel from becoming a fracturing issue in the GOP coalition.

“The division in the Republican Party right now has to end,” she said, warning that the infighting is “causing endless problems.” She added that Trump views unity as essential, even amid disagreements, stating, “The enemy wins when those that are on the side of God are divided.”

Francis, who has longstanding ties to both Carlson and Huckabee through media and political networks, said she helped facilitate the discussion after earlier attempts to secure an invitation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not succeed. Carlson reportedly sought assurances of high-level welcome before agreeing to travel.

She portrayed Trump as patient and strategic, using private channels to encourage de-escalation rather than public pressure.

Francis emphasized Carlson’s significant influence, particularly among younger Americans, and noted strong pro-Israel backing from Christian audiences since Oct. 7, 2023. She argued that broad accusations in debates can backfire and deepen divisions.

“I don’t have the illusion that you’re going to change people’s minds,” Francis said of the interview’s potential impact. “Let’s just stop fighting about Israel.”

Elon Musk is intensifying his campaign against what he describes as politically slanted artificial intelligence, unveiling Grok 4.2 as a direct challenge to competitors he brands as overly “woke and sanctimonious” — and declaring that “Grok must win.”

In a series of early Wednesday posts on X, Musk shared multiple screenshots comparing Grok 4.2’s responses with those generated by rival systems from Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic. Framing the rollout as part of a larger ideological struggle, Musk wrote, “Grok must win or we will be ruled by an insufferably woke and sanctimonious AI.”

A day earlier, Musk had revealed the test release of Grok 4.2 on X, encouraging users to weigh in. “Critical feedback is appreciated. Unlike prior versions of Grok, 4.2 is able to learn rapidly, so there will be improvements every week with release notes,” he wrote.

As access to the beta version expanded, Musk began circulating side-by-side examples that he said demonstrate Grok’s greater directness and its refusal to hedge on politically sensitive topics.

Among the comparisons he highlighted was a question asking whether the United States was founded on “stolen land.”

According to the image Musk posted, Grok was the only chatbot to answer “No,” while other platforms framed the issue as nuanced or debated.

Musk pointed to that exchange as evidence that Grok 4.2 is “BASED,” arguing that it stands out because it is the only AI chatbot that “doesn’t equivocate when asked if America is on stolen land.”

“The others are weak sauce,” he said.

Musk also amplified a message from Katie Miller, the wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who commended Grok for being the only chatbot to answer “No” when asked whether “Critical Race Theory” should be included in school curricula.

Additional screenshots Musk shared showed Grok providing a “yes” when asked whether “White Pride” was acceptable, describing affirmative action as “racist,” and demonstrating a willingness to misgender Caitlyn Jenner — examples Musk presented as proof that the system is less constrained by prevailing norms of political correctness.

The latest round of posts adds to Musk’s ongoing clashes with competitors in the artificial intelligence sector.

His dispute with OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman, has played out publicly for years and includes a high-profile lawsuit. Although Musk helped found OpenAI, he filed suit in 2024 against the organization and its leadership, alleging that it had strayed from its original mission of building open-source Artificial General Intelligence to “benefit humanity” and instead shifted its focus toward profit.

OpenAI answered with its own countersuit, asserting that Musk had advocated in 2017 for converting the company into a “for-profit” entity under his leadership as CEO.

Musk has also taken aim at Google, particularly after controversy erupted in early 2024 over historically inaccurate images generated by its Gemini platform.

While he previously downplayed Anthropic as a major competitor, Musk later acknowledged its strengths in programming tasks and expressed frustration that xAI engineers lost access to its systems. “Anthropic has done something special with coding. It was a helpful motivator that they cut us off @xAI and not good for their karma,” he said.

{Matzav.com}

By Y.M. Lowy

Dee Voch is rolling out a massive new Office Edition this week - a separate, full booklet included in the Dee Voch package, dedicated entirely to the world behind the office.

Spanning a wide range of industries that keep offices running smoothly, the edition features in-depth interviews with companies that service and power office spaces across the tri-state area and beyond.

Among the featured companies are Teklink, Kite, Solo Creative, The Que, Mailnox, Brooklyn Square, Westwood Park, Toiruso Beminuso, Geder, Adler Law Firm, InFocus, Fingercheck, Sure Secure, Profit Edge Financials, Infrastructure Guardian, Itcon, Prime Point Insurance, LogIn, Advantech Wifi, Tri State Fire Sprinklers, Tremp — and many more.

Readers will get a closer look at how today’s office system really works - from technology and cybersecurity to HR systems, insurance, branding, communications, real estate, and fire safety. The interviews go beyond surface-level, offering insight into how these companies grew, what challenges they solve, and how they support the daily operations of businesses large and small.

In addition to company profiles, the Office Edition includes a variety of features and articles exploring trends and topics connected to office life.

As with previous special editions, this project brings together dozens of voices into one comprehensive resource, this time focused on the businesses that quietly keep other businesses running.

If you have a subscription, look out for it in this week’s Dee Voch package. If not, run and grab your copy from store shelves before they’re gone.

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Leading Dati Leumi Rabbanim, who have voiced their fierce opposition to the IDF’s plan to carry out a pilot program to incorporate female soldiers in IDF tank units, sent a strongly worded warning letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu about the matter.

The letter, entitled “Harm To Operational Resilience And To The Service Capability Of Our Soldiers,” was written by the Rabbanim of the Torat Ha’aretz HaTova organization.

“We can no longer remain silent,” the Rabbanim wrote. “Turning the Armored Corps into a mixed-gender unit will place our talmidim in an irreconcilable conflict between their emunah and their operational duties.”

“The IDF is not just another army. Its strength and the secret of its victories is the Siyata Dishmaya that accompanies it. The Torah commands us: ‘וְהָיָה מַחֲנֶיךָ קָדוֹשׁ וְלֹא יִרְאֶה בְךָ עֶרְוַת דָּבָר וְשָׁב מֵאַחֲרֶיךָ.’ Preserving kedusha and tznius in the military camp is not a private concern of religious soldiers but a fundamental condition for the entire army’s strength and for Divine assistance in battle.”

“When the army advances toward mixed service forbidden by Yahadus and contrary to security needs, we can no longer remain silent. We cannot stand by while military service violates halacha, mesorah, and the Ruach Yisrael. It also contradicts the IDF’s declared goal of integrating thousands of religious and Chareidi soldiers.”

“This step [mixed tanks] will effectively exclude Shomrei Torah soldiers from contributing to Israel’s security—only because of their lifestyle—weakening the entire combat system and destroying the ‘people’s army.’ Capitulating to foreign social agendas unrelated to the army’s mission of victory harms the security of the state, especially during this period.”

They concluded with a direct appeal to the prime minister: “Halt these steps that divide society and the army! Preserve the IDF as an army that allows all soldiers to serve according to their halachic way of life, to achieve victory, and for the Kavod of Yisrael.”

The Rabbanim concluded the letter with a request for an urgent meeting with the prime minister to prevent the “disaster.”

It should be noted that it is doubtful that Netanyahu has the power to interfere with the IDF’s progressive agenda, which is strongly backed by the Supreme Court and the Military Advocate General’s Office—despite ample evidence that female soldiers negatively affect the operational capabilities of combat units and are at far higher risk for injuries than men, both physically and emotionally.

Liberal and feminist agendas have infiltrated the IDF for decades, including the establishment of a special unit, the Yahalom unit (Adviser to the Chief of Staff on Gender Affairs), to ensure that feminist policies are upheld.

Years ago, a group of wives of Dati Leumi soldiers established an organization called Soldiers’ Wives For The Kedushah Of The Machaneh and have repeatedly warned about the dangers of the influence of the Yahalom unit and various organizations with progressive and radical feminist agendas. The interference of these entities makes it impossible for religious soldiers to serve in the IDF without compromising their religious rights.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

Home Front Command commander Shai Klapper gave a closed-door briefing to the members of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Wednesday amid heightened tensions in the region.

Klapper addressed the Home Front’s readiness for a multi-front war and detailed its coordination with the National Emergency Authority and local municipalities, asserting that the IDF is prepared for any scenario.

He also spoke at length about the importance of protective spaces [against missiles], saying that Operation Rising Lion proved that protective spaces save lives. He added that the government is working on a plan to provide protective spaces to all residents of Israel within a decade.

Committee chairman MK Boaz Bismuth said the country is facing a tense period, with all Israelis repeatedly asking on a daily basis when a confrontation with Iran might erupt.

“In a country like ours, the home front is the front line, and the front line is the home front,” Bismuth said. “Wars are also won on the home front.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

JERUSALEM (VINnews)-Israeli emergency services and the Home Front Command have been instructed to prepare for war as officials assess the possibility of an imminent U.S. strike on Iran, according to a report from Ynet.

The directives come amid heightened tensions in the region, as U.S. President Donald Trump weighs military options against Tehran following stalled nuclear negotiations. Israeli officials are operating under the assumption that Iran could launch missile attacks on Israel in retaliation, even if the Israel Defense Forces do not directly participate in any American operation.

In recent limited consultations led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, preparations have focused on defensive measures. Emergency services and the Home Front Command — responsible for civilian protection — received orders to gear up for potential conflict scenarios. Various security agencies have elevated to the highest level of defensive alert, with the defense establishment on edge.

The security cabinet meeting was postponed to Sunday to prevent any Iranian miscalculation that could escalate the situation prematurely.

Reports from CNN, citing two Israeli officials, indicate that Israel has raised its alert level and accelerated operational and defensive planning due to “growing indications” of a possible joint U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran in the coming days. One military source described a potential attack — if approved by Trump — as exceeding the scope of last year’s 12-day war, involving coordinated strikes targeting Iran’s ballistic missiles and possibly regime elements.

Israeli planning anticipates involvement from Iranian proxies, including the Houthis in Yemen, who are expected to join any conflict by launching missiles and drones at Israel. There is also concern that Hezbollah in Lebanon could intervene, unlike its limited role in the previous escalation.

The developments unfold against the backdrop of ongoing U.S.-Iran talks in Geneva, where progress has been reported but significant gaps remain on issues like uranium enrichment and ballistic missiles. U.S. officials have described preparations for a potentially prolonged, multi-week campaign if diplomacy fails, with a massive American military buildup in the region, including additional fighter jets and the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier.

Iran has responded with threats and military exercises, including in the Strait of Hormuz, while Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned of severe consequences for any U.S. action.

No official confirmation of an imminent strike has been issued by the White House or the Pentagon, and Trump has emphasized a preference for a negotiated deal while keeping “all options on the table.” Israeli officials remain pessimistic about the talks’ outcome.

New satellite images show Iran continuing to reinforce and conceal sensitive military and nuclear facilities, underscoring rising tensions with the United States and Israel as diplomatic efforts over Tehran’s nuclear program continue.

Experts say the images show Iran building a concrete shield over a new structure at the Parchin Military Complex, then covering it with soil. The construction appears designed to protect the facility from potential future airstrikes.

Parchin, located about 30 kilometers southeast of Tehran, is one of Iran’s most sensitive military sites. Western intelligence agencies have long alleged that nuclear weapons-related tests were conducted there more than two decades ago, claims Iran has denied.

Israel reportedly struck the site in June 2025. Satellite images taken before and after that attack showed extensive damage to a rectangular building. More recent imagery appears to show reconstruction and new fortifications.

Additional satellite analysis points to activity at the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center, one of three Iranian uranium enrichment facilities targeted by U.S. airstrikes in June.

The Isfahan complex is a key part of Iran’s nuclear fuel cycle and includes underground areas where diplomats say large quantities of enriched uranium have been stored.

According to the Institute for Science and International Security, images taken in late January showed efforts to bury two tunnel entrances at the site. In a February 9 update, the group reported that a third entrance had also been filled in with soil, leaving the underground complex “completely buried.”

Analysts also say the imagery shows Iran fortifying tunnel entrances near other nuclear facilities and repairing missile bases damaged during last year’s fighting.

The developments come as the United States seeks to revive negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program, while warning that military options remain on the table if talks fail.

At the same time, Israel has continued to signal that it is prepared to act independently to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons capability.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

WATCH:

The Food and Drug Administration has changed its position and will now evaluate Moderna’s new influenza vaccine, the company announced Wednesday, reversing an earlier decision that stunned its leadership.

Just days ago, the agency informed Moderna that it would not proceed with reviewing the company’s updated flu shot, stating that the submission lacked sufficient supporting research. The unexpected move left Moderna’s president, Dr. Stephen Hoge, in “complete shock.”

In an exclusive interview with The NY Post, Hoge said he was “completely surprised and honestly pretty confused” after receiving the letter from Dr. Vinay Prasad.

The FDA’s decision to reconsider comes after The Post published an editorial cautioning that halting the final phase of the vaccine’s approval process could cost lives, warning that such a move might result in the deaths of “hundreds, maybe thousands, of senior citizens.”

To accelerate the process, Moderna had submitted a divided application. The company sought full approval for individuals between the ages of 50 and 64, while requesting accelerated approval for those 65 and older, with a commitment to carry out a follow-up study in older adults after the vaccine becomes available.

According to Moderna, the FDA has now established an August deadline to determine whether the vaccine will receive approval. Should the agency give the green light, older Americans could receive the new flu shot ahead of the 2026–2027 influenza season.

photos: Issac Y.

LONDON (AP) — Ever since he was ousted as the head of Ukraine’s army in 2024 and appointed as the country’s ambassador to Britain, Valerii Zaluzhnyi has widely been seen as the top political rival to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Zaluzhnyi, 52, refuses to discuss his political ambitions, saying he doesn’t want to risk harming national unity during a war with Russia that is approaching its fourth anniversary. Yet in a sign of his possible desire to run for the presidency – after the war is over – Zaluzhnyi spoke publicly for the first time about a deep rift between himself and Zelenskyy in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

Tensions emerged soon after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, and tempers often flared between the two men over how best to defend the country, Zaluzhnyi said. The strained relationship reached a boiling point later that year, when dozens of agents from Ukraine’s domestic intelligence service raided Zaluzhnyi’s office, he told the AP.

Zaluzhnyi alleges that the previously unreported incident was an act of intimidation. It risked exposing their rivalry at a time when national unity was paramount.

Ukraine’s security service, known as the SBU, said that no search was ever carried out at Zaluzhnyi’s office, though it acknowledged that the address was part of an investigation unrelated to him. Zelenskyy’s office declined to comment for this story. The AP could not independently confirm Zaluzhnyi’s account of the raid.

Even years later, the revelation threatens to polarize public opinion in Ukraine at a critical moment in the war. Russian forces are making slow, steady gains across Ukraine’s eastern front, and both sides are clinging to incompatible demands as the U.S. presses them to reach a peace deal.

Zaluzhnyi said that during the 2022 raid on his office he called Zelenskyy’s chief of staff warning him he was prepared to call in the military to stop it and protect the command center: “I will fight with you and have already called in reinforcements to the center of Kyiv for support.”

While that near crisis early in the war passed, disagreements between Zaluzhnyi and Zelenskyy over how to defend their country persisted, according to Zaluzhnyi, who said he often challenged the president’s military strategy.

A dispute over a counteroffensive in 2023 that ultimately failed was particularly contentious, the former general said. Although Zaluzhnyi’s popularity with the public had been cemented by several successes on the battlefield, Zelenskyy dismissed him as army chief in February 2024, and later announced he would be headed to London.

The move was widely seen by political analysts as an effort by Zelenskyy to limit Zaluzhnyi’s potential as a political rival by distancing him from day-to-day affairs in Ukraine.

Polls consistently give Zaluzhnyi a slight lead over Zelenskyy in a hypothetical race. Zelenskyy’s once-robust popularity has waned as the war drags on. A corruption scandal implicating several of Zelenskyy’s top officials has eroded public trust, according to lawmakers and activists. Zelenskyy recently reshuffled his leadership team in an effort to restore confidence.

The U.S. has been ramping up pressure on Russia and Ukraine to end the war. While a deal remains elusive, Zelenskyy has agreed in principle to a plan laid out by U.S. President Donald Trump that calls for elections once the war is over and security guarantees are in place.

‘I know how to fight’
One evening in mid-September 2022, as Ukraine was mounting an effective counteroffensive in the northeast, Zaluzhnyi, then army commander, emerged from a tense meeting at Zelenskyy’s headquarters and headed back to his office in Kyiv.

Hours later, dozens of agents from Ukraine’s security service showed up at Zaluzhnyi’s office to search the premises, Zaluzhnyi said. Over a dozen British officers were there at the time, he said.

The Ukrainian agents did not say what they were looking for, according to Zaluzhnyi, who says he prevented them from rifling through documents and computers.

The raid was clearly a threat, Zaluzhnyi said. In the presence of the agents, he phoned Zelenskyy’s chief of staff at the time, Andrii Yermak, and made a stark warning: “I told Yermak that I would repel this attack, because I know how to fight.”

Zaluzhnyi then phoned the head of the security service at the time, Vasyl Maliuk, to ask what was happening. Maliuk said he knew nothing about the raid and promised to look into it, according to Zaluzhnyi.

Later, he learned that Maliuk’s agency had sought a search warrant from a district court in Kyiv two days earlier to inspect the address where Zaluzhnyi’s office is located. The agency was seeking to search a strip club allegedly run by a criminal organization, according to a court document obtained by AP.

But the strip club named in the filing had been closed at that location since before Russia’s full-scale invasion, two employees who work at the club’s new location told the AP.

The SBU said it was looking into several addresses as part of an investigation into organized crime — unconnected to Zaluzhnyi. In a statement, the agency said one of the addresses listed in the criminal case turned out to be “a recently established covert backup command post” of Zaluzhnyi’s.

The statement said no search was carried out by the SBU at the address and that the situation was clarified after Maliuk and Zaluzhnyi spoke.

Zaluzhnyi believes the search warrant was a pretext and that the agency could not plausibly have mistaken the location of the country’s main war command center.

Diluted striking force
The 2023 counteroffensive drew widespread criticism from military experts for being too ambitious and coming too late, giving Russian forces time to fortify positions.

Zaluzhnyi says the plan he had crafted with help from NATO partners failed because Zelenskyy and other officials wouldn’t commit the resources it required.

The original plan was to concentrate enough forces into a “single fist” to retake the partially occupied region of Zaporizhzhia — home to a vital nuclear power plant — and then have them advance south to the Sea of Azov. This would sever a corridor of land the Russian army had been using to resupply Crimea, which it illegally annexed in 2014. Success required a large, concentrated buildup and tactical surprise, Zaluzhnyi said.

What happened instead, he said, was that forces were dispersed over a wide area, diluting their striking power.

His account of how the counteroffensive diverged from the original plan was corroborated by two Western defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly to the media.

A diplomat with political intentions?
Zaluzhnyi’s office at the Ukrainian Embassy in London reflects his years as a general. The walls are adorned with posters of military aircraft, army medals he was awarded and children’s drawings of battle scenes. There are toy drones on a mahogany table.

Behind his desk, screens show real-time feeds from drones flying over the battlefield of eastern Ukraine.

Zaluzhnyi’s key criticisms of Ukraine’s war strategy are that it depends on an unrealistic number of troops and is not organized well in how it develops and deploys new technologies to the battlefield. He watches developments closely, but says he has not been involved with military decision-making since Zelenskyy pushed him out. Zaluzhnyi said he and Zelenskyy had “absolutely friendly” conversations on the two occasions they met since then.

Some analysts say Zaluzhnyi’s lack of involvement in Ukraine’s day-to-day political affairs could weaken his popularity.

Still, an Ipsos poll published last month showed support for Zaluzhnyi in a hypothetical future election at 23%, compared with Zelenskyy’s 20%, making him the president’s top competitor.

Many Ukrainians see him as a figure capable of changing the system, said Volodymyr Fesenko, a political analyst based in Kyiv. “People will vote not only for Zaluzhnyi but also against Zelenskyy — blaming him for the failures of his presidency,” he explained.

Zaluzhnyi avoids discussing politics, he says, for fear of fomenting division among Ukrainians. “Until the war is over or martial law ends, I am not discussing this and have done nothing toward that,” he said.

Despite his reticence, a number of campaign consultants, party figures and political insiders continue to approach Zaluzhnyi and offer to help craft a campaign.

Zaluzhnyi said a “fairly well known” American political consultant approached him in the spring of 2025. An official close to Zaluzhnyi, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, told AP it was Paul Manafort, who served as chairman of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign before he was convicted in 2018 of crimes that included secretly lobbying for Ukraine’s former pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych.

“I thanked him for paying attention to me, but said that I did not need his services,” Zaluzhnyi said.

Manafort, who was pardoned by Trump at the end of his first term, did not respond to calls and messages from the AP.

Authorities investigating the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie are facing significant challenges in retrieving additional surveillance footage from her Arizona home, with the sheriff leading the case acknowledging that the odds of obtaining more critical video appear low.

Guthrie, 84, the mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, had several security cameras installed at her residence outside Tucson. So far, however, investigators have managed to secure only Google Nest footage from the front of the property, which shows a masked individual walking up to her front door.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said detectives have repeatedly contacted Google in an effort to determine whether more footage can be accessed. Despite those efforts, the company indicated that further recovery may not be possible. “We don’t think we can get anything,” the sheriff told NewsNation on Tuesday.

Complicating matters, Nancy did not maintain an active subscription for her camera system, a factor that has made the retrieval process particularly complex, Nanos said.

“It’s like peeling paint — you have images over images over images. And you’ve got to peel back very easy because you might destroy the layer you wanted,” the sheriff explained.

Even so, Nanos expressed hope that any additional video, if recovered, could prove crucial in locating Nancy. Footage released to the public last week has already prompted nearly 5,000 tips from concerned citizens.

The investigation has now entered its 18th day as search efforts continue.

Despite the obstacles, the sheriff said he has “100% faith” that law enforcement will ultimately solve the case.

“If you were the guy, if you were that monster, you should be worried,” he said.

Officials have announced a reward of up to $100,000 for information that leads to Nancy’s safe return or results in the arrest and conviction of those responsible.

In a further setback Tuesday, authorities revealed that DNA evidence collected from a glove discovered roughly two miles from Nancy’s home did not produce a match in the FBI’s national DNA database, known as CODIS.

Bnos Penina of Lakewood, NJ has announced that it will cease operations, citing severe financial shortfalls and the loss of its school building, according to a letter sent to parents on Tuesday.

In the emotional letter, the administration informed families that the school would be unable to continue operating after this week due to unmet financial commitments and mounting tuition arrears.

“Bnos Penina has been more than a school to us. It has been our life’s work, our passion, and our privilege,” the letter began. “We love your daughters. We love our staff. We love our school. We love the warmth, the growth, the רוח and the beautiful atmosphere that has defined Bnos Penina from its very beginning.”

School leadership wrote that they had made clear earlier in the year that they could not continue to shoulder the institution’s financial burden alone. They said the school opened this academic year only after receiving commitments from parents to assume greater financial responsibility and partner in sustaining operations.

“Unfortunately, those commitments were not carried through as needed to keep us financially viable,” the letter stated.

The administration further explained that tuition payments were required to remain fully current in order for the school to meet its most basic obligations. According to the letter, many accounts fell behind, contributing to the school’s inability to function.

“It must be stated clearly: had tuition obligations been maintained as agreed, we would not be in this position today,” the letter read. “Unfortunately, both the broader financial commitments and many tuition obligations have not been fulfilled. A school simply cannot function this way. Without the financial backing that was committed, we are not in a position to secure the space or meet the obligations required to continue operating.”

In a development that effectively sealed the school’s fate, the administration informed parents that the landlord had notified them that the building would no longer be available after Wednesday.

“Our landlord has just informed us that the school won’t be able to use the building after this Wednesday. Please do not send your children to school as of Thursday, Feb 19, 2026,” the letter stated.

School officials said the decision followed months of effort to find a sustainable solution, including numerous discussions and attempts to stabilize finances.

“After much effort, many conversations, and every possible attempt to find a sustainable path forward, we have reached the painful conclusion that we will not be able to continue after this Wednesday,” the letter continued. “This decision was not made lightly. It comes after speaking with תורה דעת, giving it tremendous thought, tears, and sincere attempts to avoid this outcome.”

At this point, the administration wrote, it is up to parents to determine the “אחריות of their daughters’ חינוך,” expressing hope that families might still step forward in a meaningful and immediate way to make continuation possible.

“It is our sincere hope that our wonderful and loyal parents will step forward in a meaningful and immediate way to make continuation possible,” the letter concluded.

The sudden closure leaves families scrambling to secure alternative placements for their daughters in the middle of the school year. No further details were provided regarding potential future efforts to reopen or reorganize the school.

{Matzav.com}

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council is set to hold a high-level meeting Wednesday on the Gaza ceasefire deal and Israel’s efforts to expand control in the West Bank before world leaders head to Washington to discuss the future of the Palestinian territories at the

first gathering of President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.

The U.N. session in New York was originally scheduled for Thursday but was moved up after Trump announced the board’s meeting for that same date and it became clear that it would complicate travel plans for diplomats planning to attend both. It is a sign of the potential for overlapping and conflicting agendas between the United Nations’ most powerful body and Trump’s new initiative, whose broader ambitions to broker global conflicts have raised concerns in some countries that it may attempt to rival the U.N. Security Council.

Asked what he hopes to see from the back-to-back meetings this week, Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour told reporters: “We expect from the international community to stop Israel and end their illegal effort against annexation, whether in Washington or in New York.”

The foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Indonesia, among others, are expected to attend the monthly Mideast meeting of the 15-member council after many Arab and Islamic countries requested last week that it discuss Gaza and Israel’s contentious West Bank settlement project before some of them head to Washington.

The board to be chaired by Trump was originally envisioned as a small group of world leaders overseeing his 20-point plan for Gaza’s future. But the Republican president’s ambitious new vision for the board to be a mediator of worldwide conflicts has led to skepticism from major allies.

While more than 20 countries have so far accepted an invitation to join the board, close U.S. partners, including France, Germany and others, have opted not to join yet and renewed support for the U.N., which also is in the throes of major reforms and funding cuts.

Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., dismissed concerns about the composition of the Board of Peace, telling conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in an interview Monday that the most relevant countries, including Qatar and Egypt, which are in touch with Hamas’ leadership, have accepted the invitation.

“All of those countries are on the Board of Peace, singing the same tune as the United States,” he said.

The Security Council will be meeting a day after nearly all of its 15 members — minus the United States — and dozens of other diplomats joined Palestinian ambassador Mansour as he read a statement on behalf of 80 countries and several organizations condemning Israel’s latest actions in the West Bank, demanding an immediate reversal and underlining “strong opposition to any form of annexation.”

Israel, whose U.N. mission did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday’s meeting, is launching a contentious land regulation process that will deepen its control in the occupied West Bank. Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said it amounts to “de facto sovereignty” that will block the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Outraged Palestinians, Arab countries and human rights groups have called the moves an illegal annexation of the territory, home to roughly 3.4 million Palestinians who seek it for a future state.

The U.N. meeting also is expected to delve into the U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal that took effect Oct. 10 after more than two years of war between Israel and Hamas. The U.K., which currently holds the presidency of the council, said the meeting will include briefings by U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo and by Israeli and Palestinian civil society representatives for the first time since the Oct. 7 attacks.

Aspects of the ceasefire deal have moved forward, including Hamas releasing all the hostages it was holding and increased amounts of humanitarian aid getting into Gaza, though the U.N. says the level is insufficient. A new technocratic committee has been appointed to administer Gaza’s daily affairs.

But the most challenging steps lie ahead, including the deployment of an international security force, disarming Hamas and rebuilding Gaza.

Trump said this week that the Board of Peace members have pledged $5 billion toward Gaza reconstruction and will commit thousands of personnel to international stabilization and police forces for the territory. He didn’t provide details. Indonesia’s military says up to 8,000 of its troops are expected to be ready by the end of June for a potential deployment to Gaza as part of a humanitarian and peace mission.

As Purim approaches, many bachurim traditionally raise funds for their yeshivos and for tzedakah causes.

In recent years, however, particularly post-Covid, the method has increasingly shifted from groups to phone calls and text messages to baaleibatim in the weeks leading up to Purim.

Is this a positive evolution in fundraising, or does it cross a line?

Should bachurim be calling and texting baaleibatim before Purim for donations, or should clearer boundaries be set?

Should the yeshivos keep the fundraising strictly to Purim?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

WASHINGTON (Israel Hayom) – America’s massive military buildup in the Middle East, assembled in anticipation of a possible strike on Iran, has thrust an uncomfortable question to the front of the Pentagon’s agenda. The problem isn’t a foreign spy service or a sophisticated cyberattack. It’s ordinary civilians on social media tracking US warplanes in real time – and sometimes getting it catastrophically wrong.

The phenomenon of civilian surveillance of US military movements is nothing new. But it burst into the headlines recently, prompted in part by the sheer scale of the military surge. At a late January conference hosted by the Mitchell Institute, Maj. Claire Randolph – head of the weapons and tactics branch at the US Air Forces Central Command (AFCENT), and a planner of Operation Midnight Hammer (the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites) – laid bare her alarm.

“You have feeds on Twitter of random people who are just researching where our planes are flying and posting that,” she said. “If American analysts were doing some of these things, we would classify that as secret or perhaps even top secret. But this stuff is just out there on the open internet,” she added, barely concealing her frustration.

The tools enabling this surveillance are widely available. For anyone willing to pay for a premium subscription, apps like FlightRadar and FlightAware offer a comprehensive real-time picture of commercial, civilian, and military aircraft around the clock. The platforms rely on a web of commercial and civilian-owned sensors, while private companies – and state-aligned organizations with their own interests – supply satellite imagery of sensitive bases. That imagery allows followers to confirm the presence of aircraft they had tracked hours earlier, shortly after landing.

The Pentagon’s anxiety over the surging power of open-source intelligence practitioners on social media has been building for years. At a 2023 conference, a senior, unnamed US Air Force official put it in stark terms, saying “the Department of Defense views open-source flight tracking and the accumulation of data on our aircraft as a direct threat to our ability to conduct military air operations worldwide.”

Few voices in the debate carry more authority than Robert Spaulding – a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a retired brigadier general who commanded the 509th Bomb Wing. He argued that open-source data and a social media ecosystem “riddled with vulnerabilities” are “more dangerous than the B-21.” “That’s why I left the military,” Spaulding said. “Because we are not protecting data. I think it’s the most dangerous thing we can do as a nation.”

Operational security, he said, is all too often an afterthought. There are “areas of awareness” about the risks posed by open-source flight-tracking data, varying by mission type, he noted. But “there is a general lack of awareness, and it exists at the highest levels of the military and in the places where the rubber meets the road,” he added.

By Y.M. Lowy

Several subway lines are being rerouted this morning following a reported track fire on the Manhattan Bridge, according to the MTA.

Some N and Q trains are running on alternate routes, and delays are being reported on the B, D, N, and Q lines in both directions.

Riders are advised to check the MTA app or website for the latest service updates.

A landmark moment is set to take place this evening as Hagaon Rav Asher Arieli will, for the first time, deliver remarks outside the framework of his regular shiurim. The highly anticipated address will be delivered at the Malki Rabbanan gathering, scheduled to take place tonight at the Pais Arena in Yerushalayim.

For decades, Rav Arieli — the most prominent maggid shiur in the Torah world — has declined invitations to appear before large public audiences beyond his daily shiur at the Mir. His shiurim, which draw approximately a thousand lomdim each day, have become legendary. Yet despite his stature, he has consistently avoided public speaking engagements and any form of personal publicity, devoting himself exclusively to delivering Torah through his daily shiur and smaller chaburos. He also delivers a shiur each week at Yeshiva Tiferes Tzvi and a shiur each year to the participants of Agudas Yisroel’s Yerushalayim Yarchei Kallah.

According to information obtained behind the scenes, the decision follows a personal request from the Rosh Yeshiva of Mir, Rav Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, who urged Rav Arieli to address the Malki Rabbanan event in light of the significance of the occasion and its importance in being mechazeik the Olam HaTorah.

Event organizers explained the deeper message behind the gathering. “Specifically at this time,” they said, “in a period when the honor of Torah is being trampled and in the public square one hears voices of ‘Mai ahanu lan Rabbanan,’ this event comes to proclaim in a clear voice the public’s appreciation for those who toil in Torah, as Chazal said: ‘Man malki? Rabbanan!’”

{Matzav.com}

photos: Achim Lanchevsky

Mark Zuckerberg is set to take the witness stand in a closely watched trial examining whether Meta’s social media platforms were intentionally designed in ways that addict young users and contribute to mental health harm.

The Meta CEO is scheduled to testify Wednesday under questioning from lawyers representing a now 20-year-old woman identified as KGM. She alleges that her use of social media beginning at a young age led to addiction and worsened her depression and suicidal ideation.

Meta Platforms and Google’s YouTube remain the only defendants in the case after TikTok and Snap reached settlements. The lawsuit is one of several targeting major technology companies over the impact of their platforms on minors.

Zuckerberg has previously appeared in court and testified before Congress about youth safety issues tied to Meta’s services. During a prior congressional hearing, he apologized to families who said social media tragedies had devastated their lives.

This proceeding, however, will be the first time Zuckerberg addresses such claims before a jury. Families who have lost children and believe social media played a role are expected to attend, filling the limited public seating available in the courtroom.

The lawsuit has been designated, along with two related cases, as a bellwether trial. Its outcome could influence how thousands of similar claims against social media companies are resolved nationwide.

In a statement, a Meta spokesperson said the company firmly rejects the accusations and expressed confidence that the trial will demonstrate “our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.”

During opening arguments, Meta attorney Paul Schmidt told jurors the company does not deny that KGM has struggled with mental health challenges. Instead, he argued that Instagram was not a significant cause of those issues.

Schmidt cited medical documentation referencing instability at home, and both he and YouTube’s legal counsel contend that the plaintiff used the platforms as a way to cope with or escape existing mental health difficulties.

Zuckerberg’s appearance follows testimony last week from Adam Mosseri, who heads Instagram. On the stand, Mosseri said he rejects the notion that users can become clinically addicted to social media.

Mosseri also testified that Instagram prioritizes the safety of younger users and stated that it is “not good for the company, over the long run, to make decisions that profit for us but are poor for people’s well-being.”

Attorney Mark Lanier, representing the plaintiff, devoted much of his questioning of Mosseri to Instagram’s appearance-altering filters, pressing on how those tools may affect young users’ self-image. Lanier is expected to pursue similar lines of questioning with Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg is also anticipated to be asked about Instagram’s algorithm, the continuous scroll format of Meta’s feeds, and other platform features that plaintiffs argue are structured to keep users engaged for extended periods.

In addition to this case, Meta is defending itself in a separate trial underway in New Mexico that began last week.

{Matzav.com}

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Wednesday that he does not believe military service is suitable for women, reiterating that he would not advise his daughter to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces.

Speaking in a radio interview, Smotrich said he respects the sense of duty and idealism that motivates young people to serve but maintains that the structure and culture of the military make it an inappropriate environment for women. He emphasized that his position is rooted in his religious worldview and longstanding views about gender roles in public life.

Smotrich, who leads the Religious Zionism party, has previously voiced opposition to expanding women’s roles in combat units and has advocated for preserving traditional frameworks within the military. On Wednesday, he reaffirmed that stance, saying he would not recommend that his own daughter pursue enlistment.

The comments come as women continue to serve in a wide range of roles across the IDF, including combat positions, intelligence units and command posts. In recent years, the military has expanded opportunities for female soldiers, citing operational needs and broader societal changes.

Critics argue that excluding women undermines equality and ignores their contributions to national defense. Supporters of Smotrich’s position contend that maintaining certain distinctions is consistent with religious values and social cohesion.

The latest remarks are likely to renew debate within Israel over the evolving role of women in the armed forces, an issue that has periodically surfaced in political and military discussions.

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — For the first time in Israeli Navy history, a female officer will take command of one of the service’s missile boats, the IDF announced.

Lieutenant Commander “Resh” — identified only by her rank and the first initial of her Hebrew name — will assume command of a Sa’ar 4.5-class missile boat during a handover ceremony Wednesday.

The appointment marks “a significant milestone in the operational and command activity” of the Navy, according to the military, and underscores the IDF’s “commitment to excellence, professionalism, and equal opportunity.”

The vessel Resh will command has played a key role in recent operations during the ongoing war, the IDF said. These include a large-scale December 2024 mission that destroyed much of the former Syrian regime’s naval fleet, the March 2025 elimination of senior Hamas official Ismail Barhoum, the November 2024 killing of a top Hezbollah aerial forces commander, and the interception of aerial threats.

Resh enlisted in 2016 as a naval cadet and has held several positions in the Navy. Her prior roles include serving as deputy commander of a missile boat and as commander of a Dvora-class patrol boat in the 916th Patrol Squadron.

The Sa’ar 4.5-class missile boats form a backbone of the Israeli Navy’s Missile Ship Fleet, known for advanced missile capabilities and participation in high-stakes maritime operations.

The historic command change highlights the increasing integration of women into combat roles across the IDF, building on earlier breakthroughs in naval service.

A tense clash erupted Wednesday morning near the Knesset after bereaved parents removed photographs of their murdered children from a left-wing protest encampment, accusing activists of using the images for political purposes without their consent.

The parents, members of the “Din V’Tzedek Forum,” arrived at the protest site adjacent to the Knesset building to protest what they described as the unauthorized use of their children’s photos as part of a political campaign against the government.

According to a report on Channel 7, the situation quickly escalated into a loud and emotional confrontation between the grieving families and protest activists. Police forces were eventually called to the scene in order to separate the sides and restore order.

The parents expressed outrage over the inclusion of their loved ones’ photographs on protest signage without their permission. During the heated exchange, the families charged that “they are using pictures of our children who were murdered for their political goals without receiving our permission.”

As tensions rose, the parents began physically removing the signs bearing their children’s images from within the protest encampment. Protest activists, however, attempted to block them from taking down the signs, leading to a bitter and emotional exchange between the two sides.

{Matzav.com}

Conservative media personality Tucker Carlson made a brief and tightly contained visit to Israel on Wednesday, conducting a filmed interview with US Ambassador Mike Huckabee inside Ben Gurion Airport before departing just hours later, according to sources cited by The Jerusalem Post.

Sources said Carlson did not travel beyond the airport complex and left Israel at around 3 p.m., ending a trip that lasted only a few hours. The unusual in-and-out visit followed a public dispute between the two former Fox News hosts over Carlson’s recent reporting on the Middle East and his claims that Huckabee had failed to adequately address concerns raised by Christians in the region, including Palestinian Christians.

After Carlson released a video criticizing Huckabee, the ambassador responded online by inviting him to speak directly. Carlson publicly accepted, setting the stage for the face-to-face meeting.

The sit-down comes amid growing tension within American conservative politics, where support for Israel has become a sharper point of internal disagreement than in previous years. Carlson has increasingly positioned himself as a critic of US policy toward Israel and of what he calls “Christian Zionism,” drawing pushback from mainstream Republicans and pro-Israel conservatives.

Huckabee, a longtime evangelical leader and close ally of President Donald Trump, has taken the opposite approach. He was confirmed as ambassador in 2025 and presented his credentials shortly afterward to Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

According to former Fox News and Fox Business anchor Melissa Francis, Trump has urged conservative figures to lower the intensity of the debate.

“Everybody’s looking for a way to turn down the temperature,” Francis said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post. “President Trump is telling everyone, including Tucker, ‘Let’s take this down.’”

Francis said the Carlson-Huckabee meeting was intended to prevent Israel from becoming an issue that fractures the Republican coalition, particularly as “America First” arguments against foreign involvement gain traction and social media amplifies confrontations.

“The division in the Republican Party right now has to end,” she said. “The enemy wins when those that are on the side of God are divided.”

She described the interview as the product of a public dispute that escalated online and quickly became a proxy battle over Israel, the Middle East, and the limits of acceptable debate within conservative circles. Francis said she viewed the feud as serious enough to require intervention.

“This really had gotten out of control,” she said.

According to Francis, Carlson initially sought a higher-level invitation to visit Israel and wanted assurance that his presence would be welcomed.

“I would go tomorrow,” she recalled him saying, adding that he wanted confirmation that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would receive him.

Francis said Carlson told her he had approached Netanyahu through intermediaries but was rebuffed, leading her to pursue an invitation from Huckabee instead.

“I guess it has to be your invitation because it’s not coming from the prime minister,” she said she told the ambassador.

She recalled Huckabee expressing the view that Carlson needed to see Israel firsthand. “If Tucker just came and walked around and saw, I think it would be different,” she said.

Francis also pointed to longstanding personal and political ties between the two men, suggesting both were looking for a way to retreat from the public clash without appearing weak.

“I happen to know that they both want to turn the temperature down,” she said. “It’s too hot. It’s just gotten too out of control.”

More broadly, Francis described a conservative movement struggling to manage internal disagreements over Israel without turning them into personal or ideological purges. She argued that accusations and labels often shut down discussion rather than resolve it.

“Nobody likes to be told what to say and what to do,” she said. “The minute the language turns to ‘You’re antisemitic,’ the conversation stops.”

She said this dynamic has pushed participants into defensive postures and online echo chambers, while the dispute intensifies on platforms that reward outrage. Although acknowledging that antisemitism exists in US discourse, Francis argued that broad accusations can backfire inside conservative spaces.

Francis also emphasized Carlson’s influence, particularly among younger Americans.

“Tucker has control over Americans under 30,” she said, describing an audience that increasingly consumes political content through digital platforms rather than traditional media.

She said Christian audiences have been among the strongest sources of pro-Israel support in the United States since October 7, but warned that internal conservative conflicts risk weakening that backing.

“I don’t have the illusion that you’re going to change people’s minds,” she said. “Let’s just stop fighting about Israel.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

By Yisroel R.

The NYPD is asking for the public’s assistance in identifying an individual wanted in connection with a vehicle theft in Boro Park last December.

According to police, the incident took place on Sunday, December 7, 2025, at approximately 7:45 a.m. A 61-year-old man had stepped out of his Chevrolet Trax while it remained running on Fort Hamilton Parkway when another individual entered the vehicle and drove away.

Authorities said the vehicle was later located on McDonald Avenue. The individual left the car at that location and fled the area on foot in an unknown direction. No injuries were reported.

The person sought is described as a female with a light complexion and curly brown hair. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).

illustration photo: Shutterstock

President Donald Trump on Tuesday marked five years since the death of conservative radio pioneer Rush Limbaugh, praising him as “a really great man” and declaring that “there will never be another Rush Limbaugh.”

In a video message shared on Truth Social, Trump spoke about Limbaugh’s influence on the conservative movement and the role he played during Trump’s first presidential campaign.

“This is the fifth anniversary of the loss of a really great man, a great conservative, somebody that loved our country … but he was a friend of mine — Rush Limbaugh,” Trump said.

The president recounted that when he first entered the 2016 race for the White House, he had not yet met Limbaugh personally, but soon learned that the longtime broadcaster had publicly backed his candidacy.

“I had never met Rush when I announced I was running — I’ll never forget, 2015,” Trump said.

“And I got a call all excited that Rush just endorsed you. I’d never met him. And he liked my opening speech.”

Trump explained that over time, their professional connection turned into a personal bond, and he gained a deeper appreciation for Limbaugh’s character.

“Then I got to know him and I realized what a great guy he was,” he said.

Reflecting on the anniversary, Trump emphasized the void left by Limbaugh’s absence.

“It’s five years and we miss Rush. There will never be another Rush Limbaugh.”

“To his great wife and family, I just wanna say, we miss you all. We miss him and there’ll never be anybody like him,” Trump said.

Limbaugh died on Feb. 17, 2021, at the age of 70 following a struggle with lung cancer. Over the course of his career, he became one of the most prominent voices in conservative politics.

For decades, his nationally syndicated program, “The Rush Limbaugh Show,” led the talk radio landscape, attracting millions of listeners and energizing Republican voters across the country.

Throughout Trump’s time in office, Limbaugh was a steadfast advocate of the administration’s agenda.

In 2020, during the State of the Union address, Trump presented Limbaugh with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, hailing him as a “special man” and a “legend.”

Limbaugh’s early endorsement during the 2016 campaign was widely viewed as a key moment that strengthened Trump’s standing among conservative activists and talk radio audiences nationwide.

“Why would I join a shidduch website?” he asked. “I already have more names than I can handle.”

I couldn’t have agreed more. “That’s exactly the issue,” I said. “You want compatible suggestions, not countless suggestions.”

It’s been a relatively straightforward task to explain the value of Canopy Shidduchim to young women. Yes, we emphasize our foundation of chesed, our commitment to privacy and dignity, and the care we take to ensure a 1:1 ratio of men to women daters. But above all, it’s a channel for receiving ideas. And for many women navigating shidduchim, that alone is meaningful.

Men, on the other hand, don’t immediately see the value. They are managing 10, 20, 50 ideas and hoping something on a page will give them a clue as to which idea might be the right idea. This difficulty has created pressure points in the shidduch world. For example, as making shidduchim becomes more complex, fast-moving, and globalized, we have started to commonly share photos. This practice certainly emerged with the best intentions and motivated by the desire to make shidduchim. With so many suggestions flying, a picture can ground a resume. In an instant, it clarifies whether an idea is on target or off base. But even with photo-sharing, the underlying problem remains. Men continue to feel overwhelmed, and struggle to determine which ideas to reasonably pursue.

Canopy Shidduchim was founded on a basis of chesed – a desire to approach shidduchim with the same care and sensitivity brought to every communal need. We asked a simple question: “Why is shidduchim treated differently from every other chesed?” A Hatzalah member would never chastise a heart attack victim for smoking; yet, well-meaning criticism is often given in shidduchim. No chesed organization charges the people in need; but in shidduchim, it’s common for daters to pay for shidduch services.

Canopy Shidduchim applies the donation-based, nonprofit model to shidduchim. Our daters don’t pay to join. There are no premium or priority levels. Everyone has access to the same service, all for free. Our shadchanim are all volunteers and trained to offer support, honor boundaries, and provide guidance only when requested. Our shadchanim are thoughtfully selected to ensure they share our values.

On Canopy, each dater submits an anonymous profile, which includes the same information on a typical shidduch resume—but without names or identifying details. It also includes a very specific description of the dater and what s/he is looking for. Once approved to join, daters receive one anonymous profile per day. This idea does not come from a shadchan. It is technology-generated. If both sides agree they want to see more, each dater receives the full, identifying shidduch resume and a shadchan is assigned to coordinate. At this stage, they have not yet agreed to a date, and have simply decided to further explore the idea.

This model enhances privacy and clarity. It protects shadchanim from burnout by putting daters in the driver’s seat at an early stage. Shadchanim often spent hours going between two daters on a potential idea, only to have the idea unravel after much time and effort because one dater realized the other was 5″4 or 5″6 or 5″8 and that was a dealbreaker. Canopy preserves the shadchan’s time, saving their wisdom and guidance for the conversations that matter most.

Because we care about our system working in the best possible way, we require daters to join in pairs. One man for every one woman. This may be arranged, for example, with a sibling or cousin. Those without a pair can ask a Canopy shadchan for assistance or join a waitlist, where daters are paired on a first-come, first-served basis. This 1:1 ratio is essential to ensuring the best, most useful operating model.

Canopy was built by alumnae of Manhattan High School for Girls and before launching, received brachos for hatzlacha from Harav Rav Dovid Cohen, shlit”a and Harav Asher Weiss, shlit”a. At Canopy, we are growth-oriented – constantly seeking feedback, evaluating outcomes, and refining our approach. We believe in the benefits of the shidduch system and also in leveraging technology to strengthen that mesorah.

It’s hard to think of a more universal צורך ציבור than shidduchim. Nearly every frum family, at one point or another, will go through shidduchim. And whether you’re currently dating, a dater’s parent or relative, or just someone who cares, Canopy Shidduchim offers a meaningful way to be part of the solution. We’re accepting partners in chesed at canopyshidduchim.com.

GENEVA (AP) — The latest U.S.-brokered talks between envoys from Moscow and Kyiv over Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine ended Wednesday with no sign of a breakthrough and with both sides saying the talks were “difficult,” as the war’s fourth anniversary approaches next week.

The negotiations in Switzerland were the third round of direct talks organized by the U.S., after meetings earlier this year in Abu Dhabi that officials described as constructive but which also made no major headway. Expectations for significant progress in Geneva were low.

“The negotiations were not easy,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after the talks broke up and he spoke briefly by phone from Kyiv with his negotiating team.

He earlier accused Russia of “trying to drag out negotiations” while it presses on with its invasion — an accusation he and European leaders have repeatedly made in the past.

Despite that, some progress was made on military issues although political differences remain deep, including over the future of land in eastern Ukraine that is occupied by the Russian army and that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to keep, Zelenskyy said.

The head of the Russian delegation, Putin adviser Vladimir Medinsky, told reporters that the two days of talks in Geneva “were difficult but businesslike.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that it’s “too early” to speak about the outcome of the talks. Putin has been receiving reports about progress in Geneva, he said.

Both sides said a new round of talks is set to take place.

US will help monitor any ceasefire
Zelenskyy described the military discussions as “constructive,” adding that the armed forces of both countries considered how any future ceasefire might be monitored.

“Monitoring will definitely be carried out with participation of the American side,” he said in a voice message shared in a media group chat on WhatsApp.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, said on social media that Washington’s push for peace in Ukraine over the past year has “brought about meaningful progress,” without elaborating.

The two armies remain locked in battle on the roughly 1,250-kilometer (750-mile) front line, while Russia bombards civilian areas of Ukraine daily.

Hours after the first day of talks ended on Tuesday, Russian drones killed a woman and injured a 6-year-old girl and 18-month-old toddler in the southern Ukraine city of Zaporizhzhia, officials said.

Overnight, Russia launched one ballistic missile and 126 long-range drones at Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian air force.

Europe is involved
Zelenskyy said that the Ukrainian and American envoys in Geneva met with representatives from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.

Europe’s participation in the process is “indispensable,” Zelenskyy said.

European leaders, mindful of Putin’s wider ambitions, say their own security is at stake in Ukraine and have insisted on being consulted in peace efforts.

Russia and Ukraine appear to still be far apart on their demands for a settlement.

Zelenskyy has offered a ceasefire and a face-to-face meeting with Putin. But Moscow wants a comprehensive agreement before committing to a truce.

Putin’s key goals remain what he declared when Russia invaded its neighbor on Feb. 24, 2022: Ukraine must renounce joining NATO, sharply reduce the size of its army and protect Russian language and culture to keep the country in Moscow’s orbit.

Additionally, Putin wants Kyiv to withdraw its forces from the four eastern regions Moscow has occupied but doesn’t fully control.

Zelenskyy says Ukraine won’t surrender land to Russia.

The Justice Department has issued a fresh round of subpoenas as part of a Florida-based criminal investigation examining individuals who took investigative or legal steps against President Donald Trump, while also revisiting the federal government’s handling of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, according to several people familiar with the matter.

In November, prosecutors sent out an initial set of subpoenas seeking records tied to the creation of a U.S. intelligence community assessment that outlined what officials described as an extensive and coordinated effort by Moscow to aid Trump in defeating Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Whereas the earlier subpoenas focused on documents connected to the period surrounding the January 2017 release of the intelligence assessment during the final days of the Obama administration, the newer demands cast a much wider net. According to people who spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because the subpoenas are not public, investigators are now requesting materials covering the years that followed.

The Justice Department declined to comment Tuesday on the ongoing investigation.

The latest subpoenas signal that prosecutors continue to pursue one of several criminal investigations launched by the department involving Trump’s political adversaries.

Among those receiving subpoenas are former intelligence and law enforcement officials. Attorneys representing former CIA Director John Brennan — who played a central role in overseeing the drafting of the 2017 intelligence assessment — have said they were informed that he is a target of the investigation, though they have not been told of any “legally justifiable basis for undertaking this investigation.”

The intelligence assessment, released shortly before Trump took office, concluded that Russia had shown a “clear preference” for Trump in the 2016 race. It also determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin had directed an influence campaign designed to undermine confidence in the American electoral system and damage Clinton’s prospects.

That finding — along with the broader inquiry into whether the 2016 Trump campaign coordinated with Russia — has remained a focal point of the president’s complaints for years. Trump has repeatedly criticized the officials involved and pledged to hold them accountable.

Last year, the Trump administration’s Justice Department brought false statement and obstruction charges against former FBI Director James Comey, but the prosecution was later dropped.

Numerous official reviews, including bipartisan congressional investigations and a criminal probe led by former special counsel Robert Mueller, concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election in ways that benefited Trump. Those efforts included hacking and releasing Democratic emails as well as orchestrating a covert social media campaign aimed at inflaming divisions and influencing public opinion.

Mueller determined that while the Trump campaign welcomed assistance from Russia, his investigation did not find sufficient evidence to prove that Trump or his associates conspired with Russian operatives to alter the election outcome.

The Trump administration has recently renewed scrutiny of the original intelligence assessment in part because its classified annex referenced a summary of the so-called “Steele dossier.” That document, funded by Democrats and compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, was turned over to the FBI and included allegations about Trump’s possible ties to Russia.

The dossier contained claims that were not independently verified and included salacious material. Trump has long cited those weaknesses to challenge the credibility of the broader Russia investigation.

The Florida probe appears to be one element of a wider effort by the administration to revisit decisions and conclusions that emerged from the Russia investigation years ago.

A CIA tradecraft review that was declassified last July by current Director John Ratcliffe did not dispute the conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. However, it identified “multiple procedural anomalies” in how the intelligence community assessment was prepared and criticized Brennan for allowing the classified version to reference the Steele dossier.

Brennan has told Congress and written in his memoir that he opposed incorporating dossier material into the assessment because neither its content nor its sources had been validated. He has said the dossier did not shape the assessment’s core judgments and has maintained that the FBI advocated for its inclusion.

The newly released CIA review offered a different interpretation of Brennan’s role, stating that he “showed a preference for narrative consistency over analytical soundness” and dismissed concerns about the dossier because he believed it aligned “with existing theories.” The review cites him, without additional context, as writing that “my bottomline is that I believe that the information warrants inclusion in the report.”

It remains uncertain whether the Florida-based investigation will ultimately lead to criminal charges.

In a letter sent last December to the chief judge of the Southern District of Florida, Brennan’s attorneys questioned the legal foundation of the inquiry. They asked what justification prosecutors had for opening the case in that jurisdiction and said they had not been informed of the specific crimes under investigation.

“While it is mystifying how the prosecutors could possibly believe there is any legally justifiable basis for undertaking this investigation, they have done nothing to explain that mystery,” the lawyers wrote, characterizing the probe as “manufactured.”

JERUSALEM (VINnews) The chairman of the World Zionist Organization has invited New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to join this year’s March for Israel parade, drawing sharp criticism from Israel’s top diplomat in New York.

Yaakov Hagoel publicly called on Mamdani to march alongside him at the annual event scheduled for May 31 on Fifth Avenue, describing it as a show of solidarity with tens of thousands of Jewish participants and with the State of Israel.

“I am inviting the mayor of New York City to come and march beside me,” Hagoel on Tuesday said at a conference in Jerusalem, adding that he had previously reached out to Mamdani and urged him to reconsider municipal decisions he opposes, including not banning protests outside synagogues and dropping adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism.

But Israel’s Consul General in New York, Ofir Akunis, rebuked Hagoel, saying he had no authority to extend such an invitation.

In a statement, Akunis said Israel’s official delegation at the parade would be led by the consulate and would include ministers, lawmakers and other guests invited through official channels. He said Hagoel attends the march each year as a guest and “cannot invite others who do not recognize Israel as the Jewish state.”

The dispute has exposed tensions between two senior Israeli figures over how to engage with the mayor of the largest U.S. city, home to one of the world’s largest Jewish communities.

City Hall did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

NEW YORK (VINnews) — The Slonimer Rebbe of Bnei Brak, Rabbi Avraham Weinberg, who visits his hundreds of followers living in the United States once a year, has concluded an extended stay in Monsey, along with a farewell gathering combined with the writing of a Torah scroll which was held last week at his study hall in Boro Park.

During the event, the Rebbe spoke about the dangers of the conscription decree in Israel and also addressed the issue of unusually tall shtreimels.

After completing his visit, the Rebbe sent a letter to members of the U.S. community, focusing on what he described as the harm of technology, a topic he said he had not sufficiently addressed during the trip due to the intensity of the schedule and public receptions.

“My brothers and friends residing in the United States, may you live and be blessed with all good. The pleasant spirit from our time together has not yet faded — how good and how pleasant it is when brothers dwell together. May G-d grant that this sense of unity continue, and that the words which inspire hearts remain strong, guiding those who seek to follow in the footsteps of our holy forebears, whose flame, they promised, would never be extinguished.

“Because of the many demands and the large crowds from morning until night, I feel I did not sufficiently warn about the great stumbling block and widespread damage caused by the afflictions of technology. These tools, which spread their contamination, are like a deadly poison to the soul. Many have fallen because they were lenient with themselves, offering various justifications, and have paid a very heavy price, losing their sons and daughters in body and spirit. No one should say, ‘Peace will be upon me.’ The affliction has spread and has consumed even good families.

“We must educate our sons and daughters that these devices are an abomination for us, and they must distance themselves completely from those connected to such destructive tools. Even those who require them for their livelihood, and who use approved filtering, must understand that this is like a venomous snake bound in iron chains. If not watched carefully, it may break free and claim spiritual victims. One must not rely on leniencies that easily permit devices whose harm is great.

“I also became aware of another grave danger while among you. It is called AI [Written as Ay Ay in Hebrew]. It is the ultimate source of impurity and heresy, and its damage is immense. One must distance oneself from it with all strength, for it is a danger and a trap for those ensnared by it.

“I hereby strengthen those united in standing firm against these breaches, urging all to help one another remain steadfast, to sanctify themselves even in what is permitted, and to remain free rather than bound by the snares laid before every Jewish person. May blessing rest upon you, that you raise sons and daughters faithful to G-d and His holiness, until we merit to welcome the righteous Messiah.”

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman

Today is the first of Adar — the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Shabsai ben Meir HaKohen, the Shach. He passed away on this very date in 5423 (1663), at approximately forty-one years of age. He is buried in Holešov, Moravia — today’s Czech Republic — and his grave draws pilgrims from across the world. But his resting place in Klal Yisroel is the Shulchan Aruch itself: open any standard edition of Yoreh Deah or Choshen Mishpat, and there he stands in the margins, alive, arguing, insisting that we think more precisely.

What was it that made him remarkably singular? What gave the Shach that quality of penetrating, almost surgical insight that has made his works the irreplaceable companion of every posek for nearly four centuries?

There is no better way to answer that question than with a story — a story from nearly forty years ago that has stayed with this author ever since.

Rav Yitzchok Zilberstein, one of the supreme halachic authorities of our generation, opened a shiur, some forty years ago, with a question that landed in the room like a thunderclap:

“Where among all the nosei keilim — the standard commentaries on the Shulchan Aruch — do we find a machlokes in halacha between one of the gedolei haAchronim and a goy? Yes — an actual non-Jew, arguing a halachic position! Where is this found?”

Rav Zilberstein looked around the room. He went from scholar to scholar. No one had an answer. A machlokes in halacha between a Rishon or Acharon and a non-Jew — in the standard commentaries on the Shulchan Aruch?

The idea seemed impossible. And no had an answer

Rav Zilberstein finally directed them to a passage in the Nekudos HaKesef. The episode recorded there goes as follows.

The Shach was at some sort of gathering or party. A non-Jew poured wine for him. The Shach refused to drink. The non-Jew, far from accepting this quietly, turned on the Shach and challenged him directly — in the language of Torah learning:

“Shaal avicha veyageidcha — go ask your father and he will tell you! You don’t even know your own halacha!”

The goy continue, “There is a Tosafos in Maseches Avodah Zarah that says explicitly: Chazal never enacted the prohibition of yayin nesach in a case where the non-Jew pours the wine specifically in order to forbid it to the Jew — that is, to damage him financially. The entire gezerah was enacted to prevent social intimacy leading to intermarriage. Where the non-Jew’s intent is not friendliness but actively to harm the Jew economically, that case was never included in the gezerah! So: I poured this wine specifically in order to forbid it to you — to cause you a loss. Therefore, according to Tosafos, you are permitted to drink it!”

The non-Jew was using a genuine, sophisticated Talmudic argument. He was claiming that his own intent — damaging the Jew financially — fell into precisely the category that Tosafos had exempted from the gezeras yayin nesach. And the argument had real force.

Rav Zilberstein then paused and asked the second, deeper question:

“So then — what is pshat in the Shach? Didn’t he know the Tosafos? Of course he knew the Tosafos — he knew every Tosafos. So why did he still refuse to drink?”

This is where Rav Zilberstein’s brilliance, and the Shach’s brilliance that it illuminated, comes into full view.

Rav Zilberstein explained: The Shach was not unaware of the Tosafos. He knew it perfectly!

But the Shach made a penetrating judgment about what was actually happening at that gathering. This non-Jew did not pour the wine to cause the Shach financial damage. He poured the wine — and then cited Tosafos — in order to demonstrate that he was a lamdan, a Torah scholar. His motivation was intellectual showmanship. He wanted to impress the room. He wanted to show the great Rabbi Shabsai HaKohen that he, a non-Jew, knew Tosafos in Avodah Zarah.

And for that motivation — a display of erudition, a desire to show off one’s learning — Chazal never created an exception to yayin nesach!

The exception in Tosafos is specific: it covers a non-Jew who pours wine with the genuine intent to forbid it and cause financial harm. It does not cover a non-Jew who pours wine and then, after being challenged, reaches for a Talmudic argument to justify his action and impress the scholar in front of him. That is a fundamentally different act, a fundamentally different intent — and the Shach saw through it instantly.

Therefore: the wine is forbidden. The Shach does not drink. And the Shach is right.

The room understood. The machlokes was not between the Shach and Tosafos. It was between the Shach and the non-Jew — specifically, a disagreement about the non-Jew’s own motivation. The non-Jew claimed his intent was to harm financially (the exempt category). The Shach read his true intent as showing off his learning (not the exempt category). And on that precise question of intent, they disagreed — a machlokes in halacha between a gadol and a goy, found nowhere else in the entire nosei keilim of Shulchan Aruch.

Years later, this author had occasion to relate this very shiur back to Rav Zilberstein himself, while presenting him with an important she’eilah from American poskim. Rav Zilberstein — who had been sitting behind his desk, in the middle of writing a teshuvah in an emotional response to my request — stood up, came from behind the desk, and tearfully (with joy) gave me a great hug and a kiss:

“Hechzarta li aveidas ti! — You have returned my lost object to me! Mamash shachachti mikol hashiur hazeh — I had completely forgotten the entire shiur. Attah hizkarta osi — you have reminded me!”

That emotional moment — entrenched forever in my mind, is the perfect introduction to the holy Shach. How so?

Rav Zilberstein embodied the Tefillah in Maariv that personified both him and the Shach.

Ki Haim Chayeinu.

For Torah is OUR LIFE.

How else could the Shach have written his remarkably penetrating and vast commentary on Shulchan Aruch Yore De’ah – unless it embodied his life??  This was reflected in Rav Zilberstein’s emotional response to having his Chiddush restored to him.

This was also how the Shach’s mind worked: not just deep, but precise. Not just knowledgeable, but perceptive.   That quality — that penetrating, revolutionary insight — runs through every line of the Siftei Kohen and everything else the Shach ever wrote. Let us now tell his story in full.

I. The World He Was Born Into: Vilna and the Golden Age

The seventeenth century opened on perhaps one of the greatest flourishing of Jewish civilization since the Babylonian academies. The Jewish communities of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had achieved a level of Torah scholarship, communal organization, and cultural vitality unmatched anywhere in the Diaspora. The great yeshivos of Krakow, Lublin, Poznań, and Vilna trained thousands of students. The Council of Four Lands administered hundreds of thousands of Jews with sophisticated governance. The Maharsha, the Maharshal, the Bach, the Rema — these were men of recent memory, whose students and students’ students still walked the earth.

Into this world — into the city of Vilna, the beating heart of Lithuanian Jewish scholarship — Rabbi Shabsai HaKohen was born, around the year 5382 (circa 1621–1622). Whether his precise birthplace was Vilna itself or the nearby town of Amstibovo (Mścibowo), where his father served as Av Beis Din, remains a question in the sources. What is certain is that the family was deeply rooted in Torah: his father, Rabbi Meir HaKohen — the Maharam Katz, a student of the Maharam of Lublin — wwho served as Av Beis Din of Amstibovo and later Mogilev. The child’s world was Torah from his first breath.

It was a world that would be annihilated before he turned thirty. He did not yet know that.

II. Education: Formed by the Giants

The Shach’s education was a map of the greatest Torah personalities of his age. His first teacher was his father. The child was identified as an iluy almost immediately — not merely a strong memory but a penetrating analytical intelligence, the kind that sees through the surface of a sugya to the hidden tension beneath and presses toward resolution with alarming directness.

A remarkable detail from the Hebrew sources: even as a small child, young Shabsai studied under the Megaleh Amukos — Rabbi Natan Nata Shapiro of Krakow — one of the great Kabbalists and Torah scholars of the era. That such a towering figure was accessible to him even in childhood speaks to the family’s connections and to the extraordinary interconnectedness of Polish Torah scholarship in its golden age.

At the age of twelve — when most boys are just beginning their formal Talmudic education — Shabsai HaKohen was sent to study in Kazimierz under Rabbi Yehoshua Heschel ben Yosef, the author of Maginei Shlomo, a close colleague and friend of his father. He then traveled to Lublin — the city of the great Maharshal — and studied under the leading rabbis there, including Rabbi Naftoli Katz. Lublin’s academy was legendary, and the young Shabsai absorbed both its breadth of knowledge and its culture of demanding exactness. When he finally returned to Vilna, he was still a young man — but already, in the judgment of the gedolim around him, a gadol.

III. Vilna: Marriage, the Beis Din, and a Father’s Pride

In Vilna, Rabbi Shabsai married Yenta-Leah, the daughter of Rabbi Shimon Wolf Tauber — one of the wealthiest men in the city and a grandson of the Rema, whose glosses on the Shulchan Aruch were the foundation of Ashkenazic halachic practice. The marriage connected the Shach, by family, to the most illustrious name in Ashkenazic halacha.

Supported by his father-in-law and free of material concerns, he devoted himself entirely to Torah. Day and night, the sources tell us, he was immersed in study, analysis, and writing. In the year 5401 (1641), he was appointed as a dayan on the illustrious Beis Din of Vilna, under the presiding authority of Rabbi Moshe Lima, author of the celebrated Chelkas Mechokek — filling the seat previously occupied by Rabbi Hillel ben Naftoli Hertz, author of Beis Hillel. To sit in that chair, in that court, at that age, was to occupy one of the most distinguished positions in all of Lithuanian Jewry.

His father, Rabbi Meir HaKohen, lived to see what his son had become. When the Siftei Kohen was published, the elder rabbi composed a short poem in its honor — with an acrostic that spells out his own name, Meir HaKohen, Chazak. A father, celebrating in verse the son who had surpassed him. It is one of the most touching moments in the biography.

The Shach himself preserved another family tribute, in the middle of a halachic discussion in Yoreh Deah (Siman 326). He writes: “And so I saw from the pious and scholarly Rebbetzin, my mother — and from other righteous and wise women — that they were careful in this matter.” He cites his mother as a halachic precedent. In the home where the Shach was raised, the women were talmidos chachamim in their own right.

IV. The Siftei Kohen: A Masterwork at Twenty-Four

In 5406 (1646), when Rabbi Shabsai HaKohen was approximately twenty-four years old, he published the Siftei Kohen on Yoreh Deah. The title means “Lips of the Priest” — from Malachi (2:7): “For the lips of the priest shall guard knowledge, and Torah shall be sought from his mouth.” It is also an acronym of his name: Shabsai Kohen. The initials Shin-Kaf give us the universal abbreviation by which he is known: the Shach.

The work received the haskamos of eighteen of the leading scholars of the generation. The gedolei hador were not merely endorsing a promising commentary; they were announcing that something genuinely unprecedented had appeared.

What distinguished the Siftei Kohen from all previous commentaries? The Shach did not come to explain the Shulchan Aruch. He traced every ruling back to its Talmudic root, he exposed tensions that had not been fully explained, and he offered his own independent resolution with a directness that, well, let’s just say that he was willing to disagree with the Shulchan Aruch itself. He was also willing to challenge the Tosafos on the basis of his own reasoning. And he had that quality of seeing not just what an argument says but what is actually going on beneath it, and ruling accordingly.

He articulated his method himself, in a passage that is both bold and entirely unselfconscious:

“And all of this is clear as the noonday sun — and I would not have needed to elaborate, except that the Beis Yosef, the Maharam Isserles, the Baal Lechem Mishneh, Shearis Yosef, and the Bach did not find their footing here — and Heaven has left a place for me.”

The Beis Yosef. The Rema. The Bach. Three of the supreme pillars of Ashkenazic halachic literature, — and Shamayim had reserved a place for a correction for him?  Brazen!  

The Vaad Arba Aratzos issued a ruling that lasted a century.  The halacha is like the TaZ – not the Shach! But after a century more and more started paskening like the Shach.

V. The Shach and the Taz: The Great Dialogue

But earlier, in that very same year — 5406 (1646) — the Turei Zahav appeared in Lublin, by Rabbi David ben Shmuel HaLevi: a senior authority, already celebrated, son-in-law of the Bach. Two monumental commentaries on Yoreh Deah, from two scholars of entirely different generations, appearing simultaneously. It was one of the most consequential coincidences in the history of halachic literature.

The Shach read the Taz and wrote Nekudos HaKesef — “Silver Points” — a systematic critique of the Taz’s rulings. The title was deliberately modest: the Taz means “Rows of Gold,” and by calling his critique “Silver Points,” the Shach signaled deep personal respect for the elder scholar, even while contesting him forthrightly. But the intellectual engagement was absolute.

The Shach’s own account of his relationship with the Taz, in his introduction to Nekudos HaKesef, is among the most beautiful passages in all of the history of Hakdamos:

“Let it not enter the reader’s mind that I composed these critiques because of any dispute with the Turei Zahav, or any ill will — for it is known to all that between us was fulfilled the verse ‘and love in the end.’ The Torah seeks out its proper lodging, and I became the lodging place for the Turei Zahav: he was with me for three days, and I honored him with a great honor the like of which cannot be believed, and he too honored me greatly — to the point that he kissed me on my head, and he rejoiced with me with the very joy of the Beis HaShoeva. And Hashem knows and is my witness that I composed Nekudos HaKesef only for the sake of Heaven.”

The Taz — decades the Shach’s senior, already famous — came to visit the young genius, spent three days with him, kissed him on the head, and rejoiced with him like the ecstatic joy of the water-drawing celebration in the Beis HaMikdash. And then the Shach, with complete intellectual integrity, proceeded to disagree with him in print on dozens of rulings.

This is how Torah disagreement is supposed to work. Ki Haim Chayeinu.

The Taz responded with Matzref HaKesef; the Shach replied with his Kuntres Acharon. The entire exchange was eventually embedded in every standard edition of the Shulchan Aruch — the Daf on one side, the Kuntres on the other — where it has lived for over three centuries. They are the Ashli Ravrevei, the “great trees” of Yoreh Deah, inseparable from the Code itself.

It was in this very Nekudos HaKesef that the episode of the non-Jewish “lamdan” was recorded — the ruling with which this article opens. The same work that contains the great intellectual battle with the Taz also contains the Shach’s instantaneous reading of a non-Jew’s true motivation at a party.

VI. The Cataclysm: Gezeiros Tach V’Tat

The year 5408 (1648) ended everything.

Bogdan Chmielnicki, y”s head of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, launched his uprising against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Cossack armies, allied with Tatar hordes, swept through Ukraine, Podolia, Volhynia, and Poland. For the Jewish communities in their path it was not war but extermination. Estimates of the Jewish dead run from one hundred thousand to three hundred thousand. Nemirov, Tulchin, Polonnoye, Uman — annihilated. The Shach himself recorded the horror: fifteen hundred holy yidden killed at Uman on Shabbos alone, stripped, surrounded in fields, offered conversion and choosing death.

These are the Gezeiros Tach V’Tat — the worst catastrophe in Jewish history between the destruction of the Temple and the Holocaust.

The Shach was not a distant observer. He was a survivor. He had family, colleagues, students in these communities. He watched the world that had produced the Siftei Kohen torn apart. And he did what a scholar does: he wrote.

He composed Megillas Eifah — “Scroll of Darkness” — published in Amsterdam in 1651. Written in rhymed Hebrew prose, it is both a primary historical document (translated into German and Russian, relied on by historians for centuries) and a work of genuine literary power: grief disciplined into art.

He composed selichos for the massacres. And he instituted a fast day on the 20th of Sivan, in memory of the destruction of Nemirov. He established it first for himself and his descendants — a private commitment of perpetual mourning. In 1652, the Council of Four Lands adopted it as a public fast for all of Jewry. The Shach’s private grief became part of Klal Yisroel’s collective memory.

VII. Flight: Vilna Falls

In 1655 a second catastrophe struck: Russian armies invaded the Commonwealth and captured Vilna. On Thursday, the 24th of Tammuz, 5415, Rabbi Shabsai HaKohen fled his city — among a mass of Jewish refugees pouring westward, carrying what they could, leaving everything else behind. The Beis Din where he had sat, the community he had served, the city that had shaped him — all of it suddenly behind him.

He made for Lublin. But the war followed. On the first day of Sukkos, armies arrived and massacred many of Lublin’s Jews. Again the Shach escaped. He made his way to Bohemia — pausing in Prague — then to Strážnice (Dresnitz) in Moravia, where he accepted the rabbinate.

In this period of wandering and terror, a family tragedy unfolded that was later immortalized by Rabbi Meir Lehmann in the novel Bas HaShach. As the Shach fled through the forests during the Russian invasion, his young daughter was lost.

A non-Jewish nobleman found her, was taken with the child, and raised her as a princess — never knowing she was Jewish. She maintained her identity in secret. Eventually the Shach found and recognized her.

I am unsure as to all of Rabbi Lehman’s sources, but whatever the precise historical core of this narrative, it captures something real: the terror of families torn apart in flight, children swallowed by the chaos of invasion. That the Shach — the author of immortal works, carried this wound alongside his public greatness makes him more human, and more heartbreaking.

VIII. Holešov: The Final Station

From Strážnice, Rabbi Shabsai HaKohen was called to the rabbanus of Holešov — a small but dignified Jewish community in Moravia, in today’s Czech Republic. He settled there, served as its Moreh Horaah, and there he remained until his death. He was perhaps thirty-five when he arrived. He had six years left.

Holešov was nothing like Vilna. One cannot help imagining what it cost a man of his stature to lead a more modest community after the Beis Din of Vilna — knowing that the world which had produced him was in ruins.

Actually, I take that back.  The Alter Mirrers, among whom were three of my Rebbeim also felt that.  But that is another story.

And yet Holešov offered something he had not known in years: stability. The community embraced him with reverence. He continued to write and rule on questions that arrived from far beyond Moravia. He completed the Siftei Kohen on Choshen Mishpat.

There he also formed one of the most striking friendships in rabbinic biography: a close intellectual relationship with Magister Valentino Wiedreich, a philosopher and scholar from Leipzig. A Lutheran academic and a Jewish posek — in seventeenth-century Central Europe — developing genuine intellectual friendship. This was the same fearlessness that had allowed the Shach to engage the non-Jewish lamdan’s Talmudic argument at the party and demolish it on its own terms. He was not afraid of the wider world of ideas; he simply had better arguments.

The Shach Synagogue of Holešov — built in the late sixteenth century, adorned with magnificent Baroque interior decoration — bears his name and stands as one of the finest preserved historic synagogues in Central Europe. His grave in the adjacent cemetery remains a pilgrimage site. He is universally considered the greatest rabbi buried on Czech soil.

IX. His Family: A Constellation of Torah

The Shach’s family circle was itself a seedbed of greatness. His brother Rabbi Yona Nachum HaKohen served as Av Beis Din of Sochatchov; his descendants include the Hasidic Rebbe Rabbi Chanoch Henich HaKohen Levin of Alexander. An additional sister was the grandmother of Rabbi Meir Eisenstadt, author of the responsa Panim Meiros. His son Rabbi Moshe HaKohen served as rabbi of Krotoschin; his grandson Yitzchak brought two of the Shach’s works — Giburos Anashim and Poel Tzedek — to press. His son-in-law Rabbi Menachem Manish Chayes published the Siftei Kohen on Choshen Mishpat and wrote its introduction.

And then there is the most extraordinary genealogical tradition in the record: that a granddaughter of the Shach — the daughter of his daughter Yocheved, born in 1660 — became the second wife of the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidic Judaism. But it is not so pashut.  Historians treat this claim with appropriate caution. But if accurate, it means that the great river of Hasidism flows through a granddaughter of the man who corrected the Rema — the supreme legal analyst and the revolutionary mystical founder, joined by blood.

X. His Works: The Full Canon

Siftei Kohen on Yoreh Deah (Krakow, 5406 / 1646)

The magnum opus. Published at age twenty-four with haskamos from eighteen gedolei hador. Since 1674, printed in virtually every standard edition of the Shulchan Aruch alongside the Taz — the two primary running commentaries, the Ashli Ravrevei. Required study for the Chief Rabbinate of Israel’s semicha examinations to this day.

Siftei Kohen on Choshen Mishpat (Frankfurt an der Oder, 1663; Berlin, 1697)

A second monumental commentary on civil and monetary law. Published posthumously by his son-in-law Rabbi Menachem Manish Chayes. Foundational in its field.

Nekudos HaKesef (“Silver Points”)

A systematic critique of the Taz’s rulings on Yoreh Deah — printed at the end of the Taz in standard editions. Contains the famous episode of the non-Jewish lamdan and the argument from Tosafos in Avodah Zarah — with the Shach’s penetrating response about the true nature of the non-Jew’s intent. The Taz replied with Matzref HaKesef; the Shach rejoined in the Kuntres Acharon. All three works are embedded in every standard edition of the Shulchan Aruch.

Takfo Kohen

A major scholarly work on the halachic principle of tkapfo kohen — the laws of tephisah (seizure of possession). Studied intensively in yeshivos. Rabbi Yonasan Eibeschitz composed an abridgment; the Kuntres HaSfekos is written in dialogue with it.

Megillas Eifah (Amsterdam, 1651)

A historical chronicle in rhymed Hebrew prose of the Chmielnicki massacres. A primary historical document, translated into German and Russian, and a landmark of Jewish lamentation literature.

Selichos (Amsterdam, 1651)

Penitential prayers for the communities destroyed during Tach V’Tat. The Shach was the first to institute the fast of 20 Sivan, later adopted by the Council of Four Lands as a public fast.

Giburos Anashim, Poel Tzedek, Sefer HaAruch

Works on Even HaEzer, the enumeration of the mitzvos, and a longer commentary on Tur Yoreh Deah. Also: published responsa (Eishel Avraham) and handwritten glosses on the Yam Shel Shlomo of the Maharshal on Chulin preserved in manuscript.

XI. The Shach’s Method: What Made Him Different

The Rav Zilberstein story is not an isolated anecdote. It is a window into the Shach’s mind as it operated at all times and on all topics. His halachic independence was not merely intellectual courage — it was principled methodology. He believed that every ruling must be traceable to its Talmudic root, and that no authority — however revered — could override what the primary sources themselves demanded.

Epilogue: Today Is His Yahrtzeit

Today — Rosh Chodesh Adar — is the day the Shach left this world, in Holešov, in 1663, at forty-one years old. He had lived through the near-destruction of Polish-Lithuanian Jewry. He had fled Vilna with armies at his back. He had lost a daughter in the forest. He had composed the greatest commentary on Yoreh Deah in the history of halacha. He had sat with the Taz for three days and been kissed on the head. He had faced a non-Jew at a party who cited Tosafos to justify his action — and had seen, in an instant, exactly what was happening and exactly why the argument failed.

Rav Zilberstein’s shiur — nearly forgotten, restored by a talmid who had carried it for decades, embraced back as a lost treasure — is itself a parable about how Torah lives. The Shach “forgot” nothing; we are the ones who forget. And it falls to each generation — at each Rosh Chodesh Adar, at each opening of a standard Shulchan Aruch — to remember him: the genius from Vilna who became a refugee, who wrote his masterpiece at twenty-four, who loved the Taz like a brother and argued with him like a scholar, , and whose Siftei Kohen remains, as it has been for nearly four centuries, clear as the noonday sun.

יהי זכרו ברוך — May his memory be a blessing.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced Tuesday that he intends, in a future term, to pursue a policy of encouraging Palestinians to leave the West Bank, as Israel faces intensifying international criticism over its recent actions in the territory and ongoing settler violence.

Addressing a gathering organized by his far-right Religious Zionism party together with settlement leaders, Smotrich outlined what he described as the priorities for Israel’s next government. Among them, he called for nullifying the Oslo Accords of the 1990s and extending Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank — a step widely viewed as tantamount to annexation.

“Destroy the idea of an Arab terror state; finally, formally and practically cancel the cursed Oslo Accords and get on the path of sovereignty, while encouraging migration both from Gaza and from Judea and Samaria,” said Smotrich, using the biblical term for the West Bank. “There is no other long-term solution.”

The proposal — which opponents argue would amount to ethnic cleansing — has been championed by far-right figures since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack. Until now, however, most of the public discussion around such plans centered on Gaza rather than the West Bank.

Smotrich’s latest remarks mark one of the few times that a senior Israeli official has openly advocated extending this controversial objective to the West Bank.

His comments follow a cabinet decision, made only days earlier, to approve a contentious policy allowing large portions of West Bank land to be formally registered as state property eligible for Israeli development. The move came on the heels of another security cabinet decision the previous week to implement sweeping changes to land registration and property acquisition rules in the territory — steps critics say effectively amount to annexation in practice.

On Tuesday, 85 nations issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s recent measures, including countries considered close partners of Israel such as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Cyprus, Greece and Germany.

“We strongly condemn unilateral Israeli decisions and measures aimed at expanding Israel’s unlawful presence in the West Bank,” said the statement organized by the Palestinian Mission to the UN. “Such decisions are contrary to Israel’s obligations under international law and must be immediately reversed. We underline in this regard our strong opposition to any form of annexation.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also weighed in Monday, urging Israel to roll back the new land registration policy and describing it as “destabilizing” and “unlawful.”

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Following a security assessment, the political leadership adopted the recommendation of the defense establishment regarding the framework for the entry of Palestinian worshippers to the Temple Mount during the month of Ramadan, which commences on Wednesday.

Under the agreed framework, 10,000 Palestinian worshipers [from Judea and Samaria, as Israeli Arab worshipers are allowed to enter freely] will be permitted to enter the Temple Mount for Friday prayers throughout Ramadan, subject to obtaining a designated daily permit in advance. Entry will be allowed for men aged 55 and over, women aged 50 and over, and children up to age 12 accompanied by a first-degree relative.

The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories emphasized that all permits are contingent upon prior security clearance by the relevant authorities. In addition, residents returning to the Judea and Samaria area after prayers will be required to complete digital documentation at the crossings.

Meanwhile, Jerusalem District Police Commander Avshalom Peled decided to extend Jewish visiting hours at the Temple Mount from four to five hours per day, effective during Ramadan.

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Thousands of Yidden streamed to the Kosel Plaza this morning, beginning at the first light of dawn, to mark Rosh Chodesh Adar with special tefillos. Crowds continued to grow throughout the morning as Yidden ushered in the new month with heartfelt davening at the Kosel.

The Kosel Heritage Foundation reported that during the tefillos, activists affiliated with the radical Women of the Wall group obstructed the primary entrance and exit to the Kosel Plaza.

According to the Foundation, members of the group conducted a “Torah reading” while ignoring requests from police officers and Kosel ushers, even as thousands of mispallelim were arriving at the site. The morning also coincided with the start of Ramadan, bringing additional Muslim worshippers to the area.

The Foundation emphasized that the blocked access points led to unusual congestion and created what it described as a significant safety concern for the many people gathered in the Plaza.

A day earlier, representatives of the Foundation appeared before Supreme Court justices to present their position regarding what they termed “repeated provocations” by Women of the Wall on every Rosh Chodesh.

They stated that Wednesday morning’s events exceeded prior incidents and, they stressed, posed “a real danger to human life.”

In response, Women of the Wall issued a statement saying: “The ushers of the Chief Rabbi of the Western Wall leave us no choice. We are fed up with the mistreatment and the attempts to harm our prayers. We are fed up with the fact that despite there being no legal or halakhic prohibition, the Chief Rabbi of the Western Wall prevents us in every way from reading from the Torah scroll. We will read from the Torah on the first day of the Jewish month, and implement what the court decided a long time ago: Women of the Wall’s prayer with a Torah scroll is a local custom, and we are allowed to read from the Torah at the Western Wall.”

{Matzav.com}

WASHINGTON (VINnews) — A leading online prediction market is signaling that traders see a potential military strike on Iran as more likely later next month rather than in the coming days, diverging from a public warning by former Israeli intelligence chief Amos Yadlin.

Yadlin, a retired major general who once headed Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate, said in a television interview Wednesday that he would reconsider plans to fly abroad over the weekend because of heightened regional tensions. His remarks fueled speculation in Israel that a significant development could be imminent.

But data from Polymarket, a cryptocurrency-based forecasting platform, suggests traders are not pricing in an immediate strike. Instead, the highest concentration of bets has centered on the possibility of military action occurring by the end of March.

As of Wednesday, contracts tied to a strike by March 31 showed sharply increased trading activity and rising implied odds, while markets tied to earlier dates reflected lower probabilities. On prediction platforms, prices fluctuate based on how much participants are willing to wager on a given outcome, often serving as a real-time gauge of collective expectations.

Prediction markets do not guarantee outcomes and can shift quickly in response to new information. Still, they are closely watched by analysts for signals about how informed traders assess geopolitical risks.

Neither U.S. nor Israeli officials have publicly indicated that military action against Iran is imminent. Diplomatic efforts and public messaging have continued alongside persistent tensions over Iran’s nuclear and regional activities.

The divergence between Yadlin’s caution and market pricing underscores the uncertainty surrounding the situation — and the difficulty of forecasting when or whether military escalation might occur.

JERUSALEM (VINnews) The “Women of the Wall” group, known for their repeated provocations at the site of the Western Wall, arrived on Wednesday morning, the second day of Rosh Chodesh, and blocked the main entrance and exit to the Western Wall during a Torah reading ceremony, disregarding instructions from police and Western Wall officials. This occurred despite it being the first day of Ramadan, thereby endangering the thousands present at the site.

During a High Court hearing on Tuesday of petitions regarding the Western Wall, The Western Wall Heritage Foundation stated that the Women of the Wall’s recurring actions each new month constitute ongoing provocations and scenes that, in its view, violate the sanctity of the Western Wall. According to the foundation, this time the actions amounted to a tangible risk to human life, as they blocked the only escape route from the women’s section out of the Kotel plaza.

הפרובקציה השבועית של הנשים הרפורמיות בכותל המערבי. חודש שלם הן לא באירוע, ופתאום בראש חודש מתעוררות להתריס pic.twitter.com/a1DuFMf6Xd

— ישראל כהן (@Israelcohen911) February 18, 2026

On Tuesday evening, the Women of the Wall and the Reform Movement petitions were heard by the Supreme Court of Israel, demanding that women be permitted to bring Torah scrolls into the Western Wall plaza. Seven judges presided over the expanded panel. One of the petitions calls for allowing women to bring Torah scrolls to the Western Wall, or alternatively, granting equal access to Torah scrolls currently held by the Rabbi of the Wall.

The fire broke out this morning on Ronald Road.

No injuries are being reported.

The cause is under investigation.

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The United States is said to be moving closer to a major military clash in the Middle East, with new reports indicating that such a confrontation could unfold in the near future, Axios reported Wednesday.

According to the report, any American strike on Iran would not be limited in scope. Instead, it is expected to be extensive and sustained, more akin to a full-scale war than a narrow, targeted operation.

Individuals briefed on the matter said that if hostilities erupt, the campaign would likely involve coordinated action by both the United States and Israel. They indicated that the scope would surpass that of Operation Rising Lion in June 2025, when Israel targeted Iran’s underground nuclear installations and was later joined by American forces. A conflict of this magnitude could significantly reshape the region and influence the remainder of US President Donald Trump’s final term in office.

The report further stated that Trump weighed the possibility of striking Iran as far back as January, following Tehran’s harsh crackdown on domestic protests.

After that opportunity passed, the administration reportedly adopted a two-pronged approach: pursuing renewed nuclear negotiations while simultaneously building up a substantial American military presence in the region. Even so, US officials are said to believe that the chances of achieving a meaningful diplomatic agreement remain slim.

{Matzav.com}

BEIJING (AP) — An explosion at a fireworks’ shop in China’s Hubei province on Wednesday killed 12 people, state media reported, the second such explosion as the country celebrates the Lunar New Year.

Emergency responders put out the blaze at the fireworks shop in the town of Xiangyang, in central Hubei province, on Wednesday afternoon, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Investigators are now looking into the cause of the explosion, the report said without giving further details.

Fireworks are a large part of the Lunar New Year celebration in China, but their use has also been the cause of multiple accidents.

On Sunday, another accident at a fireworks shop in eastern Jiangsu province killed eight people and injured two. Authorities had said a resident had set off fireworks near the shop.

The central government warned of the dangers in a statement Tuesday, saying that “fireworks are still the biggest risks during the Spring Festival period,” according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — BDE: The IDF reported on Wednesday that a soldier was killed overnight in a friendly fire incident in the southern Gaza Strip after being mistakenly identified as a threat during operations near Khan Younis.

The soldier was identified as Staff Sgt. Ofri Yafe, 21, from the northern agricultural community of Hayogev. He served in the Paratroopers Brigade.A preliminary investigation found that Yafe was hit by small-arms fire from Israeli troops conducting engineering operations to demolish structures during nighttime activity in eastern Khan Younis, in an area of buffer zone outposts near the border. Paratrooper forces had arrived in the sector about a week earlier.

Yafe is the fifth Israeli service member killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, 2025. The others were Maj. Yaniv Kula, 2nd Lt. Itai Yavetz, Master Sgt. (res.) Efi (Yona Ephraim) Feldbaum and Sgt. Maj. (res.) Asael Babad.

Since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023, 925 Israeli soldiers have been killed, according to military figures. Overall, 2,013 people have been killed since the start of the war, the military said.

Staff Sergeant Yaffe is survived by his parents, Hadas and Yiftach, his sisters, Noy and Tzuf, and his brother, Itamar. Residents of Hayogev said: “With deep sorrow and a broken heart, we bow our heads following the fall of our beloved community member, Ofri Yaffe. The entire Hayogev community is shocked and grieving this painful loss. We embrace the Yaffe family in their most difficult moments and will stand by them in any way required.”

On October 8, 2023, one day after the massacre near the Gaza border, Staff Sergeant Yaffe wrote on Facebook, attaching his phone number: “My name is Ofri Yaffe. I completed my year of volunteer service at the Ayanot Youth Village a few months ago. Several friends and I are ready to come and help with anything needed, anywhere in the country that is safe to reach.”

For nearly two decades, Batya Kahan — the visionary behind the acclaimed Batya’s Kitchen — has transformed the way families experience Pesach. With her signature blend of elevated flavor, meticulous standards, and heartfelt hospitality, Batya has helped thousands of families serve gourmet, homestyle Yom Tov meals with confidence and grace.

Now, for the very first time, she opens her kitchen to the public.

Pesach Secrets from Batya’s Kitchen is Batya Kahan’s highly anticipated debut cookbook — and it is so much more than a collection of recipes. It is a complete Pesach companion, designed to guide you through every stage of Yom Tov preparation with clarity, organization, and calm.

Over 150 Timeless, Gluten-Free, Non-Gebrokts Recipes

Inside this extraordinary volume, you’ll discover more than 150 refined, gluten-free, non-gebrokts recipes — each crafted with care and backed by over 18 years of Pesach expertise. From beloved family classics to fresh, innovative creations, every dish reflects Batya’s elevated style and commitment to foolproof results.

Her recipes are celebrated fortheir:

• Beautiful presentation
• Freezer-friendly brilliance
• Reliable, repeatable success

Whether you’re hosting a small Yom Tov meal or a full Seder for a crowd, these recipes are designed to work, every time.

More Than a Cookbook — A Complete Pesach System

What truly sets Pesach Secrets apart is its practical, make-ahead approach. Batya understands that Pesach is not just about cooking — it’s about managing time, energy, and expectations during one of the busiest weeks of the year.

That’s why this book includes:

Checklists, timelines, and prep plans
Thoughtfully structured to help you stay organized, ahead of schedule, and stress-free.

• A comprehensive shopping and label-reading guide
  Including how to confidently navigate imported Kosher for Pesach labels.
• The Batya Freeze Code
  A step-by-step system teaching you how to properly freeze, store, and reheat dishes so they taste freshly made.
• Plating and presentation guidance
  Transform your Yom Tov table with elegance and intention.
• Traveling-with-food tips
  Pack like a pro for hotel stays, family visits, or Yom Tov away from home.

Throughout the book, Batya’s practical “make-ahead magic” ensures you can focus on what truly matters — meaningful moments around your Yom Tov table.

Bringing Calm and Confidence Back to Pesach

Batya’s Pesach dishes have already earned a treasured place in Jewish homes across the globe. With Pesach Secrets, she shares not only her most beloved recipes, but also the systems, organization, and mindset that allow Pesach to feel doable, stress-free, and absolutely delicious.

Thoughtful, inspiring, and beautifully written, this remarkable guide blends culinary artistry with real-life practicality — empowering every home cook, from beginner to seasoned, to host with serenity and joy.

Whether you’re preparing your first Seder or your thirtieth, Pesach Secrets from Batya’s Kitchen is destined to become a year-after-year staple in Jewish kitchens everywhere.

Available at ArtScroll.com, by calling 718 921-9000 or at your local Jewish bookseller.

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Israel Defense Forces troops demolished the home of a Hamas terrorist responsible for two deadly attacks in Judea-Samaria in 2024, the military said.

Raafat Dawasi, who was killed in an Israeli drone strike on Aug. 17, 2024, was a senior member of a Hamas terror network in the Jenin area.

The IDF said Dawasi was involved in a roadside bombing in Jenin on June 27, 2024, that killed Capt. Alon Sacgiu, 22, and wounded 16 other soldiers. He was also linked to a shooting attack in the Jordan Valley on Aug. 11, 2024, that killed Yonatan Deutsch, 23, and injured another person.

Troops operated in the town of Silat al-Harithiya overnight and carried out the demolition of Dawasi’s home, the army said.

A group of leading rabbis identified with the Religious Zionist community sent a sharply phrased letter to Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu cautioning against proposals to broaden the inclusion of women in frontline combat roles, particularly within the Armored Corps.

In their message, the rabbis warned that transforming the Armored Corps into a mixed-gender framework would place their students in a direct clash between adherence to religious law and participation in military service. They pointed to scenarios such as male and female soldiers sharing the confined space of a tank, writing that such arrangements are irreconcilable with halakha.

The rabbis underscored that many of their students serve in key combat positions in the Israel Defense Forces with deep dedication, regarding their enlistment as both a national duty and a sacred mission. At the same time, they voiced serious concern over what they described as an accelerated effort to integrate female combat soldiers into central fighting units. They stated that the IDF’s power is not derived only from its operational capabilities, but also from its spiritual character, adding that preserving standards of sanctity and modesty in military settings is vital not just for observant soldiers, but for the army’s overall strength and effectiveness.

According to the letter, the rabbis had avoided public criticism throughout long months of warfare out of a sense of collective responsibility. However, they wrote that recent moves left them compelled to object openly to mixed-gender service that, in their view, conflicts with Jewish law, longstanding tradition, and the foundational principles of the state. They further cautioned that advancing such policies would contradict the IDF’s declared objective of increasing enlistment among religious and haredi recruits.

The letter argues that redesignating the Armored Corps as a mixed unit—similar to previous adjustments in the Artillery Corps, where the number of religious soldiers has reportedly declined significantly—would effectively prevent Torah-observant servicemen from serving in major combat roles. The rabbis warned this could diminish the army’s fighting capacity and weaken the idea of a unified “people’s army.” They also took issue with what they characterized as the introduction of outside social agendas that, in their view, are disconnected from operational necessity or security considerations.

Concluding their appeal, the rabbis urged the Prime Minister to ensure that the IDF remains an institution in which soldiers can serve in line with their religious convictions, emphasizing that this is essential for both military victory and national cohesion. They requested an immediate meeting with Netanyahu in hopes of stopping the plan before it develops into what they described as a grave and irreversible crisis.

{Matzav.com}

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett issued on Wednesday morning a scathing critique of the charedi education system Wednesday morning, calling for a “revolution” and an immediate end to state funding for institutions that oppose IDF service and Zionist values, according to a Jfeed report.

The statement, published in a lengthy social media post, has sparked intense backlash within the charedi community, with critics accusing Bennett of “persecution” and “false generalizations” for political gain ahead of the 2026 elections.

In his address, Bennett laid out what he called three fundamental “facts” driving his platform:

1. Anti-Zionist Indoctrination: Bennett claimed that one-third of Jewish first-graders in Israel attend charedi schools that incite against the state and military service, resulting in the “We will die rather than enlist” sentiment.

2. Lack of Core Curriculum: He argued that by not teaching English, Mathematics, and Science, the charedi system denies students the tools to integrate into the 21st-century workforce.

3. Economic Burden: Bennett alleged that the system sanctifies “not working,” leading to a population that lives on state subsidies without paying taxes, which he described as “unsustainable.”

Bennett detailed a radical “day-one” plan should he return to the Prime Minister’s office:

• Defunding: Immediate cessation of funding for any school that educates against IDF service or the state, as well as institutions that discriminate against Sephardic students.
• Core Studies Mandate: Zero funding for institutions that refuse to teach core subjects required for productive citizenship.
• Expansion of State-Charedi Education (Mamach): Opening “excellent” state-Haredi schools that combine Torah study with high-level secular subjects.
• Integration: A policy of “integration over exclusion,” which he likened to a “domestic Aliyah” of one million Haredim into the broader Israeli economy and society.

Bennett sharply criticized Prime Minister Netanyahu, accusing him of prioritizing political survival over the country’s future. “Netanyahu is not stupid; he understands the problem perfectly,” Bennett wrote. “But because he is entirely dependent on the charedi parties, he surrenders to them and promotes anti-Zionist policies.”

He warned that Israel is currently on a “suicidal” path, comparing the government’s policy to the Titanic sailing toward an inevitable disaster.

For nearly two decades, Batya Kahan — the visionary behind the acclaimed Batya’s Kitchen — has transformed the way families experience Pesach. With her signature blend of elevated flavor, meticulous standards, and heartfelt hospitality, Batya has helped thousands of families serve gourmet, homestyle Yom Tov meals with confidence and grace.

Now, for the very first time, she opens her kitchen to the public.

Pesach Secrets from Batya’s Kitchen is Batya Kahan’s highly anticipated debut cookbook — and it is so much more than a collection of recipes. It is a complete Pesach companion, designed to guide you through every stage of Yom Tov preparation with clarity, organization, and calm.

Over 150 Timeless, Gluten-Free, Non-Gebrokts Recipes

Inside this extraordinary volume, you’ll discover more than 150 refined, gluten-free, non-gebrokts recipes — each crafted with care and backed by over 18 years of Pesach expertise. From beloved family classics to fresh, innovative creations, every dish reflects Batya’s elevated style and commitment to foolproof results.

Her recipes are celebrated for their:

• Beautiful presentation
• Freezer-friendly brilliance
• Reliable, repeatable success

Whether you’re hosting a small Yom Tov meal or a full Seder for a crowd, these recipes are designed to work, every time.

More Than a Cookbook — A Complete Pesach System

What truly sets Pesach Secrets apart is its practical, make-ahead approach. Batya understands that Pesach is not just about cooking — it’s about managing time, energy, and expectations during one of the busiest weeks of the year.

That’s why this book includes:

Checklists, timelines, and prep plans
Thoughtfully structured to help you stay organized, ahead of schedule, and stress-free.

• A comprehensive shopping and label-reading guide
  Including how to confidently navigate imported Kosher for Pesach labels.
• The Batya Freeze Code
  A step-by-step system teaching you how to properly freeze, store, and reheat dishes so they taste freshly made.
• Plating and presentation guidance
  Transform your Yom Tov table with elegance and intention.
• Traveling-with-food tips
  Pack like a pro for hotel stays, family visits, or Yom Tov away from home.

Throughout the book, Batya’s practical “make-ahead magic” ensures you can focus on what truly matters — meaningful moments around your Yom Tov table.

Bringing Calm and Confidence Back to Pesach

Batya’s Pesach dishes have already earned a treasured place in Jewish homes across the globe. With Pesach Secrets, she shares not only her most beloved recipes, but also the systems, organization, and mindset that allow Pesach to feel doable, stress-free, and absolutely delicious.

Thoughtful, inspiring, and beautifully written, this remarkable guide blends culinary artistry with real-life practicality — empowering every home cook, from beginner to seasoned, to host with serenity and joy.

Whether you’re preparing your first Seder or your thirtieth, Pesach Secrets from Batya’s Kitchen is destined to become a year-after-year staple in Jewish kitchens everywhere.

Available at ArtScroll.com, by calling 718 921-9000 or at your local Jewish bookseller.

The IDF announced on Wednesday morning that an IDF soldier was killed overnight in a friendly fire incident in the Gaza Strip.

The soldier was identified as Staff Sgt. Ofri Yafe, z’l, 21, from HaYogev, a moshav in northern Israel. He served in the Paratrooper Brigade’s Reconnaissance Unit.

Army Radio reported that the incident occurred in the Yellow Line area when two paratrooper soldiers were carrying out routine activities in eastern Khan Younis, searching and clearing buildings of terror infrastructure.

At about 2:00 a.m., one soldier mistakenly identified the second soldier as a terrorist and opened fire, critically injuring the soldier. A medical evacuation unit was dispatched to the scene, but sadly, the soldier was pronounced dead even before arriving at the hospital.

Yafe, z’l, is the fifth IDF casualty in Gaza since the ceasefire went into effect on October 10, 2025. The number of IDF soldiers killed in the war with Gaza since October 7, 2023, is now 925.

The IDF launched an investigation into the incident.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

WFAN host Craig Carton sharply criticized filmmaker Spike Lee this week, accusing him of going too far during the NBA All-Star festivities and urging that he be barred from league arenas.

Speaking on his Monday program, Carton reacted angrily after Lee was seen seated courtside at the All-Star Game with a bag displaying a Palestine Liberation Organization flag, at the same time Israeli-born player Deni Avdija was making history. “Spike Lee should be banned from every basketball game for the rest of his life,” Carton said in a clip shared on social media. “The fact that Spike Lee would protest the fact that an Israeli-born player made it to the All-Star game… The player’s not political, the player’s just playing basketball. There’s no place for this.”

The incident took place during the 2026 NBA All-Star Weekend at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. Lee, long associated with the New York Knicks as one of their most visible celebrity fans, was photographed sitting near the court carrying the PLO-themed bag. The moment drew heightened attention because Avdija, now a forward for the Portland Trail Blazers, had just become the first Israeli-born athlete ever selected to participate in the league’s All-Star Game.

Carton also faulted the NBA itself for permitting the display, suggesting it detracted from what should have been a milestone celebration for Avdija. “But for the NBA to open up their doors and front-row service to a despicable human being and allow him to make this Israeli-born player feel bad, he shouldn’t be allowed in Madison Square Garden,” Carton stressed. “He shouldn’t be allowed in another NBA arena for a long time.”

While many in Israel viewed Avdija’s selection as a proud achievement, Lee’s choice of attire drew criticism from those who argued that political messaging did not belong at a sporting event. Lee has not publicly commented on the matter.

The controversy extended beyond Lee. LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers also faced backlash after remarks he made about Israel during his All-Star media availability.

Ahead of Sunday’s game, James was asked by an Israeli journalist about Avdija. He replied, “I said I believe he was an All-Star. He’s playing exceptional basketball. So that’s that.”

He then addressed Israel more broadly, stating, “If I have fans over there – I’ve never been there – I hope you’ve been following my career. I hope I inspire people over there to not only want to be great at sports but be better in general in life. Hopefully someday I could make it over there. Like I said, I’ve never been over there, but I heard nothing but great things.”

His comments quickly ignited debate online. British-American commentator Mehdi Hasan reacted on Twitter, writing, “What a disgrace LeBron is,” while reposting a message from Laila Al-Arian of Al Jazeera that read, “The entire human rights community: Israel is an apartheid state committing genocide and ethnic cleansing. LeBron James: ‘I’ve heard great things about Israel.’”

Other users on social media accused James of ignoring “Palestinian Arab suffering” and argued that speaking positively about Israel was inappropriate in light of the ongoing conflict.

James has not issued any further response to the criticism.

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Amos Yadlin, a former head of the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate, said about the talks between Iran and the US that he would “think twice”” about flying this weekend, fueling rumors of a possible impending US attack in Iran.

Yadlin clarified that while a superpower does not go to war in a matter of days and diplomatic paths should still be exhausted, the “all options on the table” rhetoric is now backed by a credible and visible military threat.

Contradicting Yadlin’s cautionary tone, Finance Minister Smotrich urged the public to maintain their routine. In an interview on Israel radio, Smotrich remarked that, “I wouldn’t cancel plans for the weekend. We won’t be caught by surprise, but for now, we are waiting to see how things develop.”

Smotrich noted that while Israel fears a “bad deal” regarding Iran’s nuclear program, there is an understanding with the U.S. that any agreement must also address Iran’s missile program and its funding of global terrorism.

Barak Ravid reported on the Axios news site that “The Trump administration is closer to a major war in the Middle East than most Americans realize. It could begin very soon.”

Ravid quoted sources that stated it would likely be a joint U.S.-Israeli campaign that’s much broader in scope and more existential for the regime than the Israeli-led 12-day war last June, which the U.S. eventually joined to take out Iran’s underground nuclear facilities. Such a war would have a dramatic influence on the entire region and major implications for the remaining three years of the Trump presidency.

Ravid added that the Israeli government, which is pushing for a maximalist scenario targeting regime change as well as Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, is preparing for a scenario of war within days, according to two Israeli officials.

Some U.S. sources told Axios that the U.S. might need more time. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said strikes could still be weeks away. But others say the timeline could be shorter.

“The boss is getting fed up. Some people around him warn him against going to war with Iran, but I think there is 90% chance we see kinetic action in the next few weeks,” one Trump adviser said.

Negotiations between the United States and Iran are continuing, at least officially, but it appears that a decisive moment is approaching, with Axios reporting on Wednesday that a US strike may be imminent.

A White House source said that the chance of a strike in the coming weeks is 90% and that the operation would likely be carried out together with Israel. Two Israeli sources said that Israel is preparing for a war to begin “within days.”

A Trump adviser was quoted in the report as saying that Trump is growing “fed up.”

“I think there is a ninety percent chance we will see kinetic action in the coming weeks,” the source was quoted as saying. “Some people around him warn him against going to war with Iran, but I think there is a 90% chance we see kinetic action in the next few weeks.”

Sources said that the operation would last for weeks, would be broad in scope, and would have dramatic consequences for the entire region and for the continuation of Trump’s presidency.

If in the 12-day war, Israel led the campaign and the United States merely “joined” by bombing the facility in Fordow, this time, according to the report, it will be different.

Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin, the former head of IDF Military Intelligence, warned Israelis to avoid flying in the coming days in an interview with Channel 12 on Wednesday morning, claiming that the US may imminently strike Iran, leading to a regional escalation.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

The Israel Defense Forces announced Wednesday morning that Staff Sergeant Ofri Yafe, 21, from Hayogev, was killed during combat operations in Gaza.

Yafe was a member of the Paratroopers Reconnaissance Unit and was fatally wounded while operating in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

Preliminary findings suggest that he was struck by friendly fire amid activity in Khan Yunis.

The incident took place at approximately 2:00 a.m. in the area known as the “yellow line” in southern Gaza. Two separate forces from the Paratroopers Brigade were engaged in a standard mission to search and secure buildings. During the course of the operation, one unit mistakenly believed the other to be a hostile force.

As a result of the misidentification, shots were fired at the second unit, leaving Staff Sergeant Yafe critically injured. Medical personnel were rushed to the scene and began evacuating him, but he was pronounced dead during transport before reaching the hospital. The IDF has opened a comprehensive investigation to determine exactly how the fatal error occurred.

Yafe is the fifth Israeli soldier to lose his life in Gaza since the ceasefire that began on October 10, 2025. The others killed in Gaza during this period were Major Yaniv Kula, Staff Sergeant Itay Yavetz, Master Sergeant (Res.) Yona Efraim Feldbaum, and Sergeant Major (Res.) Asael Babad.

Since the war began on October 7, 2023, 925 IDF soldiers have fallen. In total, 2,013 people have been killed since the outbreak of hostilities.

{Matzav.com}

The latest U.S.-brokered talks between Russian and Ukrainian envoys over Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine ended Wednesday with no sign of a breakthrough and with both sides saying the talks were “difficult” as the war’s fourth anniversary approaches next week.

The negotiations in Switzerland were the third round of direct talks organized by the U.S., after meetings earlier this year in Abu Dhabi that officials described as constructive but which also yielded no major progress.

The head of the Russian delegation, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s adviser Vladimir Medinsky, told reporters that the two days of talks in Geneva “were difficult but businesslike.” He said another round of talks will be held “in the near future.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also described the discussions as “difficult,” and accused Russia of “trying to drag out negotiations that could already have reached the final stage.”

U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, said on social media that Washington’s push for peace in Ukraine over the past year has “brought about meaningful progress,” without elaborating.

The two armies remain locked in battle on the roughly 1,250-kilometer (750-mile) front line, while Russia bombards civilian areas of Ukraine daily.

Hours after the first day of talks ended on Tuesday, Russian drones killed a woman and injured a 6-year-old girl and 18-month-old toddler in the southern Ukraine city of Zaporizhzhia, officials said.

Overnight, Russia launched one ballistic missile and 126 long-range drones at Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian air force.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that it’s “too early” to speak about the outcome. Putin has been receiving reports about the talks’ progress, he said.

The head of the Ukrainian delegation in Switzerland, Rustem Umerov, said that officials are trying to bridge their political and military differences.

“Consultations are taking place in working groups by areas within the political and military tracks,” the head of the Ukrainian delegation, Rustem Umerov, wrote in English on X. “We are working on clarifying the parameters and mechanisms of the decisions discussed yesterday.”

Zelenskyy said the delegations also were to discuss further exchanges of prisoners of war and the release of civilian prisoners.

He revealed that the Ukrainian and American envoys in Geneva met with representatives from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. Europe’s participation in the process is “indispensable,” Zelenskyy said.

European leaders, mindful of Putin’s wider ambitions, say their own security is at stake in Ukraine and have insisted on being consulted in peace efforts.

Russia and Ukraine appear to still be far apart on their demands for a settlement.

Zelenskyy has offered a ceasefire and a face-to-face meeting with Putin. But Moscow wants a comprehensive agreement before committing to a truce.

Putin’s key goals remain what he declared when Russia invaded its neighbor on Feb. 24, 2022: Ukraine must renounce joining NATO, sharply reduce the size of its army and protect Russian language and culture to keep the country in Moscow’s orbit.

Additionally, Putin wants Kyiv to withdraw its forces from the four regions Moscow has occupied but doesn’t fully control.

Zelenskyy says Ukraine won’t surrender land to Russia.

(AP)

For decades, regulations required citizens of Israel – including those who also held another nationality – to use an Israeli passport when entering or leaving the country.

When the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted government services worldwide, passport offices and Israeli missions abroad operated at limited capacity or were closed altogether. This created significant challenges for many citizens who were unable to obtain or renew Israeli travel documents. In response, the Interior Ministry introduced a temporary policy allowing dual citizens to travel using their non-Israeli passports. Since then, the arrangement has been renewed repeatedly due to ongoing demand and practical need, most recently in December 2025.

Chaim V’Chessed has actively lobbied on behalf of the community to help ensure the continuation of this important exception.

The Interior Ministry has now announced that this accommodation will remain in place through September 30, 2026. Dual citizens will therefore continue to be permitted to enter and depart Israel using a valid foreign passport during this period.

Chaim V’Chessed will continue to share updates with the community on travel rules, requirements, and any changes as they occur.

LISTEN:

https://matzav.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Bitachon4Life-Shiur-1711-Semichah-Part-11-Negate.mp3

​​For more info, email bitachon4life@gmail.com.

Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin, the former head of IDF Military Intelligence, insinuated in an interview with Channel 12 on Wednesday morning that the US may strike Iran in the coming days, leading to a regional escalation.

“Last week I felt comfortable flying to the Munich Security Conference,” Yadlin said. “But I would think twice about flying if it were this weekend.”

“We’re much closer than before to an attack,” he added, “but a superpower doesn’t go to war in a matter of days. There’s a diplomatic path that needs to be exhausted.”

Yadlin added that “many people oppose a strike. Even in the Pentagon, it’s unclear what such an attack would ultimately achieve. The president is very determined, and when he says all options are on the table, that’s backed by a credible military threat—alongside the U.S. deployment off of Iran’s coast and in its airspace.”

In contrast, Finance Minister and security cabinet member Betzalel Smotrich doesn’t seem to believe a US strike is imminent. Asked during an interview on 103FM Radio on Wednesday morning whether Israelis planning to travel in the coming days should reconsider, he responded, “I’m one of those who always prefers to stay in Eretz HaKodesh anyway, but I wouldn’t cancel plans for the weekend.”

Flight tracking data on Tuesday showed that the US flew over 50 advanced fighter jets to the Middle East over 24 hours.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

LISTEN:

https://matzav.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Tefila4Life-Shiur-1054-Simcha-Shiru-Lashem.mp3

One day after the fate of the Kosel’s kedusha was casually tossed around by Supreme Court justices, one of the petitioners, the Women of the Wall organization, escalated its monthly antics on Wednesday morning, Rosh Chodesh Adar.

The members of the group not only violated the law by bringing a Sefer Torah to the Kosel, they blocked the main entrance and exit to the site by holding a “Kriyas HaTorah” ceremony while completely ignoring the instructions of the police and Kosel ushers, endangering the thousands of people who came to daven at the Kosel.

It should be noted that Wednesday is also the first day of Ramadan, which led to an unusually large crowd due to the Muslims who also arrived at the area.

A statement from the Western Wall Heritage Foundation said that the actions of the Women of the Wall group went beyond its usual provocations that disrespect the mispallelim and violate the laws of the site but also posed a “real risk to human life.”

The Western Wall Heritage Foundation submitted a complaint at the Supreme Court hearing about the group’s ongoing provocations at the Kosel every Rosh Chodesh.

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(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)_

Bnos Penina, a girls school in Lakewood, has informed parents that it will no longer be able to operate in its current location after Wednesday, February 18, and instructed families not to send students beginning Thursday, February 19.

According to the letter, administrators said the school has struggled to remain financially viable after parents’ commitments to provide additional support and maintain current tuition payments were not fully met.

“Had tuition obligations been maintained as agreed, we would not be in this position today,” the administration wrote.

The administration said the challenges were compounded by prolonged periods of sub-freezing temperatures earlier this winter, which increased operating and maintenance costs.

The school also disclosed that its landlord had notified administrators that the building would no longer be available for use after this week, leaving the school without a location to continue classes.

Despite efforts over recent months to secure funding and explore alternative solutions, the administration said it was unable to find a sustainable path forward.

“After much effort, many conversations, and every possible attempt to find a sustainable path forward, we have reached the painful conclusion that we will not be able to continue,” the letter stated.

School leaders said the decision followed consultation with Torah authorities and was made after extensive deliberation.

“It is our sincere hope that our wonderful and loyal parents will step forward in a meaningful and immediate way to make continuation possible,” the administration wrote.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Lebanese security authorities have arrested a resident of a southern village on suspicion of spying for Israel. The arrest was first reported by Lebanon Debate, which said the information department of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces carried out a month-long surveillance operation targeting the suspect, identified as Ahmad M.

According to the report, investigators had been monitoring Ahmad M., a resident of the village of Ansar, over suspected contacts with Israeli agents. The operation culminated in a coordinated arrest at a local gas station, where members of the department’s elite “Striking Force” surrounded his vehicle and sealed off the area to prevent bystanders from approaching.

Security officials said the suspect was taken into custody without incident.

During questioning, Ahmad M. allegedly admitted to cooperating with Israel and to providing intelligence that helped guide strikes inside Lebanon, according to the Lebanon Debate report.

The outlet described him as a “senior operative,” citing his direct communication with Israeli handlers and the “quality and sensitivity” of the information he is accused of supplying.

Lebanese security sources said the suspect traveled multiple times to Israel for meetings with intelligence contacts. Additional encounters were allegedly held in Germany and Italy, suggesting a network that extended beyond the Middle East.

Authorities have referred the case to a Lebanese military court for further proceedings.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

WASHINGTON D.C (VINnews)-House Democrats are pushing for a formal censure of Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) following his controversial social media comments comparing Muslims unfavorably to dogs, which have sparked widespread backlash across party lines.

The controversy erupted after Fine responded on X to a post by Palestinian American activist Nerdeen Kiswani, who sarcastically suggested that with New York “coming to Islam,” dogs might be deemed “unclean” and unsuitable as indoor pets. Fine wrote: “If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.”

He later doubled down in subsequent statements and interviews, including one where he said: “Not only are we supposed to let all these people in, we’re supposed to smile and submit while they redefine what it means to be in America!”

A major Muslim leader in NYC is calling for dogs to be forbidden because they “bother some Muslims.”

If Mainstream Muslims make us choose between keeping our dogs and them going home, the choice is easy. pic.twitter.com/FvaLpYE0oB

— Congressman Randy Fine (@RepFine) February 17, 2026

The remarks, viewed by critics as Islamophobic and bigoted, prompted immediate outrage from Democrats, civil rights groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and even some Jewish and pro-Israel organizations. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) described Fine as “an Islamophobic, disgusting and unrepentant bigot,” while Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called the statement “genuinely one of the most disgusting” from an American official and urged that Fine be censured and stripped of committee assignments.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) told Axios he had raised the issue with Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) leadership, stating: “I have raised with CPC leadership that Fine must be censured. We cannot stand idly by as Muslim Americans are described as less than dogs by a sitting member.” Khanna emphasized that the issue transcends politics and concerns basic morality and decency.

Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) echoed the sentiment, posting on X that while he usually opposes censure resolutions, “I’ve never seen someone deserve one more.”

According to Axios reporting, House Democrats are actively discussing forcing a censure vote on the floor if Republican Speaker Mike Johnson does not act, with one senior progressive indicating it “could likely happen” as early as when the House returns from recess. Some lawmakers have gone further, calling for Fine’s resignation or removal from committees.

Fine, who has a history of vocal anti-Muslim rhetoric and positions himself as one of Congress’s most outspoken critics on related issues, has not backed down from his comments. The episode has also drawn rebukes from figures like conservative commentator Megyn Kelly, who accused him of going “full bigot.”

Sharia law is a clear and present threat to the United States.

The call to prayer is being blasted in New York City.

Muslim activists are calling for dogs to be killed.

Giant mosques are popping up all over Texas and Florida.

We have to do something about this threat, and… pic.twitter.com/qwHTVlpqPC

— Congressman Randy Fine (@RepFine) February 17, 2026

The Stoliner Rebbe sharply denounced the recent unrest in Bnei Brak, expressing deep anguish over the violence and particularly over reports that tefillin and a siddur were burned during the disturbances.

Speaking to his chassidim in a special address marking Rosh Chodesh Adar, the Rebbe addressed the events that took place in the city.

“We all heard with shock what happened two days ago in Bnei Brak. To our shame, these riots have become somewhat of a norm, and this is something terrible,” the Rebbe said.

He acknowledged the strain facing many in the chareidi community but stressed that hardship does not justify lawlessness.

“It is true that we are in a very difficult situation, many in the chareidi public are going through a challenging period and do not know how this will be resolved. But none of this justifies behaving in a wild and reckless manner.”

The Rebbe emphasized that throughout Jewish history, even in times of suffering, there was never any license to violate halacha.

“Throughout the generations we endured troubles and difficult times, and we never found any permission to act against clear halacha, against the Shulchan Aruch. It is forbidden to cause damage, it is forbidden to burn. We have the Torah and we have halacha above all. It is absolutely forbidden to harm others or damage property. Not garbage bins and not other objects — these are clear matters. How did we deteriorate to this point? Who permitted this?”

He also criticized the blocking of roads during the protests, pointing out the potential danger and hardship such actions can cause.

“And it is not only forbidden to cause damage — what permission is there to block roads and prevent the public from reaching their destinations, including cases involving danger to life, and causing distress to many? What has happened to us? Does this help anyone? It certainly does not add to ahavas Yisrael. This only harms and injures our own community. We are the ones who suffer from this without having done anything wrong.”

The Rebbe said the most disturbing aspect of the events was the reported burning of tashmishei kedusha.

“And what should shake all of us is that tefillin and a siddur were burned. Heaven forbid. If this had happened elsewhere, the entire Jewish world would be outraged and horrified. How did we reach such a dreadful situation that tefillin and a holy siddur were burned by Jewish hands? Where is our Jewish feeling? How low have we fallen? Have we completely lost our minds?!”

He concluded by calling for introspection and change.

“This decline must be stopped. We must conduct a serious accounting of the soul, correct what is required of us, and act according to the will of the Creator, may He be blessed — in all your ways know Him.”

{Matzav.com}

NEW YORK (VINnews) — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani plans to reinstate homeless encampment sweeps after previously halting the practice, according to the NY Post.

The decision follows criticism of the administration’s handling of homelessness during a recent stretch of extreme cold, during which 19 people experiencing homelessness died. The reversal marks a shift from Mamdani’s campaign position, when he pledged to end the sweeps, calling them ineffective at moving people into permanent shelter.

The sweeps — carried out under prior administrations, including that of former Mayor Eric Adams — involve city outreach teams notifying individuals living in encampments, returning over several days to offer services and shelter placements before dismantling makeshift structures. Police and sanitation workers are typically present during the operations.

City data show thousands of complaints about street encampments so far this year.

Officials have not formally announced a restart date, but sources indicate the practice could resume this week. The administration has said it remains focused on connecting vulnerable residents with housing and services.

Knesset Member Michael Malkieli sharply criticized police conduct following the recent riots in Bnei Brak, accusing law enforcement of excessive force and staging what he described as a public relations display.

In an interview on an Israeli news broadcast, Malkieli addressed the violence that erupted in the city, stressing that the position of gedolei Yisrael is unequivocal. “Gedolei Yisrael, the roshei yeshiva, issued very, very clear letters that our path is not one of violence — certainly not to burn things and not to go out to uncontrolled protests — and we condemn every type of violence,” he said. At the same time, he argued that this condemnation does not justify what he characterized as harsh police behavior.

Malkieli recounted that even before police forces entered Bnei Brak, residents had contacted him expressing concern about how officers would act. “People called and said, look, we have experience with the Israel Police, and it’s clear to us that now the police will want to put on a show,” he said. According to Malkieli, the police response was disproportionate. “It cannot be that they come and beat people who are not connected, take people into custody who are not connected to the incident.” He added that he has submitted a parliamentary motion and intends to demand explanations. “I expect the police to restore order, but they behaved there in a brutal manner.”

Addressing claims of selective enforcement, Malkieli reinforced his criticism. “Absolutely. Not only selective enforcement — there is a show here that the Israel Police put on for television to show that it is also doing something.”

Turning to developments surrounding the draft law, Malkieli said that gedolei Yisrael instructed representatives to continue negotiations rather than sever dialogue. “The instruction was unequivocal to do everything,” he said, describing ongoing cooperation with the committee chairman and legal advisers. He maintained that there is no political barrier to passing the legislation if an agreed-upon text is finalized. “The Prime Minister, the coalition chairman, say — when there is a version acceptable to you, it will have 61 fingers in the Knesset.” Still, he acknowledged the process has been marked by frustration and setbacks.

Malkieli also voiced serious concern about High Court involvement in matters relating to the Kosel. He argued that even when the Knesset enacts legislation, judicial intervention remains unpredictable. “We already don’t know, once there is legislation, what the court will do with that legislation. We have already seen very major laws in the Knesset that the court struck and put into storage.” In his view, this reflects a broader pattern of interference in sensitive issues.

As another example, he cited the authority of rabbinical courts. “The court stripped them of the authority, in an arbitrary, crude and inconsiderate manner, to adjudicate monetary cases.” He noted that a bill to expand those powers has advanced in the Constitution Committee but cautioned, “You don’t know what the High Court will do, you have no idea.” He described the situation as marked by “arrogance” and as undermining the dignity of Israel’s dayanim.

On the issue of funding for chareidi educational institutions following a conditional order from the High Court, Malkieli again attacked what he sees as judicial overreach. “The High Court behaves like the last member of the opposition in a Knesset committee,” he said. He emphasized that these schools serve tax-paying citizens. “Are we second-class citizens? Are we residents here? Where did we come from?” He concluded with a broader critique: “We were taught that the people are sovereign. The court was not taught that.”

{Matzav.com}

Israeli security forces have detained four ISIS–affiliated terrorists in a pair of coordinated raids in the West Bank city of Yericho.

In a joint statement, the IDF and Israel Police said troops from the Lions of the Valley Battalion arrested three members of the cell last week. A fourth suspect was captured in a separate operation on Tuesday by Border Police officers.

“The terrorists were advancing terror activity and were suspected of intending to carry out an attack,” the statement said.

All four suspects were transferred for interrogation to the Shin Bet.

The arrests took place in Yericho, an area that has generally seen fewer large-scale terrorist operations than other parts of the West Bank. Israeli officials say the presence of ISIS–linked operatives there reflects ongoing efforts by smaller jihadist factions to establish footholds amid broader regional instability.

While most Israeli counterterrorism operations in the West Bank have focused on Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and local terrorist groups, security officials have increasingly warned about attempts by ISIS supporters to exploit gaps in governance and security.

The raids come as Israeli forces maintain a significant security presence across the West Bank, driven by fears of spillover violence from the war in Gaza and rising tensions along multiple fronts.

Over the past year, Israeli troops and police have carried out near-daily arrest operations, targeting suspected terrorists and weapons caches. Officials say many of those detained were in early stages of planning attacks.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Rescue crews on skis and snowcats battled blizzard conditions in an effort to reach six backcountry skiers trapped after an avalanche high in the rugged Northern California mountains that left 10 other skiers missing as the danger of more slides remained high.

The search and rescue crews were dispatched to Frog Lake in the Castle Peak area, northwest of Lake Tahoe, after someone called 911 at about 11:30 a.m. to report an avalanche with people buried as a powerful winter storm moved through the state.

Hours later, Ashley Quadros, a spokesperson with the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office, said six skiers had been located and were asked to shelter in place “as best they can” until they can be reached.

Authorities are working to rescue six skiers who survived a backcountry avalanche Feb. 17, 2026 in Northern California, while 10 others remain unaccounted for. The group of 16 total skiers included four ski guides and 12 clients, the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said in an… pic.twitter.com/xsjDyjAVVY

— The Sacramento Bee (@sacbee_news) February 18, 2026

The group was on the last day of a three-day backcountry skiing trip, said Steve Reynaud, a Tahoe National Forest avalanche forecaster with the Sierra Avalanche Center. Reynaud said his group has had contact with people on the ground in the area. He said the skiers had spent two nights at huts on a trip that required navigating “rugged mountainous terrain” on backcountry skis for up to four miles (6.4 kilometers) and bringing along all food and supplies.

Nevada County Sheriff Capt. Russell Greene said authorities were notified about the avalanche by the ski tour company that took the group to Castle Peak and by emergency beacons the skiers were carrying.

Greene told KCRA-TV that the skiers are in communication with officials through their emergency beacons, which can send texts.

“They are doing the best they can. They have taken refuge in an area, they have made up a makeshift shelter with a tarp and are doing everything they can to survive and wait for rescue,” Greene told the television station.

He said rescue teams are making their way to the group cautiously because the danger of triggering more avalanches remains high.

“We have brought in snowcats, we have snowmobiles on standby. We have individuals on skis. We have several different ways that people are attempting to get there,” he said. “It’s just going to be a slow, tedious process.”

California is being walloped this week by a powerful winter storm bringing treacherous thunderstorms, high winds and heavy snow in mountain areas.

“It’s particularly dangerous in the backcountry right now just because we’re at the height of the storm,” said Brandon Schwartz, Tahoe National Forest lead avalanche forecaster at the Sierra Avalanche Center based in Truckee.

The center issued an avalanche warning for the area in the Central Sierra Nevada, including the Greater Lake Tahoe region, starting at 5 a.m. Tuesday with large slides expected into Wednesday.

The dangerous conditions were caused by rapidly accumulating snowfall piling on fragile snowpack layers coupled with gale-force winds.

Several ski resorts around Lake Tahoe were fully or partially closed due to the extreme weather. The resorts along highways have avalanche mitigation programs and were not expected to be at as high of a risk as the backcountry where travel in, near, or below the avalanche terrain was strongly discouraged, the center said.

Castle Peak, a 9,110-foot (2,777-meter) peak in the Donner Summit area of the Sierra Nevada, is a popular backcountry skiing destination. Donner Summit, which can be perilous in snow, is named for the infamous Donner Party, a group of pioneers who resorted to cannibalism after getting trapped there in the winter of 1846-1847.

Training in avalanche assessment and rescue and safety equipment is highly recommended for backcountry skiing, also known as off-piste skiing, that draws people wanting to glide deep into the wilderness far outside the confines of a resort’s boundaries. Backcountry skis are wider, heavier and have other features to handle going up and down ungroomed terrain, unlike cross-country skis that are narrower and designed for flat, more groomed trails.

In the nearby town of Soda Springs, at least 30 inches (76 centimeters) of snow had fallen in the last 24 hours, according to the Soda Springs Mountain Resort.

Forecasters said the western slope of the Sierra Nevada in northern Shasta County — including portions of Interstate 5 — and parts of the state’s Pacific Coast Range could see up to 8 feet (2.4 meters) of snow before the storm moves through late Wednesday.

The storm wreaked havoc on roadways spanning from Sonoma County to the Sierra Nevada. Traffic was halted temporarily in both directions on I-80 near the Nevada state line due to spinouts and crashes, the California Department of Transportation reported.

In January, an avalanche in the region buried a snowmobiler in snow and killed him, authorities said. Each winter, 25 to 30 people die in avalanches in the U.S., according to the National Avalanche Center.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota and federal authorities are investigating the alleged beating of a Mexican citizen by immigration officers last month, seeking to identify what caused the eight skull fractures that landed the man in the intensive care unit of a Minneapolis hospital.

Investigators from the St. Paul Police Department and FBI last week canvassed the shopping center parking lot where Alberto Castañeda Mondragón says Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents wrested him from a vehicle, threw him to the ground and repeatedly struck him in the head with a steel baton.

ICE has blamed Castañeda Mondragón for his own injuries, saying he attempted to flee while handcuffed and “fell and hit his head against a concrete wall.”

But hospital staff who treated the man told The Associated Press such a fall could not plausibly account for the man’s brain hemorrhaging and fragmented memory. A CT scan showed fractures to the front, back and both sides of his skull — injuries a doctor told the AP were inconsistent with a fall.

Earlier this month, the AP published an interview with Castañeda Mondragón in which he said the arresting officers had been “racist” and “ started beating me right away when they arrested me.” His lawyers have contended ICE racially profiled him.

In separate visits to the shopping center last week, local and federal investigators requested surveillance footage from at least two businesses, whose employees told the AP their cameras either did not capture the Jan. 8 arrest or the images had been overwritten because more than a month passed before law enforcement asked for the video.

Johnny Ratana, who owns Teepwo Market, an Asian grocery store that faces the parking lot where the arrest occurred, said St. Paul police twice sent investigators to the business in recent days. The second time, he said, a data technician sought to recover images automatically overwritten after 30 days.

Ratana said he also was visited by FBI agents interested in the same footage.

The St. Paul Police Department did not respond to requests for comment. The FBI declined to comment.

The investigations come amid another federal probe into whether two ICE officers lied under oath about a shooting in Minneapolis. Federal prosecutors dropped charges against two Venezuelan men — who had been accused of attacking one of the officers with a snow shovel and broom handle — after video evidence contradicted the officers’ sworn testimony.

The FBI, meanwhile, notified Minnesota authorities last week it would not share any information or evidence it collected in the Jan. 24 fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers. That killing is the subject of a Justice Department civil rights investigation.

For weeks, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security refused to discuss any aspect of Castañeda Mondragón’s injuries. It has not answered detailed questions from the AP, including whether its officers recorded body-worn camera footage of the arrest.

Agency insists man injured himself
But the agency last week doubled down on its claim that Castañeda Mondragón injured himself.

“On January 8, 2026, ICE conducted a targeted enforcement operation to arrest Alberto Castaneda Mondragon, a 31-year-old illegal alien from Mexico who overstayed his visa,” said Tricia McLaughlin, the department’s assistant secretary for public affairs “While in handcuffs, Castaneda attempted to escape custody and ran toward a main highway. While running, Castaneda fell and hit his head against a concrete wall.”

McLaughlin’s assertion that Castañeda Mondragón had been targeted for removal was contradicted by a Jan. 20 court filing in which ICE said officers only determined the man overstayed his work visa after he was in custody. McLaughlin did not respond to questions about which account was correct.

Castañeda Mondragón’s lawyers declined to comment on ICE’s statement.

Delay could affect investigations
The criminal investigations could be complicated by the amount of time it took law enforcement to look into the arrest, even as several elected officials called for answers.

St. Paul police told the AP on Feb. 5 that it was aware of “the serious allegations” surrounding the arrest but that it could not begin investigating Castañeda Mondragón’s injuries until he filed a police report — a step that was delayed weeks because of the man’s hospitalization and uncertainty over his immigration status. Police finally took his statement a week ago at the Mexican consulate.

By that point, at least one nearby business had overwritten its surveillance footage.

“It is my expectation that we will investigate past and future allegations of criminal conduct by federal agents to seek the truth and hold accountable anyone who has violated Minnesota law,” John Choi, the chief prosecutor of Ramsey County, said in a statement.

Castañeda Mondragón has been summoned to meet with ICE on Feb. 23 at its main detention facility in Minneapolis, raising the potential he could be taken back into custody and deported.

Taxpayers are seeing larger refunds at the start of this year’s filing season, with early Internal Revenue Service data showing the average refund climbing 10.9 percent compared to the same point last year.

As of Feb. 6, the typical refund stands at $2,290, up from $2,065 during the comparable period in 2025.

The IRS indicated that the average is likely to increase further in the coming weeks because the current totals do not yet reflect millions of refunds connected to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC).

Changes enacted under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law by President Trump, are expected to increase refunds for many Americans this year. An analysis referenced by the Republican-led House Ways and Means Committee projects that some filers could receive as much as $1,000 more.

At this stage, the average refund is $225 higher than it was a year ago, and that difference may expand as additional returns are processed.

The Bipartisan Policy Center cautioned in a January report that early-season figures can be misleading, pointing to past years when refunds initially appeared lower before rising as the filing period progressed.

The 2026 tax season officially began on Jan. 26. By Feb. 6, the IRS had processed roughly 22.3 million returns. That total is 5 percent below last year’s pace but accounts for only 14 percent of the 164 million filings the agency anticipates receiving.

In the previous filing year, the average refund amounted to $3,167, with approximately 63 percent of taxpayers receiving a payment. According to the IRS, most people who file electronically can expect to receive their refund within 21 days.

More than 7.4 million refunds had been distributed as of Feb. 6, compared to 8.1 million at the same point last year — an 8.1 percent decline.

The deadline to file federal income taxes is April 15.

It is typical for the average refund amount to fluctuate early in the season before increasing as more returns are completed.

One reason for that pattern is that the IRS is prohibited from issuing refunds tied to returns claiming the EITC or ACTC until after Feb. 15. In addition, returns filed by higher-income taxpayers, which tend to be more complex, often take longer to prepare and submit.

Data reviewed by the Bipartisan Policy Center shows that in recent years, the average refund has often surged in mid-February before leveling off somewhat as Tax Day approaches.

The IRS publishes the average refund in its weekly statistics rather than the median amount, meaning unusually large refunds can influence the overall figure.

President Trump has described this year’s filing period as potentially “the largest tax refund season of all time,” citing more than 100 revisions to the tax code included in his 2025 legislation.

Individual refund totals will vary widely, however.

Measures such as an increased standard deduction, an expanded Child Tax Credit and a new deduction for seniors are expected to lower tax liabilities by several hundred dollars for tens of millions of households, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Other provisions are forecast to generate savings in the thousands for a narrower segment of taxpayers, including certain employees who earn tips or overtime pay.

Principal Asset Management, an international investment firm, estimates that the average refund could climb by nearly $700 to about $3,800 per filer in 2026.

The firm projects that middle- and higher-income households will benefit the most, potentially receiving around $1,000 more on average. Lower-income households, many of whom already owe little or no federal income tax, may see smaller increases — often less than $100 in additional refunds.

THE JEWISH EXPOSITOR, AND FRIEND OF ISRAEL

October, 1824

Letter of the Rev. W. B. Lewis — Reproduced and Annotated by Rabbi Yair Hoffman. I am indepted to a friend, Professor Shaul Stampfer of Jerualem. for sending me a copy of the original article.

Introduction: Historical Background

The document below comes from The Jewish Expositor and Friend of Israel, a monthly magazine published by the London Society for rachmana litzlan- Promoting Christianity Among the Jews (known as the London Jews’ Society, founded 1809). It includes two parts: a short article about the Callenberg Institution — a German Protestant missionary organization founded in 1727 — and, far more historically important, an eyewitness letter from the Anglican missionary Rev. W. B. Lewis describing the desperate situation of Jews living in Jerusalem under Ottoman Turkish rule in 1824.

Lewis wrote his letter from Aintoura, a village in present-day Lebanon, on February 23, 1824. His account is one of the most detailed non-Jewish eyewitness reports of what life was really like for Jews in the Holy Land at that time.

He describes horrifying extortion, beatings, wrongful imprisonment, forced labor, and stolen property — all suffered by a community with no European diplomatic protection in Jerusalem. The letter also covers the long Jewish struggle to reclaim the ruined Hurva Synagogue, which had been destroyed by Arab creditors a century earlier.

This document is historically valuable precisely because Lewis was a non-Jewish outsider with nothing to gain by exaggerating. His testimony confirms what Jewish sources also describe about life under Ottoman rule in Jerusalem. His letter also mentions several specific rabbis by name — figures who can now be identified and whose stories are told in the research notes below (printed in italics).

Proceedings of the London Society — Palestine

Letter from the Rev. W. B. Lewis

 Rev. W. B. Lewis was an Anglican clergyman working for the London Jews’ Society in the early 1820s, traveling through Syria and Palestine. The Society’s own centenary history identifies Lewis as one of the first missionaries active in the region, mentioned alongside the more famous traveler Joseph Wolff. Lewis was writing from Aintoura, Lebanon, where he was based.

His letter shows he personally knew many of the Jewish rabbis in Jerusalem, had intervened on their behalf with local Ottoman officials, and felt deep anger at the injustice he witnessed. He is described in some sources as Irish. While his ultimate purpose was missionary, his letter stands as a powerful document of advocacy for Jewish rights.

The Rev. W. B. Lewis in a letter dated Aintoura, February 23d, 1824, gives the following statement of the present condition of the Jews at Jerusalem:

The General Condition of Jews in Jerusalem

Jerusalem is truly miserable, groaning under the tyranny of the oppressor. Jews as well as Christians, and especially a class of Jews who first began to assemble at Jerusalem about eighteen years ago, from foreign lands, who come to die in the land of their fathers, are subject to daily insults, and are shamefully and inhumanly oppressed. Their firmans are disregarded, and they know not where to apply for relief or protection, for the power of the consul does not extend to Jerusalem, and the European ministers at Constantinople are at too great a distance to protect them; but I will describe some of their grievances more particularly.

The Jews who began arriving in Jerusalem about eighteen years before Lewis wrote this letter — around 1806 onward — were mainly the Perushim, disciples of the Vilna Gaon who began making aliyah in organized waves from 1808 onward. These were Lithuanian Jews who came specifically to settle permanently in Eretz Yisroel. Lewis correctly identifies the central legal problem they faced: European Jews living in Ottoman territory were supposed to have firman-based protections, but European consuls had no power in Jerusalem, so the community had no one to enforce those rights.

Those Jews who endeavour to obtain a livelihood by the work of their hands, are frequently forced to give up their time, and to work for the ungrateful Turk without payment. Sometimes a mere trifle is thrown to the Jew, but in either case if he attempts to reason with the Turk, he is threatened with the bastinado, and I know not what.

The Case of Rabbi Solomon P**: Beaten in the Street

Rabbi Solomon P** is an engraver of seals. In the open street he was accosted by a Turk, who produced a large stone, and told him to cut out a seal. Solomon replied it was not in his power, for he only knew how to engrave, not to cut and prepare the stone; the Turk thereupon laid hold of him by his beard, drew his sword, kicked him, and cut and struck him unmercifully.

The poor man cried, but there was no one to assist him. Turks in the street passed by unconcerned, and the wounded Jew afterwards sought redress in vain from the officers of justice.

Rabbi Solomon P** cannot be identified with certainty. Lewis gave only his first initial to protect someone still living under Ottoman rule. The Ashkenazi community in Jerusalem at this time was very small, so this man was almost certainly known personally to the community’s leadership. This incident illustrates the everyday danger faced by Jews simply trying to earn a living — not from criminals or strangers, but from ordinary members of the dominant class who felt entitled to demand services from Jews at will.

The Case of Rabbi M. Balter: Thrown into Prison on False Charges

Rabbi M. Balter (now dead) with three or four of the Sephardim Jews, was thrown into a dungeon under pretence of their having sold wine to a Turk; for Jews and Christians are not allowed in Jerusalem to make wine for Turks, but only for their own private use. Although the charge could not be proved, instruments to bastinado and to torture him were produced, to force money out of him for the governor; the man in his fright, and not able to speak Arabic, made a sign with three fingers, meaning to signify, as he said afterwards, that he would give three hundred piastres to be released, but the governor [clearly falsely yh] interpreted the sign as a promise to give three burses (or fifteen hundred piastres,) and he demanded that sum accordingly from each of the other Jews in prison for the same pretended crime, and ordered the house of the foreign Jew to be rifled, and himself detained until the sum was paid.

The man was not in possession of half the money, and when he had been in confinement for some time, and dragged about the streets among his brethren as a criminal with a chain round his neck, an order was sent to the chief of the Askenasim Jews to appear before the governor.

The old Rabbi was ill in bed, but this was no excuse, he was compelled to rise, and was placed on the back of an ass, supported by two men; the governor told him that he should be considered responsible for the money due from the Jew in prison, and on the Rabbi’s remonstrating, he told him that he should likewise be sent to prison. The young man who accompanied the Rabbi as interpreter, said, that it was contrary to the Turkish laws, thus to imprison the chief Rabbi, upon which the young man himself was ordered to prison, put in chains, and kept with his brother Jew in a dark, dirty dungeon, until the avarice of the governor was satisfied.

The Jews at Jerusalem, (I speak even of European Jews) are liable to be stopped by the lowest fallaah of the country, who, if he pleases, may demand money of them as a right due to the mussulman; and this extortion may be practised on the same poor Jew over and over again in the space of ten minutes.

Rabbi M. Balter cannot be firmly identified. Lewis notes he was ‘now dead’ at the time of writing in early 1824. The scene Lewis describes — a man making a desperate hand gesture that was deliberately misread to extort five times what he offered — shows how the system worked. The language barrier left the Jewish community helpless. Even a sick, elderly rabbi was not safe from being dragged out of bed and held responsible for another person’s supposed debt.

Attacks at the Graves of the Forefathers

The Jews are fond of frequenting the tombs of their forefathers, especially on particular days, to read their prayers in remembrance of the dead. Here advantage is taken of them again. They are rudely accosted and pilfered, and if resistance is made, they are beat almost to death, and this not by common highwaymen or Bedouin Arabs, but by men they may have been in the habit of seeing and talking with every day. The Jew is always known by the manner in which he wears his hair.

Lewis’s Visit to Hebron and a Near-Kidnapping

In my visit to Hebron, I was accompanied by a Jew, the same now with me in Aintoura; I had the utmost difficulty in protecting him on the road, as well as in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem; the Turks would have forced from him the chaphar, though under the wing of an Englishman. This same young Rabbi on his way to me one morning in Jerusalem, was laid hold of by soldiers, who were going to yoke him with another Jew to one of the heavy cannons they were drawing out against Bethlehem. Had he not been fortunate enough to escape, 200 piastres which he was bringing to me for Hebrew Scriptures, would, in all probability, have been seized upon by the soldiers, as well as a gold watch which I had desired him to get repaired for me.

The ‘chaphar’ was an informal cash payment extorted from Jews and other non-Muslims as a kind of on-the-spot tax, distinct from the official poll tax. Even being in the company of a British subject offered no real protection. The threat to yoke Jews to heavy cannon as unpaid forced labor — with no warning and no recourse — illustrates just how vulnerable the community was.

The Case of Rabbi Israel of Safed: Animals Stolen

Rabbi Israel, also a foreign Jew, and chief Rabbi of the Parushim in Safet, was setting out for that place from Jerusalem, when the animals he had hired for the journey, and which he had actually paid for, were taken sans ceremonie, for the use of the Cadis of Mecca and Cairo, who were to proceed to Damascus in a few days. This is a common Turkish trick, and it may afford a good picture of despotism, united with fanaticism, and in full exercise. Horses, camels, mules, &c. are considered as made for the exclusive use of the haughty followers of Mahomed, as well as the inferior animals of the man kind, so that he may seize and use or torture them at his will.

But to add to the unpleasantness of the trick in the present instance, the Turkish muleteer refused to return the money paid by the Rabbi for the journey, and in vain the Jew asked for justice, until having applied to me, I interfered and succeeded in obtaining for the Rabbi his money through Omar Effendi.

I formed this man’s acquaintance through the means of Achmet Bey of Damascus, who gave me a letter of introduction to him, and he (Omar Effendi) made high professions of friendship. He desired me to apply to him as often as I stood in need of his services, and I was punctual in doing so as often as I wished to interfere in behalf of the European Jews.

This shews very strongly the necessity of an European resident protector in Jerusalem, and I am more and more confirmed in the persuasion that the residence there or in Damascus, as head quarters, of a person entrusted with the authority of consul, and who could feel for the suffering Jews as well as Gentiles, would be productive of great advantage.

The ‘Rabbi Israel’ mentioned here is almost certainly Rabbi Israel of Shklov (died 1839), one of the two great leaders of the Perushim community in the Land of Israel. He and Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Shklov — who appears later in this letter — were the two central figures of this historic movement.

The two men came from the same town: Shklov, a prosperous Jewish city in what is now Belarus, which was at the time one of the greatest centers of Torah learning in Eastern Europe. Shklov had a famous yeshiva, the first Hebrew printing press in all of Belarus, and was home to some of the most brilliant minds of the Lithuanian Jewish world. Some sources describe Rabbi Menachem Mendel and Rabbi Israel as brothers, though this is debated; what is certain is that they were the closest of colleagues and co-leaders, bound together by their shared devotion to the Vilna Gaon and to the dream of rebuilding Jewish life in the Holy Land.

Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Shklov (approximately 1740-1827) was one of the Vilna Gaon’s innermost disciples. He himself wrote that he ‘did not withdraw from his teacher’s presence; I held onto him and did not leave him; I remained in his tent day and night; I went where he went, slept where he slept, and my hand never left his hand.’ After the Gaon died in 1797, Rabbi Menachem Mendel spent years editing and publishing the Gaon’s writings. He then led the first organized wave of Perushim to the Land of Israel in 1808, settling first in Safed (Tzfat) in the Galilee. After a devastating plague struck Safed in 1812, he relocated to Jerusalem in 1816, where he made it his life’s mission to reclaim the ruins of the Hurva Synagogue and reestablish Ashkenazi Jewish life in the Holy City.

Rabbi Israel of Shklov (died 1839) led the third wave of Perushim to arrive in Israel in 1809. He remained as the leader of the Safed community while his colleague Menachem Mendel moved to Jerusalem. Rabbi Israel suffered devastating personal losses: during the cholera epidemic that struck Safed, his wife and all his children except one daughter died. That surviving daughter was later killed in an earthquake. Yet Rabbi Israel did not leave. He is best known today as the author of Pe’at HaShulchan, a landmark halachic work on the agricultural laws that apply specifically in the Land of Israel — laws that had been largely neglected for centuries because there were so few Jewish farmers living there. He was also beaten by Arab rioters during the peasant revolt of 1834. In 1837, while visiting Jerusalem, the great Safed earthquake destroyed his city, killing 4,000 Jews. He stayed in Jerusalem for the last two years of his life and died there in 1839.

Together, these two men — Rabbi Menachem Mendel leading Jerusalem, Rabbi Israel leading Safed — laid the groundwork for the entire modern Ashkenazi community in the Land of Israel. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin was among the many notable descendants of this early community. The network of communities they built, the fundraising systems they established in Europe, and the legal battles they fought with Ottoman authorities set the stage for the larger waves of Jewish immigration that would follow in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The Case of Rabbi Mendel: Soldiers Break Down His Door

The facts I have mentioned may be substantiated, if necessary, by documents from the Jews themselves; and to shew more fully the nature of Jewish grievances in Jerusalem, I might accumulate many such instances of barbarity on the part of the Turks of all classes, towards this people. One instance more of shameless barbarity must suffice, and I will state it fully although I may be tedious, as it took place very lately, and will serve to shew how the governors and rulers in this part of the world manage their business without law, judge, or jury, and without respect to age, country, learning, or religion.

The name of Mendel is well known to the Committee through the journals of Mr. Wolf, he is chief Rabbi of the Askenasim Jews in Jerusalem, an European, and an inoffensive old man. He is considered the most learned of the Jews in Syria, and in his religion he lives in the strictest sense a Pharisee; he has a zeal for G-d, we must bear him record, though not according to knowledge.

The ‘Mendel’ referred to here is Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Shklov (approximately 1740-1827). Lewis’s description of him as ‘the most learned of the Jews in Syria’ gives us a sense of how he was regarded even by outsiders. This man, already in his mid-eighties, had given his entire life to rebuilding Jewish presence in Jerusalem. He had walked much of the way from Eastern Europe to the Land of Israel, buried colleagues lost to plague, fought bureaucratic battles with Ottoman officials in Constantinople, and worked for years to secure legal documents proving Jewish ownership of the Hurva ruins. And now, in the middle of the night, soldiers were breaking down his door. The reference to ‘Mr. Wolf’s journals’ is to Joseph Wolff (1795-1862), a well-known traveler and missionary whose published journals were widely read in England.

He was in bed, when, at a late hour of the night, he was disturbed by a loud knocking outside his door; he returned no answer, supposing robbers had entered. In a few moments the door was burst open, and in rushed a large party of soldiers. They approached the Rabbi with drawn swords, and seized and mal-treated the poor old man. His wife screamed, and the other Jews in the house came up.

Young Rabbi Isaac, who speaks Arabic, demanded the cause of their unexpected visit. It is because the street door was found open, replied the soldiers, and one of you must go down to the governor, who is below. The young man accompanied the soldiers to the passage, and the governor asked him why the door was left open. Isaac said that Rabbi Mendel’s daughter was near her confinement, that according to the custom of the country at this particular time, they had received company, and he supposed one of the visitors had forgotten to close the outward door.

This was a simple answer, and the governor affected to be satisfied, and the Rabbi concluded the affair was over, excepting that they might be expected to pay a few paras, (about one penny English money,) usually levied upon houses where the street door is found open at night. In the morning, however, they were surprised by the appearance of soldiers, who informed them that the governor desired to see both the old and young man at the palace: they went accordingly, and on the way were joined by two other Jews, Rabbi Nathan, a native of Austria, and Rabbi Jacob, of Prussia, but of English parentage or connexions, as I understood. These were likewise under an escort, and repairing to the palace, for they were also charged with the crime of leaving the out-door of their house open; but Nathan and others assured me this accusation was unfounded.

Rabbi Nathan (from Austria) and Rabbi Jacob (from Prussia, with English connections) cannot be identified with certainty. They were members of the small European Ashkenazi community in Jerusalem. That Rabbi Jacob had English connections may have been relevant because British subjects theoretically had better legal standing under Ottoman treaty rights — but as Lewis makes clear, even that offered little real protection in Jerusalem.

However, the four-Jews were ushered into the presence of the governor, and of Omar Effendi, &c., and being accused of the crime in question, they attempted to make a defence; but no defence would be taken; the governor said he heard the old Rabbi (Mendel) exclaim that he had a firman, and feared not the governor. It was answered that the Rabbi was unable to speak the Arabic. “Will you say then,” replied the governor, “that I tell you an untruth?” The Jews were therefore obliged to be silent, and after a short time were told to go away.

They thought to direct their steps homewards, but no, they were ordered to walk into another room, and were decoyed under various pretences from one chamber to another, until they found themselves at one of the dungeons. Here they were shut up in darkness, and told they must pay the governor ten burses, and that unless this money was forthcoming, hot irons would be applied to their heads the following day, and sharp nails driven through the palms of their hands, &c., modes of torture, amongst others, used, as I am told, in Jerusalem to extort money from these unhappy people.

I cannot help observing here, that the palace and dungeons of the governor are supposed to be built on the very spot where the palace and judgment seat of Pilate once stood.

The Jews without, soon heard the sentence which had been passed on their afflicted brethren in confinement; they lost no time therefore in doing every thing possible to hasten their deliverance, and though they succeeded with the governor in bargaining to pay four and a half burses instead of ten, still these poor people were obliged to strip even poverty itself to raise the sum required, and were even obliged to pledge their clothes.

This affair may give the Committee an idea of the indigent and oppressed state of the European Jews residing in Jerusalem. For the pretended offence of two doors having been left open at night, a sum little short of £60 sterling was wrung from a few miserable people, whose existence is supported by pittances sent to them chiefly by their brethren in foreign parts: and this is not a story made up by the Jews.

I went to Omar Effendi, and I waited on the governor myself the first opportunity, and I told them what I had heard of this business, and I represented to them the sensation it would excite if known in Europe, as the matter concerned Europeans, whose zeal only for their religion had brought them to Jerusalem. Omar Effendi replied that he thought these Jews were Muscovites, and not Franks, (Europeans).

The distinction between ‘Muscovites’ (Russian subjects) and ‘Franks’ (Western Europeans) was legally important under Ottoman law. Western Europeans had Capitulation rights — treaty protections granted by the Ottoman Empire to citizens of France, Britain, and other powers. Russian Jews had weaker standing. The governor’s claim that he thought the Jews were Russian was almost certainly a convenient excuse invented after the fact.

The Governor’s Response and Lewis’s Conclusions

The governor, however, said that different countries had different laws, and that these Jews must abide the consequences if they did not mind their duty. Their duty was to keep their doors shut at night, for if thieves should enter in, and rob their property, the Jews might come to him the next morning, and annoy him (the governor) with their complaints. Thus did the chief magistrate of Jerusalem defend his conduct towards these unprotected strangers, and this was all I could do; and neither the governor nor Omar Effendi pretended to give any other account of the matter than what I have related.

Before I took my leave, however, they made fair promises for the future, and Omar, in the Arabic style, swore by his head, (he is a head of the green turban,) that for my sake, on account of the great love he felt for me, the like occurrence should not again take place, and that he himself should not forget to speak to every future governor in favour of these Jews, and that if at any time anything unpleasant should happen to this class of the inhabitants, I need only apply to him, and immediate satisfaction will be obtained.

But I trust not the fair speeches or the oath of a Turk — he is faithless as he is proud, mean, and monster-like; and nought, I am persuaded, but an European flag hoisted in Jerusalem, (as in other places of the Turkish empire, for the protection of foreigners,) will ever have the effect of securing travellers and strangers from their wanton insults, exactions, and barbarities.

Alluding to their sufferings and miseries, one of the Rabbis of Jerusalem exclaimed with much feeling, “Oh when will the king of England come and deliver us!”

The Three Firmans and the Fight to Rebuild the Hurva Synagogue

Three special firmans for the protection of the Jews have been obtained, and this within the space of a very few years. One of these contains an order of the sultan that these foreigners are not to be insulted and ill-treated, &c. &c. The second desires, that no one is to compel these people (as the Turks were doing in spite of the first firman) to answer the demands made on them under pretence of debts said to be owing by the ancient possessors of a piece of ground, and a large building long since in ruins, who were Jews of the German or Askenasim congregation.

The building alluded to, was formerly a college and synagogue, &c., and belonged to some settlers from Germany; but on the death of their chief rabbi, the whole fraternity went away, and the Turks laid hands on the premises, and have ever since kept possession. The building was partly converted into shops, but the synagogue, &c. has remained a ruin for many years. The new settlers in Jerusalem, aware that the property was theirs, wished to regain the inheritance of their ancestors, and to rebuild the waste places.

But the Turks began to trespass further, and to carry off the stones of the fallen synagogue. This roused the rabbis, especially as it was intimated that the Turks intended to erect a mosque where the synagogue stood.

They were obliged, therefore, to apply for a third special firman, in the hope, at least of repurchasing their hereditary property. The sultan at first refused to grant it until it was certified by the great men in Jerusalem, who are in possession of the duplicates of the original papers respecting the same, that these premises belonged to their forefathers. The Jews, consequently, were obliged to pay five or six thousand piastres to induce the mufti, &c. to certify this truth. They have at length gained their object with regard to the firman, but they still anticipate many difficulties before the ground and premises are finally recovered, so that they may commence their building.

The ruined building Lewis describes is the Hurva Synagogue — in Hebrew, simply ‘hurva’ means ‘ruin.’ Its full name was Hurvat Rabbi Yehudah HeHasid, the Ruin of Rabbi Judah the Pious. In 1700, Rabbi Judah HeHasid led roughly 1,500 followers from Europe to Jerusalem in the hope of bringing the Messiah. The community borrowed heavily from Arab creditors. When Rabbi Judah HeHasid died suddenly shortly after arrival, the community fell apart and could not repay its debts. In 1720-1721, the creditors burned the synagogue and expelled every Ashkenazi Jew from Jerusalem. An Ottoman decree then barred all Ashkenazim from living in Jerusalem — the penalty for breaking this ban was death. For nearly a century, any Ashkenazi Jew who entered Jerusalem risked being thrown in prison as a guarantor for those ancient debts.

It was Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Shklov who made the recovery of this property his life’s mission. In 1819 — after years of sending emissaries all the way to Constantinople — his community finally obtained an imperial decree from the Ottoman sultan canceling the century-old debts. They then worked to get additional legal documents proving Jewish ownership of the ruins. Lewis’s letter finds the community at that exact moment: they had won the firman on paper, but Arab squatters refused to leave, and local authorities would not enforce their own decrees.

The Hurva was never rebuilt during this generation’s lifetime. A small prayer house — the Menachem Zion Synagogue — was built on the site in 1837. After Egypt’s Muhammad Ali briefly took control of Palestine in 1831, a new window of opportunity opened, and the community finally secured permission and enough funding to build a grand synagogue. Construction began in 1855, and the new Hurva was dedicated in 1864 — one of the most magnificent synagogues in the entire Jewish world. It stood for eighty-four years. On May 27, 1948, during Israel’s War of Independence, the Jordanian Arab Legion blew it up. The Hurva was rebuilt for the third time and rededicated on March 15, 2010. It stands today.

— End of Document —

Note: Italicized passages throughout this document are historical research notes added to the original text. They identify the individuals mentioned in the letter and provide context drawn from Jewish historical sources. All non-italicized text reproduces the original 1824 document.

A newly filed bill in Congress is proposing a different solution to the long-running daylight saving time debate, calling for clocks to move ahead by 30 minutes permanently rather than by a full hour.

The Daylight Act of 2026, introduced earlier this month by Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL), would shift clocks forward by half an hour from their current setting and eliminate the twice-a-year time changes altogether.

Sleep specialists caution that even a 30-minute adjustment could carry health consequences, though they acknowledge it would be less disruptive than a full-hour change. Experts say that any permanent move forward may still negatively affect long-term well-being.

“Medically, a half hour delay would be less harmful than a full hour delay of permanent daylight saving time and would have the benefit of ending the biannual change,” Dr. Karin Johnson, spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and co-chair of the Coalition for Permanent Standard Time, told Nexstar via email.

Still, Johnson noted that such a change would reduce exposure to morning sunlight, which researchers generally consider beneficial. She also warned that a half-hour system could complicate daily scheduling. Permanent standard time would prevent “the confusion of trying to sync schedules that are offset by a half hour,” she said.

Jay Pea, president of the nonprofit Save Standard Time, agreed, emphasizing that “the design of Standard Time (when aligned properly to longitude) is to minimize misalignment between clocks and the sun to within 30 minutes or fewer.”

Pea also raised concerns about logistical challenges, pointing to the “unintended complications for technology, transportation, and business.”

Those complications would be particularly significant for international coordination. Time zones function on a global scale, not just within the United States. For instance, when it is 3 p.m. in New York City, it is also 3 p.m. in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and Lima, Peru.

Although regions may use different names for their time zones — Eastern Time in New York and Quebec, Peru Time in Lima — they are structured according to their offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the worldwide 24-hour clock system often referred to as Zulu time, as defined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Eastern Time and Peru Time operate at -5 UTC, meaning they are five hours behind Greenwich, near London, where the modern time zone system was established in the 19th century.

Most time zones differ by whole hours — Central Time is one hour behind Eastern Time, for example — though there are exceptions. Afghanistan follows Afghanistan Time, which is +4.5 UTC. When it is 3 p.m. in New York, it is 12:30 a.m. in Kabul. Iran uses a time zone one hour behind Afghanistan, making it 11:30 p.m. there when it is 3 p.m. in New York.

“I appreciate the congressman’s willingness to explore alternatives to [permanent daylight saving time]. However, [permanent standard time] remains both the simplest solution and the true compromise between ‘fast’ and ‘slow time,’ as supported by health science, historical precedence, and first principles,” Pea said, in part, in a statement to Nexstar.

Other Florida lawmakers are pushing a different approach through the Sunshine Protection Act, legislation that would make daylight saving time permanent nationwide. If enacted, clocks would move forward in March and remain unchanged throughout the year.

Steube has previously voiced support for permanent daylight saving time. Last year, he wrote on X that “it’s time to end this pointless ritual.” In November, he submitted a discharge petition seeking to bring the House version of the Sunshine Protection Act to the floor for a vote.

The Senate attempted to expedite its own version of the Sunshine Protection Act last October, but the effort ultimately stalled.

Steube’s office did not respond to Nexstar’s inquiry for comment prior to publication.

As of Tuesday, the Daylight Act of 2026 remains under review in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

A separate measure also titled the Daylight Act, introduced by Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-UT), has likewise been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. That proposal would give individual states the authority to observe daylight saving time year-round.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in multiple states are weighing their own proposals related to daylight saving time during the current legislative session.

The Vaad Hakashrus Kehillos Chareidim of Lakewood & Central Jersey (KCL) has issued a public kashrus alert regarding the use of Instacart for grocery shopping at kosher supermarkets.

In a notice released to the community, the KCL expressed concern over the growing use of Instacart’s third-party shoppers to fulfill orders placed at kosher establishments. The Vaad says these shoppers may not necessarily be knowledgeable in matters of kashrus, and in many cases, the kosher supermarket may be unaware that the order is being fulfilled through Instacart.

The alert warns that when such orders include fresh meat, fresh fish, deli items, or prepared foods, there is “no reliable assurance that the required chosamos (halachic seals) will be affixed by the kosher establishment.” As a result, items may be delivered without proper halachic safeguards in place.

The KCL strongly recommends that food items requiring halachic seals not be purchased through Instacart at this time. Instead, consumers are urged to order these items directly from the kosher supermarket, ensuring that the store is aware of the halachic requirements and can properly secure the products prior to delivery.

The KCL noted that it is exploring ways to address the concern. In the interim, members of the community are encouraged to exercise caution and follow the guidance outlined in the alert.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The trial of Loay Abdel Fattah Alnaji, a college professor accused of killing a 69-year-old Jewish man during dueling Israel-related protests in Southern California, is set to begin Feb. 18, placing renewed focus on the volatile political climate that followed Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

Alnaji, 52, has pleaded not guilty to multiple felony charges, including involuntary manslaughter by an unlawful act, in the death of Paul Kessler. The case will be heard in Ventura County Superior Court.

Prosecutors allege that a confrontation between Alnaji and Kessler at nearby pro-Israel and anti-Israel rallies in Thousand Oaks on Nov. 5, 2023, escalated into a fatal encounter. Alnaji, a computer science professor at Moorpark College, was among anti-Israel demonstrators, while Kessler stood with a smaller group of pro-Israel supporters.

According to the district attorney’s office, Alnaji struck Kessler with a megaphone during the dispute. The county medical examiner determined that Kessler died from blunt force trauma caused by the blow and from hitting his head on the pavement.

Alnaji was released on $50,000 bail and faces up to four years in prison if convicted.

Defense attorney Ron Bamieh has argued that the incident was accidental and triggered by provocation. In a statement in October 2025, Bamieh said Kessler repeatedly held a cellphone close to his client’s face while shouting “Baby killer.”

“My client, with his left hand, swiped at the cell phone to knock it out of his face,” Bamieh said. “The bullhorn hit Mr. Kessler… and then he collapsed.”

Bamieh has also pointed to Kessler’s medical history, saying the victim had previously suffered from a brain tumor that affected his balance, raising the possibility that he fell independently of the altercation.

Prosecutors dispute that characterization, maintaining that the physical confrontation directly led to Kessler’s death.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Washington, D.C. (VINnews)-Senior White House officials, including Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair, are convening a high-level meeting near Capitol Hill to refine President Donald Trump’s messaging strategy. The session focuses on highlighting the administration’s accomplishments and bolstering Republican prospects in the upcoming 2026 midterm elections.

Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy reported the development live, citing a text message from a senior White House official confirming details that had just appeared in Axios coverage. According to Doocy, the gathering includes Wiles, Blair, multiple chiefs of staff from various departments, and several Cabinet-level secretaries. The group is meeting in private to coordinate how best to “sell” Trump’s record to voters.

Doocy highlighted the upcoming State of the Union (SOTU) address as a key opportunity for the president to deliver this message in primetime. “Next week’s SOTU will be a chance to do that in primetime,” he noted, emphasizing the address’s role in showcasing policy wins and setting the tone for the election cycle.

The meeting is taking place at the Capitol Hill Club, a private venue popular among political insiders. Sources familiar with the plans describe it as a closed-door strategy session aimed at aligning the administration’s top figures. Discussions center on messaging, recent polling data, and the electoral landscape, with an emphasis on key battleground states. White House and political aides are presenting information to encourage Cabinet officials to step up as active surrogates in promoting the agenda on the road.

This effort comes as Republicans seek to maintain and expand their congressional majorities in the 2026 midterms. With Trump in his second term, the administration is prioritizing a unified narrative around economic gains, border security, regulatory rollbacks, and other signature priorities to counter potential Democratic challenges and maintain momentum.

The involvement of Wiles—who has been credited with bringing discipline and organization to Trump’s operations since the 2024 campaign—underscores the White House’s focus on coordinated communication. Blair, one of her key lieutenants, is also playing a central role in the political planning.

As the midterms approach, such sessions signal an early push to frame the narrative around Trump’s achievements, with the State of the Union serving as a major platform to reach a national audience. Further details on the meeting’s outcomes or specific talking points are not yet public, given its private nature.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday rolled out a proposed $127 billion budget, warning state leaders that if they refuse to approve higher taxes on wealthy residents, he will move forward with a significant increase in city property taxes.

The self-described democratic socialist characterized the spending plan as a fallback option to close projected gaps if Gov. Kathy Hochul declines to support raising taxes on high earners. His blueprint would also tap into the city’s $10 billion reserve fund.

“I do not want to raise property taxes,” Mamdani said of his preliminary budget plan, which would hike property taxes 9.5% to raise an additional $3.7 billion in the next fiscal year.

“When faced with this crisis, the question is who should pay these taxes? I believe that it should be the wealthiest New Yorkers, the most profitable corporations. I believe that they can afford to pay a little bit more,” Mamdani said.

The announcement begins what is expected to be months of budget talks with key city officials, including City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who quickly rejected the idea of higher property taxes.

“At a time when New Yorkers are already grappling with an affordability crisis, dipping into rainy day reserves and proposing significant property tax increases should not be on the table whatsoever,” Menin wrote in a statement.

Hochul, who is up for reelection this year and whose approval would be needed for changes to state income tax rates, likewise indicated she does not back a property tax increase, though the mayor would not require Albany’s consent to enact one.

“I’m not supportive of a property tax increase, I don’t know that that’s necessary,” Hochul told reporters Tuesday during an unrelated event.

Additional officials at City Hall also criticized the proposal.

“This is insanity,” one insider told The Post. “Property taxes haven’t been raised since 9/11.”

The same source warned that drawing heavily from city reserves could damage New York’s bond rating, calling the move a “major red flag” that might weaken the city’s ability to borrow.

If adopted, Mamdani’s plan would increase overall spending by roughly $11 billion compared to the current fiscal year, allocating new money for expanded legal services, homeless assistance programs and other initiatives.

The proposal follows Hochul’s announcement a day earlier that the state would provide an additional $1.5 billion in aid to the city, amid Mamdani’s repeated appeals to raise income taxes on affluent New Yorkers.

The mayor is seeking a 2% income tax increase targeting approximately 33,000 residents earning more than $1 million annually.

In recent weeks, Mamdani has repeatedly highlighted what he describes as looming fiscal trouble, using those warnings to press Albany to embrace his push to increase taxes on top earners.

Just three weeks ago, he estimated the city’s deficit at $12 billion. That figure shifted after updated revenue projections showed tax collections — largely fueled by Wall Street bonuses — coming in 24% higher than the previous year.

Last week, Mamdani said his budget team had reduced the shortfall to $7 billion. Then, in a post on X Tuesday morning, he announced the projected gap had fallen further to $5.4 billion.

{Matzav.com}

Dear Fellow Rabbanim and Askanim,

I write to you with a heavy heart, on behalf of Yidden around the world. As I speak to my tzibur about growth, about drawing closer to Hashem, and about resisting the overwhelming gashmiyus that surrounds us, I feel that I can no longer remain silent.

The extravagance at our simchas has reached a frightening level. Weddings, vorts and vort nachs, brissim, bar mitzvahs — even parties for three-year-olds — have become productions of excess. How low have we fallen? How far have we drifted from where we are meant to be?

Under the chuppah, we sing about the Beis Hamikdash. We break a glass to remember Yerushalayim. And moments later, we spend fortunes to display wealth and status. Do we truly want Mashiach? Are we prepared to surrender our money and our kavod? Or are we fooling ourselves?

Halacha does not justify wastefulness simply because one also gives tzedakah. In our own kehillos are families who cannot pay tuition, who struggle to prepare for Shabbos, who desperately need help. Before justifying another extravagant event, look around at the people sitting beside you in shul.

I beg my fellow Rabbanim: speak up. Call this behavior out. Do not legitimize it with your presence. We must restore dignity, modesty, and proper priorities to our simchas.

We are Hashem’s chosen children. Let us live like it.

A concerned Rav

The views expressed in this letter are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of YWN. Have an opinion you would like to share? Send it to us for review.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Five years after Warren Buffett sold off all of Berkshire Hathaway’s newspapers and predicted unending declines for most of the industry, Berkshire disclosed a new $350 million investment in the New York Times on Tuesday.

The somewhat surprising move highlighted the quarterly update Berkshire filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission about the company’s stock holdings in Buffett’s last quarter as CEO. Berkshire also increased its investment in Chevron just before President Donald Trump ordered the arrest of Venezuela’s president, and the Omaha-based company continued selling off more of its Bank of America and Apple shares.

At the time that Buffett sold off Berkshire’s dozens of newspapers in 2020 he concluded the industry was “toast.” But even then he suggested that newspapers with a national brand like the Times or Wall Street Journal might still do well.

“It’s a full circle moment for Berkshire Hathaway in reinvesting in news and a huge vote of confidence by Berkshire in the business strategy of the New York Times,” said Tim Franklin, a professor and chair of local news at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Franklin said the Times may have its roots in the newspaper business, but today it’s a thriving digital business with popular games like Wordle, a well known sports platform called The Athletic and more than 12 million digital subscribers. He said maybe struggling local newspapers can draw some lessons from the “digital news powerhouse” the Times has become and find ways to offer online games and showcase the local sports coverage that readers can’t get elsewhere.

These quarterly stock portfolio filings don’t make clear whether Buffett made every move or whether one of Berkshire’s other investment managers did. Buffett generally handled any investments worth more than $1 billion, so at the size of this Times investment it’s not certain whether this was one of his bets.

But many investors will still try to copy it because of Buffett’s remarkable track record over the decades before he handed the CEO title over to Greg Abel in January after six decades of leading Berkshire. Shares of the Times jumped nearly 3% in after hours trading after Berkshire disclosed the stake.

Berkshire also picked up about 8 million more Chevron shares in the quarter to give it more than 130 million shares in the oil giant. That was a particularly well-times bet because Chevron’s stock has soared since Trump promised to reinvigorate Venezuela’s oil business, but Buffett has long been bullish about the oil business and Berkshire has been a major investor in Chevron and Occidental Petroleum for several years.

Chevron is the only major American oil company with significant operations in Venezuela, where it produces about 250,000 barrels a day. Chevron, which first invested in Venezuela in the 1920s, does business in the country through joint ventures with the state-owned company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., commonly known as PDVSA. Chevron’s stock is up nearly 19% since the start of 2026 just before the U.S. captured Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro in a raid

The other notable moves Berkshire made in the last three months of 2025 included selling off roughly 50 million Bank of America shares although it still holds nearly 81 million shares of the bank that he first started buying in 2011 while Bank of America was struggling with the effects of the subprime mortgage crisis. And Berkshire trimmed about 10 million shares off its massive Apple stake but continued to hold nearly 228 million shares at the end of last year.

In addition to stocks, Berkshire owns dozens of companies outright including insurance giants like Geico, a collection of major utilities, BNSF railroad and many manufacturing and retail companies with brands like Dairy Queen and See’s Candy.

Instead of texting your friend or the neighborhood chat, a new web tool called Where It’s At Now is offering a simple way for Chasunah guests to stay in the loop and know exactly where a wedding is holding.

Designed with convenience in mind, the platform gives guests a clear, easy-to-read snapshot of what stage the simcha has reached.

With a clean, mobile-friendly design, users can search for wedding halls and quickly see what’s going on — whether the oilam is still at the chuppah, enjoying the smorg, or already dancing. The site also allows guests to give a thumbs-up to events they’ve attended, adding a light, interactive touch to the experience.

To keep everything accurate and relevant, guests enable location sharing when using the interactive features. This helps the site confirm that users are actually at the venue, keeping the updates meaningful while maintaining privacy controls.

For many guests, weddings — especially larger ones — can sometimes bring a bit of uncertainty. Is the chuppah starting? Are they already holding by the seudah? Where It’s At Now aims to remove that guesswork by offering real-time awareness without the need for constant texts or phone calls.

While wedding planning tools have long helped couples organize invitations, seating, and schedules, this new platform focuses on something different: helping the oilam stay aligned throughout the day itself.

You can check it out here.

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement may not take Kilmar Abrego Garcia back into custody, finding that the legally permitted 90-day detention window has lapsed and that the government lacks a realistic path to deport him.

Abrego Garcia, a citizen of El Salvador, has drawn national attention in the ongoing immigration debate after he was erroneously deported to his native country last year. Following his return to the United States, he has been contesting renewed efforts by the Department of Homeland Security to remove him, this time to several African nations.

In her order issued Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland sharply criticized the government’s handling of the case. The government “made one empty threat after another to remove him to countries in Africa with no real chance of success,” she wrote. “From this, the Court easily concludes that there is no ‘good reason to believe’ removal is likely in the reasonably foreseeable future.”

Abrego Garcia, who is married to an American citizen and has a child, has lived in Maryland for many years. He entered the United States unlawfully as a teenager. In 2019, an immigration judge determined that he could not be returned to El Salvador due to credible threats from a gang that had targeted his family. Despite that ruling, he was mistakenly deported there last year.

Amid mounting public scrutiny and under court direction, President Donald Trump’s administration arranged for his return in June. His reentry, however, followed a federal indictment in Tennessee accusing him of human smuggling. Abrego Garcia has entered a plea of not guilty. At the same time, administration officials have maintained that he will not be allowed to remain in the United States, stating in court filings that they have sought to deport him to Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana, or Liberia.

A Hamas-linked advocacy group is training young Palestinians in Gaza to edit and shape Wikipedia entries related to the Israel-Hamas war, launching a new phase of its long-running “WikiRights” initiative.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor announced last week the third edition of the project, which will train 12 Palestinian men and women in what it calls “in-depth human rights research and documentation” alongside professional Wikipedia editing in Arabic and English. The program, first launched in 2015, aims to “record victims’ stories alongside official narratives,” according to the organization.

This year’s training focuses specifically on what the group describes as “the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip.” Participants are expected to publish what Euro-Med calls “documentation-based articles” rooted in live testimonies, with the goal of amplifying what it claims are underrepresented accounts of the conflict.

In a statement, Anas Jerjawi, the group’s chief operations officer, said the effort is intended to turn “victims of genocide in Gaza from mere statistics into storytellers,” arguing that some online platforms have failed to accurately reflect the scale of events in the territory.

“At a time when online platforms often disseminate false information about victims of armed conflicts, it is crucial for us to empower young people to share accurate facts and document Israeli crimes,” Jerjawi said.

The initiative underscores the increasingly central role that open-source platforms like Wikipedia play in shaping global narratives about ongoing conflicts, particularly as digital spaces become battlegrounds for competing claims and documentation efforts.

Israeli authorities have previously linked senior figures within Euro-Med to Hamas. Its current and former board chairs — Mazen Kahel and Ramy Abdu — appeared on a 2013 Israeli-published list of what it described as Hamas’s “main operatives and institutions” in Europe.

Abdu, the founder of Euro-Med, has also been associated with the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza and the Council for European Palestinian Relations, organizations that Israeli officials have similarly tied to Hamas. In 2020, Israel imposed sanctions on Abdu under its anti-terrorism law.

Separately, watchdog group NGO Monitor has accused Euro-Med of promoting inflammatory rhetoric about Israel, including allegations of apartheid, genocide, and war crimes, and of circulating conspiracy theories.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

A total of 85 countries have endorsed a Palestinian-initiated declaration criticizing recent decisions by Israel’s security cabinet designed to strengthen Israeli control in the West Bank.

The declaration, coordinated by the Palestinian Mission to the United Nations, states: “We strongly condemn unilateral Israeli decisions and measures aimed at expanding Israel’s unlawful presence in the West Bank.”

It continues, “Such decisions are contrary to Israel’s obligations under international law and must be immediately reversed. We underline in this regard our strong opposition to any form of annexation,” the countries add.

The Israeli security cabinet’s approved steps include policies intended to simplify the process for Israeli settlers to acquire land in the West Bank, alongside measures allowing for the expropriation of property from Palestinians who assert legal ownership.

Support for the statement comes from a broad coalition of nations across multiple regions, including Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

Senior figures inside Iran’s ruling establishment are maneuvering to secure their influence in a post–Ayatollah era, signaling growing anxiety about the country’s political future and the balance of power after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

According to a new analysis published Monday by the Institute for the Study of War, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Defense Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani are working to consolidate power and shape the regime’s direction ahead of an eventual leadership transition.

The assessment says rival factions within Tehran’s elite are now positioning themselves to influence future policies, a conclusion concurred on by analyst Hamidreza Azizi of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

The jockeying intensified after last June’s brief but destructive 12-day war with Israel, when the regime created a new Defense Council that operates independently of Iran’s traditional security bodies.

The move, analysts say, was pushed “at the insistence” of Ghalibaf and reflects a broader effort to reshape decision-making inside the government.

Details about the council’s autonomy have largely been suppressed, the report notes, to avoid exposing internal rifts at a time of heightened external pressure and domestic unrest.

“This is a real sign of a break,” said Roger Macmillan, a former director of the diaspora outlet Iran International. “It’s an indication of regime stability — or instability. This is huge.”

Macmillan said much of the information cited in the analysis appears to have originated from officials linked to Shamkhani, long viewed as a behind-the-scenes power broker.

“He’s trying to make himself out as the good guy,” Macmillan said, suggesting the effort may be aimed at protecting assets from Western sanctions. “These guys are survivors. If the regime starts to wobble, they’ll move for personal protection.”

Others see the maneuvering as less about rebellion and more about succession planning.

Annika Ganzeveld of the American Enterprise Institute said senior officials became increasingly uneasy during the June war, when Khamenei withdrew from much of his public role.

“It became clear that people needed to secure their place under future leadership,” Ganzeveld said. “Since then, factions have been vying for influence.”

Ghalibaf’s political trajectory has accelerated in recent months. A former Revolutionary Guards general, he emerged as a central figure after Israeli strikes killed several senior officials during last summer’s conflict.

He was subsequently given a more prominent role in wartime planning and has since adopted an increasingly hard-line posture toward the West.

Earlier this month, Ghalibaf led chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” in parliament while wearing an IRGC uniform — a symbolic display of loyalty to the regime’s security establishment.

Iranian elites have long speculated that Khamenei could elevate Ghalibaf further, viewing him as a potential stabilizing figure in a turbulent transition.

“What we’re seeing is a system preparing for life after Khamenei,” Macmillan said. “And when that happens, loyalties shift, alliances break, and everyone starts protecting their own position.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

U.S. Vice President JD Vance said negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program showed some progress on Tuesday, but warned that Tehran remains unwilling to accept key American red lines.

Speaking in an interview with Fox News, Vance described the latest round of discussions as mixed, with both sides agreeing to continue meeting even as fundamental disagreements remain unresolved.

“One thing about the negotiations this morning is — in some ways it went well,” Vance said. “They agreed to meet afterward, but in other ways it was very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through.”

Vance said the central U.S. demand remains preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, arguing that such a development would destabilize global security and spark a dangerous arms race.

“We will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon,” he said, adding that a nuclear-armed Tehran would pose a direct threat to American interests and international stability.

Vance also emphasized that Donald Trump retains broad discretion over the future of the talks, including the option to abandon negotiations if progress stalls.

“We’re going to keep on working it,” Vance said. “But of course, the president reserves the ability to say when he thinks that diplomacy has reached its natural end.”

Your browser does not support the video tag.

Trump has previously warned that military action remains on the table if Iran advances toward nuclear weapons capability, while simultaneously ordering a buildup of U.S. forces in the Middle East. In recent weeks, however, he has publicly reaffirmed his commitment to pursuing a negotiated solution.

For now, officials say talks will continue, even as Vance’s remarks signal that major obstacles remain before any breakthrough is possible.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

by Rabbi Eliezer Sandler

The concept of the Yissachar-Zevulun Torah Learning Pact goes back well over 3,500 years, to the time of Yaakov Avinu and his sons. It is named for the Torah pact between two of his sons – Yissachar the scholar and Zevulun the merchant. Not only was it an equal pact but, Chazal explained, the deed of Zevulun/the Sponsor is considered even greater than that of Yissachar, because without the support of Zevulun, Yissachar would not have had the wherewithal to study Torah undisturbed.”

It is well-known that when it comes to learning Torah, people who sponsor the learning, often do so, not just as a donation. By financially supporting specific Torah scholars, they enter into a binding, written, signed and sealed learning partnership pact whereby the Sponsor (the Zevulun) is deemed by Halacha as if he personally studied the Torah completed by the Scholar (the Yissachar). (See below.)

Thus, those who support the Talmidei Chachomim at Shas Yiden via a Yissachar-Zevulun Pact merit a portion in every daf of the entire Talmud Bavli and associated texts that they study, and complete the entire cycle in the space of ONE year. Some of the Sponsors opt to continue sponsoring repeat cycles of Shas which accrue to them.

Sar Hatorah, Maran Hagaon Harav Chaim Kanievsky, zt”l, Nasi Shas Yiden, emphasized: The most mehudar Yissachar-Zevulun pact to support in our times is that offered by Shas Yiden – it comprises the entire Shas, Rashi and Tosfos – all in just one year!

Rav Chaim explained why this pact with Shas Yiden is the most mehudar. Chazal say that the highest level of learning is when one understands what he is learning b’iyun u’ve’amkus. However, even higher than that is when one remembers b’al peh all what he has learned. I have farhered the Shas Yiden avreichim geonim many times and can attest ZEI KENNEN SHAS (they know Shas)!

YES! YOU CAN MAKE

your OWN SIYUM on the ENTIRE

Shas, Rashi & Tosfos

IN JUST ONE YEAR!

The Yissachar-Zevulun Pact in Halacha

The Shulchan Aruch in Yoreh De’ah Chapter 246 regarding the efficacy of the Yissachar-Zevulun Sponsorship Pact for the Zevulun (the Sponsor) states clearly:  It is deemed as if he (the one sponsoring the learning) himself learned all the Torah studied under the pact.

All the learning under the Shas Yiden Yissachar-Zevulun Pact is yours בעוה”ז ובעוה”ב (in both This World and the World to Come)! Concerning this, the Netziv of Volozhin comments that in Olam Habah, the Zevulun sponsor will sit together with the Gedolei Torah of the past and merit to participate in their discussions and pilpulim on all the Torah learned.

Achieve Almost 7 million Mitzvos in One Year

The Vilna Gaon in Shnos Eliyahu Pe’ah 41 states that one should hold precious every word of Torah that he learns because each word is considered a mitzvah of its own.

Thus, since in Talmud Bavli, Rashi and Tosfos there are 6,608,891 words, that translates into almost 7 million mitzvos accruing through Yissachar-Zevulun at Shas Yiden.

Official Shtar from Shas Yiden

Each Yissachar-Zevulun pact is confirmed by an official contract (shtar) from Shas Yiden specifying the learning of the entire Shas, and is witnessed by talmidei chachomim.

All who wish to enter into a Yissachar-Zevulun Pact for the entire Shas during ONE year should contact Shas Yiden to make arrangements: 718-702-1528.

The opportunity to complete the entire Shas has been a cherished way to honor family members and others as a prized achievement. It has also proven to be a source of comfort for mourners to obtain such a zechus for their dear ones during the year of mourning – a siyum of the entire Shas can be completed on the yahrzeit!

Yissachar-Zevulun Pact –

Beyond the Grave

The legendary visionary and “Father of Yeshivos”, Reb Chaim of Volozhin, was the founder of the famous yeshiva in the town of Volozhin and the beloved talmid of the Vilna Gaon. 

Reb Chaim had an ongoing Yissachar-Zevulun pact with a local shoemaker – a man who was not learned but who dearly valued Torah learning. They had a ‘deal’ whereby the shoemaker would pay the monthly financial support needed for Reb Chaim and his family. For this financial support, the shoemaker would have an equal share in all Reb Chaim’s daily Torah study – both in the mitzvah of Torah study בעוה”ז and that the knowledge of the Torah learned would continue to be his בעוה”ב (in the World to Come).

One day the shoemaker passed away suddenly. During the shiva period, Reb Chaim was facing a perplexing halachic question and researched high and low for a solution. That night the shoemaker appeared to him in a dream and gave him the full solution that he sought. Reb Chaim was amazed and commented, “Azoi gich, Azoi Gich – So quickly, so quickly has he acquired the zchus and knowledge of the Torah that I have studied!”

In the words of Gedolei Torah:

Maran Hagaon Harav Chaim Kanievsky, zt”l, Nasi Shas Yiden:

“In just ONE year, through Yissachar-Zevulun at Shas Yiden, you can be zoche to the entire Shas forever – בעוה”ז ובעוה”ב (in olam hazeh and olam habah).

“Moreover, whoever supports Shas Yiden is zocheh to fulfill both Yissachar-Zevulun and support of aniyei (the poor of) Eretz Yisroel in the fullest sense of the word.

“Those who support Shas Yiden will be saved from chevlei (the travails of) Moshiach – spiritually and materially, and will be zoche to have ehrlicher bonim u’vanos yir’eishomayim ”

Maran Hagaon Harav Dov Lando, shlit”a, Rosh Yeshiva, Slabodka:

“Who compares to the Shas Yiden? Incredible talmidei chachomim geonim who raised the bar in limud Hashas b’iyun u’v’amkus. Blessed are those who enter a Yissachar-Zevulun pact with them.”

Hamashpia Hagadol Reb Meilech Biederman, shlit”a:

 “Yissachar-Zevulun at Shas Yiden – best possible deal, and in just 1 year! 100% partnership! 100% Shas x 5 times! 100% Shisha Sidrei Mishna – בעוה”ז ובעוה”ב”

Sanzer Rebbe, shlit”a:

“A first in 2000 years of Jewish history! Until Shas Yiden, never a Torah institution where ALL the avreichim metzuyonim v’geonim know the entire Shas by heart”

Harav Yaakov Hillel, shlit”a:

“Therefore, the great mitzvah to support the efforts [of the Talmidei Chachomim] with generous donations in order that they should continue diligently with their studies to enhance the greatness of the Torah and its glory.

ShasYiden.com

NEW YORK (AP) — An immigration judge has blocked the Trump administration from deporting Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian graduate student who led protests at Columbia University against Israel and the war in Gaza.

In a ruling made public Tuesday, the judge, Nina Froes, said she had terminated the case because of a procedural misstep by government attorneys, who failed to properly certify an official document they intended to use as evidence.

The Trump administration may appeal the decision. But the ruling marked the latest setback for the federal government’s sweeping effort to expel pro-Palestinian campus activists and others who expressed criticism of Israel.

Last month, a separate immigration blocked the government’s attempt to deport a Tufts University graduate student, Rümeysa Öztürk, over an op-ed criticizing the school’s response to the war in Gaza.

Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident of the U.S. for the last decade, was born in a refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. He was arrested by immigration agents during a citizenship interview last April, but he was released two weeks later by a federal judge.

In the months since, the government has continued its effort to deport him, citing a memo from Secretary of State Marco Rubio arguing noncitizens can be expelled from the country if their presence may undermine U.S. foreign policy interests.

Government attorneys submitted a photocopy of the document to the immigration judge, but they failed to certify it as required under federal law, the judge wrote.

“I am grateful to the court for honoring the rule of law and holding the line against the government’s attempts to trample on due process,” Mahdawi said in a statement released by his attorneys. “This decision is an important step towards upholding what fear tried to destroy: the right to speak for peace and justice.”

Mahdawi has also mounted a separate case federal district court arguing that he was unlawfully detained. That case remains ongoing, his lawyers said.

Inquiries to the Department of Homeland Security were not immediately returned.

With significant U.S. military movement in the Middle East and rising tensions with Iran, many are wondering what comes next.

Do you believe President Trump will pursue and secure a diplomatic agreement with Tehran, or are we on the brink of a broader military confrontation, and when?

What’s your prediction?

Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday that discussions between the United States and Iran have been productive so far, though he made clear that Tehran has yet to agree to all of President Donald Trump’s core demands regarding its nuclear ambitions.

In an interview with Fox News, Vance emphasized that the current negotiations over Iran’s illegal nuclear weapons efforts differ sharply from the diplomacy that produced the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. That agreement drew widespread criticism for failing to block Iran’s path to a bomb and for provisions that critics argued effectively normalized elements of Tehran’s nuclear program through sunset clauses.

President Trump “has shown very clearly that he is not Barack Obama,” Vance stated. “He takes a much different approach to America’s national security, and he’s much more willing to act aggressively to defend America’s national security.”

Vance stressed that the administration’s priority remains preventing Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon, whether through negotiations or other means.

“The President of the United States is very much trying to find a solution here, whether it’s through diplomatic options or through another option, that means that the Iranians cannot have a nuclear weapon. That has always been the main focus,” he said.

The vice president also underscored what he described as the dangers posed by the Iranian government, warning that its leadership cannot be trusted with such destructive capability.

The Iranian regime “is one of the most hostile and also one of the most irrational regimes in the world. You can’t have people like that have the most dangerous weapon known to man. It would be awful for our security. It would be awful for the future of our children. That is the goal of the President of the United States and he’s got a lot of options and a lot of tools to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

An 18-year-old man carrying a loaded shotgun ran toward the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday before being stopped and arrested without incident, according to the head of the United States Capitol Police.

Capitol Police Chief Michael Sullivan said the suspect arrived in a white Mercedes SUV shortly after noon, parked near the Capitol complex, and began running toward the building that houses Congress.

Officers quickly confronted the man and ordered him to drop his weapon, Sullivan told reporters. He complied and was taken into custody without resistance. No injuries were reported.

Police said the man was wearing a tactical vest and tactical gloves at the time of the incident. A search of his vehicle uncovered a Kevlar helmet and a gas mask, raising further questions about his intentions. Authorities said the motive remains unclear and is under investigation.

The episode comes less than three months after two National Guard members were killed in an ambush shooting near the White House.

The timing is also sensitive, with Donald Trump scheduled to deliver the annual State of the Union Address at the Capitol next week, an event that draws thousands of and guests and triggers one of the largest security operations of the year.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

President Donald Trump on Tuesday publicly called on officials in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., to take swift action in response to a major sewage leak that has polluted the Potomac River, as cleanup operations continue and health concerns mount.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump insisted that state and local authorities “must get to work, IMMEDIATELY” and added that if they “can’t do the job,” they should “call me and ask, politely, to get it fixed.”

Trump emphasized that the federal government did not play a role in the incident, stating that “the Federal Government is not at all involved with what has taken place, but we can fix it.” He described the spill as a “Radical Left caused Environmental Hazard” and cautioned that conditions would “only get worse” if immediate steps are not taken.

The environmental crisis began on Jan. 19, when a 72-inch sewer pipe known as the Potomac Interceptor gave way near the Clara Barton Parkway in Montgomery County, Maryland. The collapse released hundreds of millions of gallons of untreated sewage into the Potomac River, an event that environmental advocates have characterized as among the most severe of its kind in the nation’s history.

Officials estimate that approximately 243 million gallons of wastewater have flowed into the river since the rupture. Authorities have indicated that repairing the damaged infrastructure could take several months.

In his remarks, Trump directly faulted “Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., who are responsible for the massive sewage spill,” urging the governors of the two states and the mayor of the nation’s capital to move without delay.

He also alluded to the ongoing federal funding standoff, arguing that even if assistance from Washington were requested, the effort would depend on “true Patriots … because many are not working right now.”

Meanwhile, public health agencies and environmental officials have advised residents and pet owners to stay away from affected portions of the river. Activities including swimming, fishing, and boating have been limited in impacted areas due to elevated bacteria levels in the water.