Jooish News

As a new crew prepares to launch to the International Space Station from Florida next week, one small personal item will make the journey alongside the astronauts: a child’s stuffed rabbit belonging to astronaut Jessica Meir’s young daughter.

Meir, an American Jewish astronaut and one of four crew members assigned to the mission, shared that she plans to bring the toy as a way to stay connected to her three-year-old child during the long stay in orbit.

Astronauts traveling to the space station, which circles Earth at an altitude of about 250 miles (400 kilometers), are traditionally allowed to bring along a few meaningful items from home to accompany them during their months in space.

“I do have a small stuffed rabbit that belongs to my three-year-old daughter, and she actually has two of these because one was given as a gift,” Meir, 48, tells an online news conference.

“So one will stay down here with her, and one will be there with us, having adventures all the time, so that we’ll keep sending those photos back and forth to my family,” she says.

According to NASA, the SpaceX Crew-12 mission is scheduled to depart early Wednesday, launching aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, bound for the orbiting research facility.

Meir, who is a marine biologist and physiologist, previously served as a flight engineer on a 2019–2020 expedition to the station and took part in the first all-female spacewalks. She is the daughter of an Iraqi-Israeli father and a Swedish mother.

Since her last mission, Meir has become a mother, and she acknowledged the emotional difficulty of preparing for an extended separation that is expected to last about eight months.

“It does make it a lot difficult in preparing to leave and thinking about being away from her for that long, especially when she’s so young; it’s really a large chunk of her life,” Meir says.

“But I hope that one day, she will really realize that this absence was a meaningful one, because it was an adventure that she got to share in and that she’ll have memories about, and hopefully it will inspire her and other people around the world,” Meir adds.

{Matzav.com}

Lakewood Police are investigating a reported shooting in the township this afternoon, sources told TLS.

The incident allegedly happened on River Avenue, when shots are said to have been fired from a vehicle.

There are no reports of injuries at this time.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Lakewood Police Department.

Israel’s government is advancing legislation aimed at significantly increasing punishments for dangerous driving, as road fatalities continue to mount early in the year.

Since January 1, 2026, seven children have been killed in traffic accidents across the country, intensifying pressure on officials to act.

In response, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation has signed off on a broad package of measures that would sharply raise fines and penalty points for a range of serious traffic violations, including mobile phone use behind the wheel, speeding, and failure to yield.

The committee’s approval clears a major procedural hurdle and sets the stage for the proposed changes to move forward in the legislative process, with the new penalties expected to take effect once the process is completed.

At the heart of the proposal is a focus on what ministers have labeled the “seven deadly sins” of Israeli drivers: using a mobile phone while driving, running a red light, excessive speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, overtaking another vehicle while crossing a solid dividing line, driving while disqualified, and driving without a valid license. The plan under discussion includes fines reaching as high as NIS 10,000, along with expanded authority for police to administratively seize vehicles on the spot.

According to Channel 12 News, motorists caught using a phone while driving, running a red light, or traveling at extreme speeds would be fined 5,000 shekels and assessed 10 penalty points. A second violation would double the fine to 10,000 shekels, while a third offense would result in vehicle confiscation and a court summons.

Other infractions are also slated for steeper punishment. Drivers who cross a solid dividing line or use the road shoulder would face a 5,000-shekel fine and 10 points. Failing to yield to a pedestrian would carry a 3,000-shekel fine for a first offense and 6,000 shekels for a second, along with mandatory penalty points.

Officials say the proposed crackdown is grounded in accident-risk data that draws a clear connection between these behaviors and deadly crashes. Government figures indicate that excessive speed plays a role in roughly one-third of fatal accidents, failure to yield in 19 percent, and running red lights in another 11 percent.

With the committee’s endorsement secured, the draft amendments are expected to move ahead in the Knesset in the coming weeks. Enforcement agencies are betting that a mix of hefty fines, accumulating penalty points, and the threat of vehicle impoundment will discourage reckless driving and ultimately reduce road accidents and loss of life.

{Matzav.com}

The new mesivta farher process in Lakewood was introduced with lofty goals: restoring order, slowing down a chaotic admissions season, and protecting bochurim from the pressures of early acceptances.

On paper, it appears responsible and well-organized. In practice, it has created a rigid, one-sided system that places the full weight of risk on thirteen- and fourteen-year-old boys while insulating institutions from accountability.

For many, this year’s process has not brought clarity or stability. It has brought confusion, anxiety, and irreversible consequences.

Under the new framework, boys are effectively required to declare their first-choice yeshiva early in the process, before they have any reliable indication of whether that yeshiva is interested in them. They are encouraged to demonstrate loyalty and seriousness by limiting their options and signaling commitment. This expectation is presented as maturity and integrity. In reality, it is a gamble forced upon children who lack the information necessary to make an informed decision.

A boy, guided by his parents, rebbi, and menahel, selects what appears to be the best fit. He applies to several yeshivos but is told to be transparent about his preference. He informs the others that they are not his first choice. He follows the rules. He acts responsibly. He trusts the system.

Then he is passed over.

He does not receive an early farher from his first choice. He is not reconsidered later. Because he was “honest,” he has also eliminated his alternatives. The other mesivtos, knowing they were secondary options, have moved on. Within weeks, he finds himself locked out of every realistic possibility.

The boy is now scrambling for placement. He is contacting mesivtos that never reviewed his file. He is settling for yeshivos far removed from his needs, strengths, and personality. His educational path is redirected not by thoughtful guidance, but by procedural failure. His life trajectory is altered by a system that offered him no protection.

This outcome is a predictable result of the new structure.

The system centralizes power in the hands of mosdos and removes meaningful agency from bochurim. Yeshivos are free to delay decisions, secretly screen candidates, and withhold feedback. Boys, meanwhile, are required to commit without reciprocity. They are expected to reveal their preferences while receiving no transparency in return. This asymmetry creates a fundamentally unfair process.

Supporters argue that the previous year’s unregulated admissions cycle was harmful. That assessment is accurate. Early acceptances undermined learning, pressured families, and produced hasty placements. But replacing chaos with inflexibility does not constitute progress. It simply substitutes one form of harm for another.

Last year, boys were rushed. This year, they are trapped.

The new process prioritizes administrative calm over individual welfare. It values predictability for yeshivos more than security for bochurim. It is designed to prevent competition among mesivtos, not to protect boys from failure within the system.

When a boy loses his place under this framework, there is no safety net. There is no parallel track. There is no appeals process. There is no coordinated rescue mechanism. He is left to fend for himself in a shrinking marketplace.

The psychological impact of this cannot be dismissed. A bochur who has invested in preparation, who has been told that diligence and honesty matter, suddenly learns that compliance offers no protection. He experiences rejection without explanation, displacement without recourse, and loss without fault. The message is: the system does not exist for you.

A healthy admissions process must balance order with compassion, structure with flexibility, and standards with safeguards. This system does none of those things. It enforces uniformity without mercy. It prizes compliance over judgment. It treats children as variables in an administrative equation rather than as developing individuals.

The justification offered for this imbalance is fear: fear of returning to last year’s disorder, fear of competition, fear of instability. But fear is a poor foundation for policy. When fear dictates design, the vulnerable are always the ones who pay.

In this case, the price is paid by boys at the most formative stage of their lives.

The new farher system does not merely fail some students. It structurally disadvantages them. It creates winners and losers based not on merit or readiness, but on timing, perception, and opaque institutional preferences. It rewards those who happen to align with early evaluations and punishes those who do not, regardless of potential.

A process that regularly produces “collateral damage” among sincere, capable boys cannot be defended as successful. A system that requires families to accept permanent consequences for temporary uncertainty is not responsible. It is reckless.

Unless meaningful protections are introduced, unless transparency replaces opacity, and unless students are given real options rather than symbolic ones, this system will continue to harm those it claims to serve. It will continue to produce silent casualties whose stories are rarely told and quickly forgotten.

And the community will continue to congratulate itself for “fixing” a problem while ignoring the children it has left behind.

Signed,

Chaim Shimon Charlap

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.

A ben Torah was arrested in the city of Be’er Yaakov on Sunday evening for “draft dodging.”

The bochur’s mother told the media that officers knocked on the family’s door. When the door was opened, they presented identification showing that they were military police officers and detained her son.

Dozens of protesters called to the scene by the “Black Color” system tried to prevent the arrest but were unsuccessful.

On Motzei Shabbos, an avreich who got married two months ago was arrested by traffic police outside the moshav of Tifrach and transferred to the military police.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

(JNS) – The Israeli Cabinet on Sunday approved a series of measures aimed at deepening Jerusalem’s hold on Judea and Samaria and expanding Jewish communities in the region, according to the Ynet outlet.

The decisions promoted by Defense Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich are reportedly expected to bring about far-reaching changes to land acquisition rules in Judea and Samaria.

The approved measures include lifting confidentiality from land registry records; canceling historic restrictions on land sales to non-Arabs; and abolishing the requirement for prior approval of transactions, per Ynet.

The Cabinet resolution reportedly also authorizes Israeli enforcement action against illegal construction in Palestinian Authority-governed Area A of Judea and Samaria when structures are deemed to affect heritage or archaeological sites in the area.

Sunday’s resolution also transfers planning and construction powers for Hebron’s Jewish community, including the Cave of the Patriarchs, from the P.A.-run Hebron Municipality to Israeli authorities, in addition to transferring responsibility for managing Rachel’s Tomb to Jerusalem.

The Palestinian presidency “strongly denounced” the decision, according to the P.A.’s official WAFA News Agency, calling it “an open Israeli attempt to legalize settlement expansion, land confiscation, and the demolition of Palestinian properties.”

It urged the U.N. Security Council and the U.S. to intervene to stop the decision.

Regavim, an Israeli NGO focused on land-use issues, commended the Cabinet’s decision, which reverses a “distorted and discriminatory reality that has governed land policy in Judea and Samaria for years,” it said in a statement.

“The repeal of Jordanian Law 40 prohibiting the sale of land to Jews, decisive enforcement that will prevent further damage to heritage sites and the environment in Areas A and B, and at long last, making the land registry in Judea and Samaria accessible and transparent,” the group said.

“The message is clear: Zionism is not measured in speeches or declarations, but in action on the ground,” Regavim added.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately comment on the Ynet report when asked by JNS.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has led an unprecedented drive to expand control of Judea and Samaria, approving some 50,000 homes and over 50 Jewish communities since December 2022.

Last week, the Israeli government moved to officially legalize five nascent Jewish communities in Samaria and the Jordan Valley.

Havat Gilad, founded in 2002, first received the Cabinet’s approval in February 2018, while the outposts of Maoz Tzvi, Mount Ebal, Tamara and Machane Gadi received the government’s OK in a May 2025 vote.

Now, the Interior Ministry has issued official “settlement symbols” for the towns, turning them into legal villages for all intents and purposes.

Smotrich, who also serves as a second minister in the Defense Ministry with responsibility for Judea and Samaria, said in a statement last week that the region “continues to expand and grow with full force.”

Jerusalem is “killing the idea of a Palestinian state and preventing the establishment of a terror state that would endanger Israel,” he added.

Savannah Guthrie told the potential kidnappers of her mother Nancy Guthrie on Saturday that the family is prepared to pay for her safe return, as the frantic search for the 84-year-old Arizona resident has entered a seventh day.

“We received your message, and we understand. We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her,” she said in a video posted on social media, flanked by her siblings. “This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”

The “Today” show host was referencing a message that was sent to the Tucson-based television station KOLD on Friday afternoon, according to Kevin Smith, a spokesperson for the FBI office in Phoenix.

KOLD said it received an email related to the Guthrie case on social media that day but declined to share specific details about its contents as the FBI conducted its review.

The station was one of multiple press outlets that received alleged ransom letters during the week. At least one letter made monetary demands and established Thursday evening and the following Monday evening as deadlines.

In a news conference Thursday, law enforcement officials declined to affirm that the letters were credible but said all tips were being investigated seriously. They also said one letter referenced Nancy Guthrie’s Apple watch and a specific feature of her property.

The video released Saturday was the third this week that pleaded with potential kidnappers.

No suspects identified

Investigators think Nancy Guthrie was taken against her will from her home just outside Tucson last weekend. DNA tests showed blood on Guthrie’s front porch was a match to her, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said. Authorities have not identified any suspects or ruled anyone out.

The sheriff said Friday that he was frustrated that a camera at Nancy Guthrie’s home was not able to capture images of anyone the day she went missing.

Investigators have found that the home’s doorbell camera was disconnected early Sunday and that software data recorded movement at the home minutes later. But Nancy Guthrie did not have an active subscription, so none of the images were able to be recovered.

“It is concerning, it’s actually almost disappointing, because you’ve got your hopes up,” Nanos told The Associated Press in an interview. “OK, they got an image. ‘Well, we do, but we don’t.’”

President Donald Trump, speaking on Air Force One on Friday, said the investigation was going “very well.”

“We have some clues that I think are very strong,” Trump said, while en route to his Florida estate. “We have some things that may be coming out reasonably soon.”

Investigators return to scene

They were back in Nancy Guthrie’s neighborhood on Friday.

The sheriff’s department posted on social media to say access was restricted to the road in front of the home to give investigators space. Journalists staked out there were directed to move.

The Catalina Foothills Association, a neighborhood group, told residents in a letter that authorities were resuming searches in the area immediately.

“I know we all stand together in our collective disbelief and sadness and greatly appreciate your willingness to speak with law enforcement, share camera images and allow searches of your properties,” the association president said in the letter.

The sheriff said Thursday that investigators have not given up on trying to retrieve camera recordings.

“I wish technology was as easy as we believe it is, that here’s a picture, here’s your bad guy. But it’s not,” Nanos told the AP. “There are pieces of information that come to us from these tech groups that say ‘this is what we have and we can’t get anymore.’”

The sheriff also said he had no new information about the note to the TV station or other purported ransom letters sent to some media outlets, saying the FBI is handling that side of the investigation.

Meanwhile concern about Nancy Guthrie’s health condition has grown, because authorities say she needs vital daily medicine. She is said to have a pacemaker and have dealt with high blood pressure and heart issues, according to sheriff’s dispatcher audio on broadcastify.com.

“Her conditions, I would imagine, are worsening day by day,” Nanos said. “She requires medication. And I have no way of knowing whether they’re getting that medication to her.”

The kidnapping has captured the attention of Americans, including Trump, who said he was directing federal authorities to help investigate.

(AP)

Iran’s foreign minister issued a defiant warning on Sunday, declaring that Tehran will never abandon uranium enrichment — even under the threat of war — as tensions with Washington escalate and diplomatic efforts falter.

Speaking at a forum in Tehran, Abbas Araghchi said Iran would not yield to foreign pressure over its nuclear program, saying enrichmen is a matter of national sovereignty.

“Iran has paid a very heavy price for its peaceful nuclear program and for uranium enrichment,” Araghchi said. “Why do we insist so much on enrichment and refuse to give it up even if a war is imposed on us? Because no one has the right to dictate our behavior.”

The remarks came just two days after Araghchi met in Oman with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, part of renewed diplomatic efforts to prevent further escalation over Tehran’s nuclear activities.

Araghchi also dismissed recent U.S. military deployments in the Persian Gulf, saying Iran was not intimidated by American firepower.
“Their military deployment in the region does not scare us,” he said.

His comments underscore Iran’s increasingly confrontational posture toward Washington, even as the United States signals it is prepared to use force if negotiations fail.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned that military action remains on the table if Iran does not accept limits on its nuclear program.

The administration has also expanded its military presence in the region following Tehran’s violent crackdown on nationwide protests, which killed thousands and led to mass arrests.

Before last year’s war involving Israel and the United States, Iran had enriched uranium to 60 percent purity — a level just short of weapons-grade material. The International Atomic Energy Agency has said Iran is the only non-nuclear-armed country in the world producing uranium at that level.

Western officials argue that such enrichment has no credible civilian justification and represents a direct pathway to a nuclear weapon.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that any agreement with Tehran must go far beyond uranium enrichment.

He said talks must address Iran’s ballistic missile program, its backing of proxy militant groups across the Middle East, and what he called the regime’s repression at home.

“The treatment of their own people” must be part of any deal, Rubio said.

Iran, however, has shown little willingness to broaden negotiations. Officials in Tehran continue to portray U.S. demands as illegitimate interference and insist their nuclear program is peaceful — despite international assessments to the contrary.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Israel’s Competition Authority said Sunday that it plans to formally classify El Al as a monopoly on flights into and out of Israel for the period spanning October 7, 2023, through May 2024, and is seeking to levy the maximum fine permitted by law — NIS 121 million — pending the outcome of a hearing.

The regulator said that once foreign carriers halted operations in the wake of the Hamas attack, El Al’s share of the aviation market surged sharply, climbing from roughly 20% prior to October 7 to more than 70% within days. During the initial months of the war, the airline’s overall market share remained above 50%. The authority also found that average airfare during this time increased by approximately 16%, with hikes on major routes ranging between 6% and 31%.

According to the Competition Authority, those fare increases were “excessive and unfair” in light of the reduced competition and the heightened demand from travelers.

El Al pushed back against the findings, arguing that the pricing methodology used by the regulator is fundamentally flawed and without precedent. The airline said it intends to challenge the conclusions and present its position during a formal hearing process.

{Matzav.com}

Israel’s antitrust regulator has accused the country’s flagship airline of exploiting wartime conditions to overcharge passengers, announcing plans to impose a record financial penalty over “excessive and unfair” pricing during the early months of the Gaza war.

In a statement, the Israel Competition Authority said it had notified El Al that it intends to levy the maximum sanction allowed under law — NIS 121 million (about $39 million) — for abusing its market dominance.

The regulator said the fine is subject to a formal hearing, during which El Al is expected to challenge the findings. Any penalty ultimately collected would be transferred to state coffers.

The announcement follows a lengthy investigation into air travel conditions after the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, which triggered the war in Gaza and led many foreign airlines to suspend service to Israel.

According to the authority, from the outbreak of the war through the end of May 2024, El Al effectively held a monopoly on flights to and from Israel. With most international carriers grounded, the airline became the primary — and in many cases only — option for Israelis and foreign nationals seeking to travel in and out of the country.

During that period, investigators found, El Al charged fares that far exceeded reasonable market levels.

“The company exploited its monopolistic position and charged excessive and unfair prices,” the regulator said, concluding that the airline took advantage of limited competition at a time of national emergency.

The findings suggest that passengers — including reservists, displaced residents, families of hostages, and citizens attempting to return home — were forced to pay inflated prices during one of the country’s most volatile and traumatic periods.

Competition officials said the pricing practices went beyond normal supply-and-demand adjustments and amounted to an abuse of market power prohibited under Israeli law.

The case marks one of the most significant enforcement actions ever taken against a major Israeli corporation and signals a tougher stance by regulators on corporate conduct during crises.

El Al has not yet publicly responded in detail to the decision but is expected to contest the ruling during the hearing process. Under the law, the company may present arguments disputing both the monopoly designation and the regulator’s assessment of its pricing.

The investigation also raises broader questions about corporate responsibility during national emergencies, when consumers have few alternatives and limited bargaining power.

While El Al was credited by officials for maintaining vital air links during the war, regulators said that role did not exempt the company from competition rules or justify what they described as profiteering.

The case now moves to the hearing stage, where the final scope of the penalty will be determined. If upheld, the fine would stand as a major rebuke to Israel’s largest airline and a warning to other companies operating in crisis conditions that emergency circumstances do not excuse abusive pricing practices.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

New Jersey drivers are expected to see the largest increases in car insurance premiums in the country in 2026, according to a new industry analysis.

A recently released report by ValuePenguin estimates that auto insurance rates in New Jersey could rise by 10.46% when policies renew in 2026, the largest projected increase of all 50 states.

The anticipated increase contrasts sharply with national trends. Across the United States, car insurance premiums are expected to rise by less than 1% on average in 2026, marking the smallest year-over-year increase since before inflation-driven spikes earlier in the decade.

The states trailing New Jersey with the highest expected increases this year are Nevada, California and New York, all of whom are averaging 6% increases.

The report also found that insurance costs in New Jersey can climb significantly after accidents. Drivers in the state may see premiums rise by about 74% following an at-fault crash, with average monthly full-coverage costs reaching approximately $433 afterward.

One main reason for the increase is due to recent legislative changes which mandated increased coverage from $25,000 per person/$50,000 per accident for bodily injury to $35,000 per person/$70,000 per accident for bodily injury liability.

Rate changes will vary by insurer. Among midsize companies operating in New Jersey, NJM policyholders could see average premium increases of about 21.18%, while Erie Insurance rates may rise about 7.92% and Plymouth Rock premiums about 6.24%, according to the analysis.

New Jersey residents already face some of the highest housing-related costs in the country, with property owners in the state continuing to have the highest effective property tax rate in the United States, according to recently released state data.

And its not just insurance rates and property taxes which are going up in New Jersey: In the last month alone, tolls went up on every major highway and river crossing in the state, along with the state imposed gas tax.

Nationally, the report suggests the pace of insurance price increases is stabilizing after several years of sharp growth driven by inflation, rising repair costs, and expensive claims. Still, state-level factors — including regional claims costs, regulations, and insurer filings — continue to produce wide differences in how premiums change from one state to another.

The projections are based on rate filings by insurance companies in 2025 that will affect policies renewing in 2026, according to the report.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — As Super Bowl LX kicks off Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, the skies over the San Francisco Bay Area are crowded with an unusually large number of private jets, highlighting the scale of travel tied to the NFL championship.

More than 300 private jets are expected to have landed at San Jose Mineta International Airport alone in the days leading up to the game, with arrivals coming from Mexico, Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom and other countries, aviation trackers say. The influx has created intense demand for airport services and luxury travel options around the region.

The surge reflects growing interest in private aviation for major sporting events, where wealthy fans, corporate guests and VIPs seek a more exclusive and convenient travel experience. Fixed-base operators — the private terminals that handle business jets — have been working extended hours to manage arrivals, departures and aircraft parking as ticket demand outstrips available capacity.

You know it's a big weekend in the Bay Area when private jets line tarmacs at SFO and SJC. 👀✈️🏈 Get live updates here: https://t.co/RNWUL1qVjm pic.twitter.com/x84KZMAI3l

— ABC7 News (@abc7newsbayarea) February 8, 2026

Private jet activity is not limited to San Jose. Smaller regional airports designated by the Federal Aviation Administration to support game-week travel have also seen increased traffic, with some preparing to host aircraft and passengers arriving for weekend events.

The boom in private aviation comes amid an overall surge in travel for the Super Bowl, with commercial airlines adding flights into the Bay Area and local hotels reporting near-full occupancy. Organizers and airport officials say the unusual volume of private aircraft underscores the event’s international draw and significant economic impact on the region.

According to aviation website SimpleFlying.com, the number of private flights arriving for this year’s Super Bowl far exceeds typical traffic for previous championship games, reflecting both the event’s global appeal and the growing popularity of private jet travel.

Naftali Bennett released a sharp video response in which he derided Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s lengthy written effort to shift responsibility for the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack, portraying the veteran leader as “the Israeli Forrest Gump, a weak, pitiful, helpless nebach who just happened to stumble into events.”

In the same remarks, Bennett went on to say of Netanyahu: “He is not a leader, but someone who is led. He is not a commander, but a subordinate.”

Bennett’s comments, delivered in a recorded statement, invoked the 1994 film about an unassuming character who inadvertently becomes present at, or influences, major historical moments in postwar America. Bennett, a former prime minister and widely viewed as Netanyahu’s most formidable rival in the current election cycle, used the comparison to underscore what he described as Netanyahu’s absence of leadership.

The remarks were issued in reaction to Netanyahu’s publication last week of a 55-page compilation of responses he submitted to State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman, as part of the comptroller’s investigation into the October 7 attack.

Netanyahu, who had served as prime minister since 2009 with the exception of an 18-month interval in 2021–2022, had faced sustained criticism for attempting to present himself as having pushed for decisive action against Hamas, only to have been blocked by opposition from senior security officials and a lack of public support.

Addressing that argument directly, Bennett said, “Netanyahu has criticism of the security establishment — so do I,” before stressing that Netanyahu was “not a cabinet minister. He was the prime minister of Israel and the supreme commander of the State of Israel for 12.5 out of the 14 years preceding the greatest disaster in Israel’s history.”

Bennett also took aim at what he characterized as Netanyahu’s implication that he was unable to effectively direct Israel’s military and intelligence agencies, mocking the notion that the prime minister had been “incapable” of commanding the very institutions under his authority.

Summarizing his assessment of the document, Bennett said, “What emerges from it is that Netanyahu did not lead, did not manage, and did not govern,” arguing that in trying to clear himself of blame, the prime minister instead authored “the most severe indictment imaginable against a prime minister in Israel.”

Bennett concluded by saying, “In the 55 pages of this document, you see a weak man who allows the Hezbollah monster to grow before his eyes in the north and the Hamas monster to grow in the south to enormous dimensions, and he does nothing.”

{Matzav.com_}_

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — For Breezy Johnson, the road to an Olympic gold medal was similar to the winning downhill run she turned in Sunday: It was full of jarring bumps that nearly knocked her off course, but not off target.

There was the knee injury here in Cortina during a training crash that ultimately kept the American from competing in the 2022 Beijing Games. There was the 14-month ban for violating “whereabouts” rules when it comes to testing for doping.

She kept a hard-charging attitude and that was on display in Cortina on a day marred by teammate Lindsey Vonn’s crash and trip to a hospital. The 30-year-old Johnson joins Vonn, 41, as the only American women to win the Olympic downhill.

“People are jealous of people with Olympic gold medals. They’re not necessarily jealous of the journey it took to get those medals,” said Johnson, who has never won a World Cup race. “I don’t think my journey is something that many people are envious of and it’s been a tough road, but sometimes you just have to keep going because that’s the only option. If you’re going through hell, you keep walking because you don’t want to just sit around in hell.”

Johnson finished in 1 minute, 36.10 seconds to hold off Emma Aicher of Germany by just .04 seconds, securing the first medal for the United States at the Milan Cortina Games in the process. Italy’s Sofia Goggia, the 2018 Olympic downhill winner and 2022 silver medalist, finished with the bronze.

The tears began welling in the eyes of Johnson as racer after racer couldn’t top her time, wiping them away with a mitten.

Her long-awaited medal? That didn’t hold up so well. The clasp holding the ribbon to the medal broke. She placed the pieces in her pocket.

“It’s definitely heavier than I expected,” Johnson said of her new hardware. “I think that’s maybe why it broke.”

Johnson was just the sixth racer of the day and found speed with a risk-taking trip along the iconic Olympia delle Tofana course on a sunny day in Cortina. She felt confident it was good enough for a medal, but not as sure if it would be gold.

“But I hoped that it would be enough,” she said. “I just tried to keep it rolling. I knew it was fast in some of the places where I made mistakes. I was like, ‘Did I just make a mistake or did I make a mistake because I was going fast?’ That’s the line that you’re always trying to walk, and today was enough.”

She was in the leader’s box when Vonn, the No. 13 racer, cut a corner too close and was spun around before crashing. The race was put on hold for more than 20 minutes.

“I kind of wish the TV directors maybe wouldn’t have replayed some of the crashes as much as they did,” Johnson said. “It’s a little hard when you’re surrounded by cameras and stuff, not wanting to watch that.”

It’s certainly been a bumpy road to the top for Johnson, given the knee injury and a 14-month ban that expired in December 2024. She returned to win the world championship last February.

Now, she’s an Olympic downhill gold medalist. Teammate Jacqueline Wiles finished just 0.27 seconds away from a medal in a tie for fourth place.

“I think that this was the best run Breezy’s ever skied,” teammate Bella Wright said. “There was a lot of expectation, and she rose to the challenge.”

Johnson figures to have another shot at gold in the team event and could be paired with Mikaela Shiffrin.

Vonn’s crash put a somber mood over the event. Vonn, who won the downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Games, was a gold-medal favorite before her crash in Switzerland last week when she suffered a ruptured ACL for her latest major knee injury. She returned to elite ski racing last season after nearly six years and after receiving a partial titanium knee replacement in her right knee.

“I hope it’s not as bad as it looked,” Johnson said. “My heart just goes out to her.”

Like Vonn, Cande Moreno of Andorra also was taken away in a helicopter after a crash in which her left knee appeared to buckle while landing after a jump.

For Aicher, the silver medal pairs with the silver she earned as part of the team parallel event at the 2022 Games.

“At the third turn I thought, ”Oh (crap), what am I doing? Come on, Emma,'” she recounted. “But I managed to let the skis go pretty well.”

Both downhill golds this weekend were won by the reigning world champions after Franjo von Allmen of Switzerland won the men’s race on Saturday. Both races also featured up-and-coming silver medalists (Aicher, Giovanni Franzoni of Italy) and Italian veterans in bronze position (Goggia, Dominik Paris).

With her bronze medal, Goggia now has an Olympic downhill medal of every color.

“So-so with my performance, but in the overall I got a medal again,” Goggia said. “It’s a privilege.”

That’s our girl. 🥹

Breezy Johnson accepts Olympic gold in the women’s downhill at the #WinterOlympics.

pic.twitter.com/xsimFxsETl

— Team USA (@TeamUSA) February 8, 2026

🚨 WOW! Pure chills! Team USA skier Breezy Johnson just WON GOLD in the women’s downhill, our FIRST gold of the 2026 Winter Olympics and completely broke down in tears during the National Anthem!

AMERICAN PRIDE! 🇺🇸
pic.twitter.com/MsIlSJJF4e

— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) February 8, 2026

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — For days, Luis Ramirez had an uneasy feeling about the men dressed as utility workers he’d seen outside his family’s Mexican restaurant in suburban Minneapolis.

They wore high-visibility vests and spotless white hard hats, he noticed, even while parked in their vehicle. His search for the Wisconsin-based electrician advertised on the car’s doors returned no results.

On Tuesday, when their Nissan returned to the lot outside his restaurant, Ramirez, 31, filmed his confrontation with the two men, who hide their faces as he approaches and appear to be wearing heavy tactical gear beneath their yellow vests.

“This is what our taxpayer money goes to: renting these vehicles with fake tags to come sit here and watch my business,” Ramirez shouts in the video.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to inquiries about whether the men were federal immigration officers. But encounters like Ramirez’s have become increasingly common.

As the sweeping immigration crackdown in Minnesota continues, legal observers and officials say they have received a growing number of reports of federal agents impersonating construction workers, delivery drivers and in some cases anti-ICE activists.

Not all of those incidents have been verified, but they have heightened fears in a state already on edge, adding to legal groups’ concerns about the Trump administration’s dramatic reshaping of immigration enforcement tactics nationwide.

“If you have people afraid that the electrical worker outside their house might be ICE, you’re inviting public distrust and confusion on a much more dangerous level,” said Naureen Shah, the director of immigration advocacy at the American Civil Liberties Union. “This is what you do if you’re trying to control a populace, not trying to do routine, professional law enforcement.”

A ‘more extreme degree’ of deception
In the past, immigration authorities have sometimes used disguises and other deceptions, which they call ruses, to gain entry into homes without a warrant.

The tactics became more common during President Donald Trump’s first term, attorneys said, prompting an ACLU lawsuit accusing immigration agents of violating the U.S. Constitution by posing as local law enforcement during home raids. A recent settlement restricted the practice in Los Angeles. But ICE deceptions remain legal elsewhere in the country.

Still, the undercover operations reported in Minnesota would appear to be a “more extreme degree than we’ve seen in the past,” said Shah, in part because they seem to be happening in plain sight.

Where past ruses were aimed at deceiving immigration targets, the current tactics may also be a response to the Minnesota’s sprawling networks of citizen observers that have sought to call attention to federal agents before they make arrests.

At the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, the city’s central hub of ICE activity, activists told The Associated Press they had seen agents leaving in vehicles with stuffed animals on their dashboards or Mexican flag decals on their bumpers. Pickups with lumber or tools in their beds were also frequently spotted.

In recent weeks, federal agents have repeatedly shown up to construction sites dressed as workers, according to Jose Alvillar, a lead organizer for the local immigrant rights group, Unidos MN.

“We’ve seen an increase in the cowboy tactics,” he said, though he noted the raids had not resulted in arrests. “Construction workers are good at identifying who is a real construction worker and who is dressing up as one.”

Using vintage plates
Since the start of the operation in Minnesota, local officials, including Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, have said ICE agents had been seen swapping license plates or using bogus ones, a violation of state law.

Candice Metrailer, an antiques dealer in south Minneapolis, believes she witnessed such an attempt firsthand.

On Jan. 13, she received a call from a man who identified himself as a collector, asking if her store sold license plates. She said it did. A few minutes later, two men in street clothes entered the shop and began looking through her collection of vintage plates.

“One of them says, ‘Hey, do you have any recent ones?’” Metrailer recalled. “Immediately, an alarm bell went off in my head.”

Metrailer stepped outside while the men continued browsing. A few doors down from the shop, she saw an idling Ford Explorer with blacked out windows. She memorized its license plate, then quickly plugged it into a crowdsourced database used by local activists to track vehicles linked to immigration enforcement.

The database shows an identical Ford with the same plates had been photographed leaving the Whipple building seven times and reported at the scene of an immigration arrest weeks earlier.

When one of the men approached the register holding a white Minnesota plate, Metrailer said she told him that the store had a new policy against selling the items.

Metrailer said she had reported the incident to Minnesota’s attorney general. A spokesperson for DHS did not respond to a request for comment.

A response to obstruction
Supporters of the immigration crackdown say the volunteer army of ICE-tracking activists in Minneapolis has forced federal agents to adopt new methods of avoiding detection.

“Of course agents are adapting their tactics so that they’re a step ahead,” said Scott Mechkowski, former deputy director of ICE enforcement and operations in New York City. “We’ve never seen this level of obstruction and interference.”

In nearly three decades in immigration enforcement, Mechkowski said he also hadn’t seen ICE agent disguising themselves as uniformed workers in the course of making arrests.

Earlier this summer, a spokesperson for DHS confirmed a man wearing a high-visibility construction vest was an ICE agent conducting surveillance. In Oregon, a natural gas company published guidance last month on how customers could identify their employees after reports of federal impersonators.

In the days since his encounter, Ramirez, the restaurant worker, said he has been on high alert for undercover agents. He recently stopped a locksmith who he feared might be a federal agent, before quickly realizing he was a local resident.

“Everybody is on edge about these guys, man,” Ramirez said. “It feels like they’re everywhere.”

PALISADES PARK, N.J. (AP) — A four-alarm fire tore through a business on Broad Avenue in Palisades Park early Sunday, sending thick smoke into the pre-dawn sky as temperatures dipped below freezing.

The blaze broke out around 2:20 a.m., according to officials. Firefighters from Palisades Park, Ridgefield, and Little Ferry responded, battling the flames for roughly four hours amid harsh winter conditions. Video from the scene showed crews spraying water on the building while smoke and flames billowed above the rooftops.

It was unclear whether anyone was injured, and no additional details were immediately available. The Palisades Park Fire Prevention Bureau has launched an investigation into the cause of the fire.

NEW: 4-Alarm fire sparks massive overnight response in Palisades Park, New Jersey, as temperatures plunged.

Blaze broke out around 2:15 a.m. at 337 Broad Ave., officials said. pic.twitter.com/AzgFluK2mv

— FreedomNews.Tv FNTV (@FreedomNTV) February 8, 2026

Iran intensified its public threats against Israel and the United States on Sunday, erecting a large and ominous sign in central Tehran that openly signals hostility as preparations continue for another round of negotiations between Tehran and Washington.

The display, placed in Falastine Square in the center of the Iranian capital, features the phrase “Rain of Missiles” alongside a map depicting central Israel. The message is being viewed as an unmistakable and deliberate threat aimed at Israel, delivered in full public view at a sensitive diplomatic moment.

Against that backdrop, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi made clear earlier in the day that Tehran has no intention of abandoning its nuclear ambitions, regardless of the consequences.

Araghchi said Iran is willing to consider certain constraints on its nuclear activities but will categorically reject Washington’s demand for a full suspension of uranium enrichment.

“We insist on our right to a nuclear program, even if it leads to war,” he said in a conversation with diplomats in Tehran. “They attacked our nuclear facilities but did not achieve their goal. The only option left for them is negotiations.”

He further framed Iran’s posture as ideological defiance rather than purely military power, adding: “The secret of the Islamic Republic’s strength lies in its ability to say ‘no’ to the great powers. Our atomic bomb is the power to say ‘no’ – not physically, but ideologically.”

U.S. negotiators, meanwhile, are pressing for sweeping concessions, including a complete end to uranium enrichment, severe restrictions on Iran’s ballistic missile program — with one proposal calling for a maximum missile range of 500 kilometers, while Israel is demanding a stricter cap of 300 kilometers — and a halt to Tehran’s support for allied armed groups throughout the region. Those groups include Hezbollah in Lebanon, Shiite militias operating in Iraq, and the Houthis in Yemen.

{Matzav.com}

A senior Hamas leader on Sunday rejected calls for the group to disarm or accept outside control in Gaza, directly challenging demands from the United States and Israel and casting doubt on prospects for advancing the next phase of the ceasefire process.

Speaking at a conference in Doha, Khaled Mashaal said the group would not relinquish its weapons or submit to foreign oversight.

“Criminalizing the resistance, its weapons, and those who carried it out is something we should not accept,” Mashaal said.

“As long as there is occupation, there is resistance,” he said. “Resistance is a right of peoples under occupation.”

Mashaal called on international bodies involved in Gaza’s postwar planning to adopt what he termed a “balanced approach” that would allow for reconstruction and humanitarian assistance for the territory’s roughly 2.2 million residents.

At the same time, he warned that Hamas would reject any arrangement involving external governance.

“We adhere to our national principles and reject the logic of guardianship, external intervention, or the return of a mandate in any form,” he said. “Palestinians are to govern Palestinians. Gaza belongs to the people of Gaza and to Palestine. We will not accept foreign rule.”

The comments come as Israel and the United States continue to press for Hamas’s disarmament as part of negotiations over the future of Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump have both insisted that the group must give up its weapons in the near future as a condition for moving forward with the second phase of the ceasefire.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that Hamas committed to laying down its arms and has warned the group of consequences if it fails to do so. Israeli officials have likewise framed disarmament as essential to preventing Hamas from reasserting military control over Gaza.

Publicly, however, Hamas has never agreed to surrender its arsenal.

Trump’s recently proposed 20-point plan for Gaza explicitly calls for the group’s disarmament. While Hamas issued a statement endorsing parts of the proposal, it included significant conditions and made no direct reference to giving up weapons.

Mashaal’s remarks appear to reinforce that position, signaling continued resistance to any settlement that limits Hamas’s military capabilities or places Gaza under international administration.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is heading into a challenging reelection bid as she continues to suffer fallout from last year’s devastating wildfire and ongoing criticism of City Hall on issues from street paving to homelessness.

The deadline is Saturday for candidates to enter the contest ahead of the June 2 primary election. Bass — a first-term Democrat and the first Black woman to hold the post — already is facing challenges from tech entrepreneur and nonprofit founder Adam Miller; reality television personality Spencer Pratt, who lost his home to the deadly Palisades Fire; and community organizer Rae Huang. A late entry was city council member Nithya Raman, a onetime Bass supporter who will now be trying to oust her.

Although the contest is officially nonpartisan, it is breaking along sharp political lines.

Pratt is a Republican in a heavily Democratic city who was endorsed by Steve Hilton, a Republican candidate for governor, and Richard Grenell, an ally of President Donald Trump. Raman was the first council member elected with the backing of the Democratic Socialists of America. Huang has positioned herself to the political left of Bass, who while in the U.S. House was a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Homelessness, cost of living to be major issues
Bass greeted Raman to the race with a pointed jab: “The last thing Los Angeles needs is a politician who opposed cleaning up homeless encampments and efforts to make our city safer,” Bass campaign adviser Douglas Herman said in a statement.

The race is unfolding at an unsettled time for the city of nearly 4 million.

Complaints about the cost of living — whether for rent, taxes or groceries — are a constant refrain. Dirty, pocked streets and sidewalks abound. Hollywood jobs have been decamping for years for more affordable locales.

Ongoing Trump administration immigration raids have shaken the city. Despite studies showing a slight decline in the homeless population, encampments remain commonplace. And recovery from the Palisades Fire, which killed 12 people and destroyed much of the tony seaside neighborhood in January 2025, continues at a pace that some say is too slow.

In an upbeat speech this month laying out her vision for the city’s future, Bass talked of the upcoming 2028 Olympics in the city and plans to spruce up busy thoroughfares.

“Even in this difficult chapter in our history, great events, moments of unity, are possible,” Bass said. “And they are coming.”

Los Angeles-based Democratic consultant Bill Carrick sees the race as wide-open. Under California’s primary rules, all candidates appear on the same ballot and the top two finishers advance to the November general election — a system that can lead to unpredictable outcomes. A candidate can win the mayoralty outright by capturing more than 50% of the primary vote, but that appears unlikely with a large field that is also expected to include a string of little-known contenders.

Voters are “kind of unhappy with city government, and I think the Palisades Fire certainly contributed enormously with that feeling,” Carrick said.

Controversy over handling of fire
The mayor, who was on a trip to Ghana as part of a presidential delegation when the fire began raging through the Palisades neighborhood, has been on the defensive for her actions during and after the blaze.

The Los Angeles Times has published a series of reports, based on public records requests, showing that drafts of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s after-action report included deletions and revisions intended to soften the failures of city and department officials.

This week Bass’ office forcefully denied allegations in a Times story, based on anonymous, secondhand sources, that she pushed for changes in the report before publication to shield City Hall from potential legal action. She told reporters that the account was “completely fabricated.”

Officials have said the deadly blaze was ignited by remnants of a Jan. 1 fire that continued to smolder underground. In October, a 29-year-old man was arrested and charged with sparking the earlier fire. The LAFD has faced scrutiny over whether it properly extinguished the New Year’s Day blaze.

On his website, Pratt — who rose to reality-TV fame alongside his wife, Heidi Montag, on “The Hills” — said he watched his home burn “because the system failed us.”

“We don’t need more government programs,” Pratt added. “We need common sense, accountability, and a mayor that shows up for everyone.”

Miller, a Democrat running as an outsider with the ability to invest in his own campaign, poses a new challenge for Bass, who defeated billionaire Rick Caruso in her 2022 election. Miller founded Cornerstone OnDemand, a global education company, and later cofounded the Better Angels nonprofit to address homelessness.

“Los Angeles has extraordinary potential but too often City Hall hasn’t been there for the people who call it home,” Miller said in a statement.

Two potential rivals stay out of the race
Bass also avoided two potential strong opponents in the contest.

Caruso decided not to run again after months of equivocation, and Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath announced late Friday that she, too, would not enter the race. Both have been outspoken critics of the mayor’s handling of homelessness and the fire and were widely seen as possible contenders.

“It’s clear you want a different kind of leadership and you are ready to see change in your city,” Horvath said in a video posted on the social platform X, but she added that her work on the county board was not finished.

QUEENS (VINnews) – Neighbors had repeatedly warned three young men not to walk on the ice in Jamaica Bay, but the warnings went unheeded, authorities said, prompting a major emergency response Friday afternoon when the group fell through the frozen water in Far Rockaway, Queens.

The three 22-year-olds fell through the ice just after 4 p.m. near Norton Drive and Bayswater Avenue. Water temperature at the time was approximately 36 degrees.

Officers from the NYPD’s 101st Precinct, Special Operations Division and FDNY units responded. Scuba teams entered the water while an NYPD helicopter hovered above to assist.

All three were pulled from the bay and taken to shore, where EMS transported two to Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital and the third to St. John’s Episcopal Hospital. All were reported in stable condition.

Neighbors who spoke to ABC-TV said they had repeatedly warned the men in recent days not to venture onto the ice. Witnesses said the group had walked about the length of a football field before the ice gave way.

Authorities continue to caution residents about the dangers of walking on frozen waterways, especially as temperatures fluctuate.

Earlier this evening, members of our Scuba Team, Aviation Unit, Emergency Service Unit, and the @FDNY rescued three individuals from frozen waters in Far Rockaway.

No matter the conditions, our officers are always ready to answer the call. pic.twitter.com/kA42EU2srT

— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) February 6, 2026

Israeli Air Force jets were dispatched Sunday afternoon to intercept and accompany a Wizz Air passenger aircraft traveling from London to Ben Gurion Airport after authorities received what was deemed a credible security concern.

The incident unfolded when two passengers noticed that the word “terrorist” appeared in Arabic on their mobile phone while onboard the flight.

Disturbed by what they saw, the passengers notified the cabin crew, who followed established emergency procedures and immediately relayed the information to Israeli security officials and air traffic controllers.

Given the sensitive nature of the report, security officials activated a formal response protocol. As part of that process, two Israeli Air Force fighter jets were launched and proceeded to escort the aircraft from the moment it entered Israeli airspace until it landed at Ben Gurion Airport.

The plane landed without incident, and all passengers and crew exited the aircraft safely.

Security forces and police units were already positioned on the runway upon arrival. During a rapid on-site questioning of passengers, authorities determined that the incident stemmed from a misunderstanding: the couple’s son had earlier renamed their phone’s mobile hotspot with a threatening label as a “joke,” without their parents’ awareness.

Despite the clarification, all passengers were subjected to further and heightened security checks after leaving the aircraft to ensure there was no remaining risk.

The Israel Airports Authority said: “Due to suspicion of suspicious behavior on the aircraft, security forces acted in accordance with protocols. The incident has concluded. The plane landed, and it was determined that there was no actual security event.”

{Matzav.com}

Attorney Chaim Bleicher of the Honenu legal aid organization submitted an appeal to the State Attorney’s Office against the decision of Israel’s Department of Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) not to open an investigation into police officers who removed dozens of Chareidi passengers from a bus in northern Israel, leaving them stranded on the side of a highway in the middle of the night.

The incident occurred several months ago after the bus driver called the police with a complaint about a passenger smoking on the bus.

The officers who arrived at the scene forced all the passengers off the bus and ordered the bus driver to leave the scene instead of addressing the individual who prompted the complaint. All the passengers were left on the side of the road in an isolated area, despite their pleas not to be left stranded and the inherent security issues. The passengers were forced to continue on their way with the help of rides from passing vehicles and from another bus driver, who happened to pass by and picked them up and took them to their destination.

After the incident, Attorney Bleicher filed a demand with the DIPI to open a criminal investigation against the officers.

In his letter, Bleicher described the incident: “On October 20, 2025, around 1:30 a.m., a police patrol was called to the Golani Interchange at the request of a Superbus driver following a report of a passenger smoking an e-cigarette inside the bus.

“Upon their arrival, instead of dealing with the source of the incident, the officers ordered all of the bus passengers, about 40 people, to immediately disembark at an isolated stop on an intercity road and instructed the driver to continue driving without them.

“The passengers, including my clients, pleaded with the officers not to abandon them late at night on a dark highway with no transportation alternatives, but the officers showed complete indifference and ignored the real danger to public safety. One of my clients addressed the officers in astonishment, ‘Are you normal?’

“In response, and without any legal grounds, one officer grabbed my client’s hand, forcibly dragged him to the patrol car, and announced his arrest for ‘insulting a public servant.’ My client was released only after being pressured into apologizing under duress. The officers left the scene, leaving dozens of passengers helpless.

“Such acts—harming, abandoning, and endangering a group of people solely because of their sectoral affiliation—are an unforgivable crime and are no longer merely a disciplinary offense. There are more than enough criminal provisions that can be attributed to the suspects. Transferring the case for review by the legal advisory unit and closing the file at the DIPI is a direct continuation of the harm to that same sector and reflects a profound disregard for their rights, dignity, and lives—this time not only by the suspected officers but also by the DIPI itself.

“The State Attorney’s Office must open a criminal investigation against the officers involved for offenses of assault, abuse of official authority, abandonment, and endangering the lives of the passengers and must remove the blemish created by the suspects’ actions, which now also appears to reflect a broader systemic failure within the law-enforcement authorities.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

PARIS (VINnews) — Three Jewish men wearing kippahs were threatened by a knife-wielding suspect Saturday evening near the Trocadéro in Paris, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower, authorities said.

The incident occurred shortly after 7 p.m. on Avenue Gustave V de Suède in the city’s 16th arrondissement. The three men had left a nearby synagogue and were walking in the neighborhood when they noticed a man staring at them, according to local reports.

The suspect approached and repeatedly asked, “Are you Jews? Are you Israelis?” When one of the men responded affirmatively, the individual pulled a knife from his pocket.

Je condamne avec la plus grande fermeté l’agression dont ont été victimes 3 jeunes de confession juive dans les jardins du Trocadéro.
Aucun blessé n’est à déplorer.
Je leur apporte tout mon soutien.
Une enquête est en cours afin de retrouver l’auteur des faits notamment avec…

— Jérémy Redler (@Jeremy_Redler) February 7, 2026

The victims fled and sought refuge with nearby police officers. No injuries were reported.

All three men filed complaints. Prosecutors have opened an investigation into alleged violence with a weapon and possible religious bias.

Jérémy Redler, mayor of the 16th arrondissement, condemned the attack in a message posted on social media.

“I condemn in the strongest possible terms the assault suffered by three young people of the Jewish faith in the gardens of the Trocadéro,” Redler wrote. “No injuries are to be regretted. I extend my full support to them.”

He said an investigation is underway to identify the suspect, including through the analysis of surveillance camera footage in the district. Redler added that he is in constant contact with police authorities and has requested heightened vigilance around sensitive sites.

“I will continue to relentlessly combat antisemitism,” he said.

The attack comes amid continued concern over antisemitic incidents in France, which is home to Europe’s largest Jewish community.

NEW YORK (AP) — The FBI pored over Jeffrey Epstein’s bank records and emails. It searched his homes. It spent years interviewing his victims and examining his connections to some of the world’s most influential people.

But while investigators collected ample proof that Epstein sexually abused underage girls, they found scant evidence the well-connected financier led a sex trafficking ring serving powerful men, an Associated Press review of internal Justice Department records shows.

Videos and photos seized from Epstein’s homes in New York, Florida and the Virgin Islands didn’t depict victims being abused or implicate anyone else in his crimes, a prosecutor wrote in one 2025 memo.

An examination of Epstein’s financial records, including payments he made to entities linked to influential figures in academia, finance and global diplomacy, found no connection to criminal activity, said another internal memo in 2019.

While one Epstein victim made highly public claims that he “lent her” to his rich friends, agents couldn’t confirm that and found no other victims telling a similar story, the records said.

Summarizing the investigation in an email last July, agents said “four or five” Epstein accusers claimed other men or women had sexually abused them. But, the agents said, there “was not enough evidence to federally charge these individuals, so the cases were referred to local law enforcement.”

The AP and other media organizations are still reviewing millions of pages of documents, many of them previously confidential, that the Justice Department released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act and it is possible those records contain evidence overlooked by investigators.

But the documents, which include police reports, FBI interview notes and prosecutor emails, provide the clearest picture to date of the investigation — and why U.S. authorities ultimately decided to close it without additional charges.

Dozens of victims come forward
The Epstein investigation began in 2005, when the parents of a 14-year-old girl reported she had been molested at the millionaire’s home in Palm Beach, Florida.

Police would identify at least 35 girls with similar stories: Epstein was paying high school age students $200 or $300 to give him sexualized massages.

After the FBI joined the probe, federal prosecutors drafted indictments to charge Epstein and some personal assistants who had arranged the girls’ visits and payments. But instead, then-Miami U.S. attorney Alexander Acosta struck a deal letting Epstein plead guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution from an underage girl. Sentenced to 18 months in jail, Epstein was free by mid-2009.

In 2018, a series of Miami Herald stories about the plea deal prompted New York federal prosecutors to take a fresh look at the accusations.

Epstein was arrested in July 2019. One month later, he killed himself in his jail cell.

A year later, prosecutors charged Epstein’s longtime confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell, saying she’d recruited several of his victims and sometimes joined the sexual abuse. Convicted in 2021, Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison term.

Prosecutors fail to find evidence backing most sensational claims
Prosecution memos, case summaries and other documents made public in the department’s latest release of Epstein-related records show that FBI agents and federal prosecutors diligently pursued potential coconspirators. Even seemingly outlandish and incomprehensible claims, called in to tip lines, were examined.

Some allegations couldn’t be verified, investigators wrote.

In 2011 and again in 2019, investigators interviewed Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who in lawsuits and news interviews had accused Epstein of arranging for her to have sexual encounters with numerous men, including Britain’s former Prince Andrew.

Investigators said they confirmed that Giuffre had been sexually abused by Epstein. But other parts of her story were problematic.

Two other Epstein victims who Giuffre had claimed were also “lent out” to powerful men told investigators they had no such experience, prosecutors wrote in a 2019 internal memo.

“No other victim has described being expressly directed by either Maxwell or Epstein to engage in sexual activity with other men,” the memo said.

Giuffre acknowledged writing a partly fictionalized memoir of her time with Epstein containing descriptions of things that didn’t take place. She had also offered shifting accounts in interviews with investigators, they wrote, and had “engaged in a continuous stream of public interviews about her allegations, many of which have included sensationalized if not demonstrably inaccurate characterizations of her experiences.” Those inaccuracies included false accounts of her interactions with the FBI, they said.

Still, U.S. prosecutors attempted to arrange an interview with Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. He refused to make himself available. Giuffre settled a lawsuit with Mountbatten-Windsor in which she had accused him of sexual misconduct.

In a memoir published after she killed herself last year, Giuffre wrote that prosecutors told her they didn’t include her in the case against Maxwell because they didn’t want her allegations to distract the jury. She insisted her accounts of being trafficked to elite men were true.

Prosecutors say photos and videos don’t implicate others
Investigators seized a multitude of videos and photos from Epstein’s electronic devices and homes in New York, Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands. They found CDs, hard copy photographs and at least one videotape containing nude images of females, some of whom seemed as if they might be minors. One device contained 15 to 20 images depicting commercial child sex abuse material — pictures investigators said Epstein obtained on the internet.

No videos or photos showed Epstein victims being sexually abused, none showed any males with any of the nude females, and none contained evidence implicating anyone other than Epstein and Maxwell, then-Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey wrote in an email for FBI officials last year.

Had they existed, the government “would have pursued any leads they generated,” Comey wrote. “We did not, however, locate any such videos.”

Investigators who scoured Epstein’s bank records found payments to more than 25 women who appeared to be models — but no evidence that he was engaged in prostituting women to other men, prosecutors wrote.

Epstein’s close associates go uncharged
In 2019, prosecutors weighed the possibility of charging one of Epstein’s longtime assistants but decided against it.

Prosecutors concluded that while the assistant was involved in helping Epstein pay girls for sex and may have been aware that some were underage, she herself was a victim of his sexual abuse and manipulation.

Investigators examined Epstein’s relationship with the French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, who once was involved in an agency with Epstein in the U.S., and who was accused in a separate case of sexually assaulting women in Europe. Brunel killed himself in jail while awaiting trial on a rape charge in France.

Prosecutors also weighed whether to charge one of Epstein’s girlfriends who had participated in sexual acts with some of his victims. Investigators interviewed the girlfriend, who was 18 to 20 years old at the time, “but it was determined there was not enough evidence,” according to a summary given to FBI Director Kash Patel last July.

Days before Epstein’s July 2019 arrest, the FBI strategized about sending agents to serve grand jury subpoenas on people close to Epstein, including his pilots and longtime business client, retail mogul Les Wexner.

Wexner’s lawyers told investigators that neither he nor his wife had knowledge of Epstein’s sexual misconduct. Epstein had managed Wexner’s finances, but the couple’s lawyers said they cut him off in 2007 after learning he’d stolen from them.

“There is limited evidence regarding his involvement,” an FBI agent wrote of Wexner in an Aug. 16, 2019, email.

In a statement to the AP, a legal representative for Wexner said prosecutors had informed him that he was “neither a coconspirator nor target in any respect,” and that Wexner had cooperated with investigators.

Prosecutors also examined accounts from women who said they’d given massages at Epstein’s home to guests who’d tried to make the encounters sexual. One woman accused private equity investor Leon Black of initiating sexual contact during a massage in 2011 or 2012, causing her to flee the room.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office subsequently investigated, but no charges were filed.

Black’s lawyer, Susan Estrich, said he had paid Epstein for estate planning and tax advice. She said in a statement that Black didn’t engage in misconduct and had no awareness of Epstein’s criminal activities. Lawsuits by two women who accused Black of sexual misconduct were dismissed or withdrawn. One is pending.

No client list
Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News in February 2025 that Epstein’s never-before-seen “client list” was “sitting on my desk right now.” A few months later, she claimed the FBI was reviewing “tens of thousands of videos” of Epstein “with children or child porn.”

But FBI agents wrote superiors saying the client list didn’t exist.

On Dec. 30, 2024, about three weeks before President Joe Biden left office, then-FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate reached out through subordinates to ask “whether our investigation to date indicates the ‘client list,’ often referred to in the media, does or does not exist,” according to an email summarizing his query.

A day later, an FBI official replied that the case agent had confirmed no client list existed.

On Feb. 19, 2025, two days before Bondi’s Fox News appearance, an FBI supervisory special agent wrote: “While media coverage of the Jeffrey Epstein case references a ’client list,’ investigators did not locate such a list during the course of the investigation.”

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JERUSALEM — El Al Israel Airlines announced Sunday it will launch nine new destinations over the coming year, marking the carrier’s first major route expansion since the start of the Gaza war.

The airline said it will begin operating direct flights to Hanoi, Vietnam; Seoul, South Korea; and Manila, the Philippines, with three weekly flights to each destination. The routes will be operated on Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft offering economy, premium economy and business class service.

Ticket sales for Hanoi open Sunday, with flights scheduled to begin in October 2026. Round-trip fares will start at $899, the airline said. Sales for Seoul are expected to open in May for flights beginning in March 2027. Details on ticket sales for Manila will be announced at a later date.

In addition to the new Asia routes, Sun D’Or, El Al’s charter subsidiary, will launch six new European destinations, adding to previously announced routes to Salzburg, Naples and Varna.

The new European destinations include Catania in Sicily and Cagliari in Sardinia, as well as Basel, Switzerland; Zagreb and Dubrovnik, Croatia; and Copenhagen, Denmark. The Copenhagen route will mark El Al’s return to the Danish capital for the first time since 2001.

Round-trip fares for the new Sun D’Or routes will start at $339 for Sardinia and Croatia, $389 for Sicily, $439 for Basel and $529 for Copenhagen. Ticket sales for the European destinations also open Sunday through the airline’s website and travel agents.

Israel’s political-security cabinet on Sunday signed off on a broad package of decisions that will dramatically reshape the legal, civil, and administrative systems governing Judea and Samaria, marking one of the most extensive policy shifts in the area in years.

The initiative was promoted by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Yisroel Katz and drafted by the Settlement Administration within the Defense Ministry. The changes are designed to dismantle longstanding regulatory hurdles, cancel outdated Jordanian laws, and speed up settlement growth across the region.

One of the most consequential steps deals with land registration. Until now, land records in Judea and Samaria were kept confidential, unlike registries inside the Green Line, a situation that complicated real estate transactions and left room for abuse. Under the new directive, land registries will be opened and published, a move intended to improve transparency and make lawful land purchases more accessible.

The cabinet also nullified a Jordanian-era statute that barred Jews from purchasing property. In the past, Jewish buyers were forced to acquire land through corporate entities and seek special approvals from the Civil Administration. That requirement has now been scrapped, and the prohibition on sales to foreigners has been lifted, allowing Jews to buy property under rules similar to those applied in Israel’s major cities. Additionally, the need for authorization from the Deputy Commander for Land Registration has been replaced with professional qualification criteria, further easing constraints on the local real estate market.

Planning authority in Hebron was also addressed. After years of delays attributed to the Palestinian municipality, responsibility for issuing building permits in Jewish areas near the Cave of the Patriarchs and other sacred sites will be transferred directly to the Civil Administration’s planning bodies. The cabinet said this change will create a permanent framework for planning and end the reliance on temporary arrangements. Alongside this, the Hebron Directorate was granted full municipal authority, enabling it to manage services, respond to residents’ needs, and enforce regulations independently.

Rachel’s Tomb is set to receive a parallel administrative upgrade. Because the site lies within Bethlehem’s municipal jurisdiction, it has long suffered from inconsistent municipal services. The cabinet approved the establishment of a dedicated municipal directorate that will oversee sanitation, garbage collection, landscaping, and ongoing maintenance at the site.

Beyond municipal and land issues, the cabinet approved an expansion of state enforcement activities in Areas A and B. These efforts will concentrate on illegal water usage, harm to archaeological sites, and environmental dangers that affect surrounding areas.

Another notable decision revives a long-dormant government body. A committee tasked with facilitating land purchases, which has been inactive for roughly 20 years, will resume operations. Its renewed mandate is to allow the state to proactively acquire land in Judea and Samaria in order to safeguard reserves for future settlement needs.

Defense Minister Katz said the package reflects a decisive policy aimed at strengthening Israel’s hold in Judea and Samaria and bolstering the settlement enterprise. He described the territory as vital to Israel’s security and national interests and stressed the government’s intention to provide legal clarity and equal civil conditions for Israelis throughout the country.

Finance Minister Smotrich framed the decisions as a turning point, saying they bring an end to what he called discriminatory legal arrangements and move toward normalizing everyday life in Judea and Samaria. He added that the government plans to continue dismantling bureaucratic barriers and pushing forward settlement expansion across the region.

{Matzav.com}

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s second term has presented an array of opportunities for political opponents, from immigration crackdowns and lingering inflation to attacks on independent institutions and friction with overseas allies.

Many Democrats, however, are staying focused on health care, an issue that was once a political liability but has become foundational for the party in recent elections. They insist their strategy will help the party regain control of Congress in the November elections and fare better than chasing headlines about the latest outrages out of the White House.

Republicans last year cut about $1 trillion over a decade from Medicaid and declined to extend COVID-era subsidies that had lowered the cost of health plans under the Affordable Care Act.

Democrats are filming campaign spots outside struggling hospitals, spotlighting Americans facing spiking insurance premiums and sharing their own personal health care stories.

U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia, one of the party’s most endangered incumbents this year, said at a rally Saturday attended by more than 1,000 people in an Atlanta suburb that health care is part of Trump’s abandonment of working people.

“While prices are going up and jobs are getting harder to find, they decided to let health insurance premiums double for more than 20 million Americans, including more than a million Georgians,” said Ossoff, the only Democratic senator seeking reelection this year in a state that Trump won in 2024. He said 200,000 people in Georgia had lost their coverage.

Brad Woodhouse, a Democratic strategist and executive director of advocacy group Protect Our Care, said health care is “a banger of an issue for Democrats.”

“I think it will be part of every single campaign, up and down the ballot,” he said.

Republicans defend their votes as reining in ballooning health spending and cracking down on what they call waste, fraud and abuse. Trump recently launched a website to help patients buy discounted prescription drugs.

“They are working every single day to make sure that we bring affordability to the people,” said Joe Gruters, chairman of the Republican National Committee.

But the party, despite controlling both chambers of Congress, has been unable so far to pass comprehensive legislation to offset Americans’ health costs.

Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist, said the issue would remain his party’s “Achilles’ heel” until its leaders draft realistic proposals that can become law.

Public opinion on health care wasn’t always in Democrats’ favor
Health care was once seen as a political liability for the left.

In 2010, Democrats lost their U.S. House majority after President Barack Obama’s signature health policy, the ACA, passed without a single Republican vote. In 2014, they gave up the U.S. Senate a year after his administration fumbled the rollout of Healthcare.gov.

Those tides turned when Trump “touched the stove” during his first term, Woodhouse said, by supporting unsuccessful efforts to repeal and replace the health overhaul, known as “Obamacare,” potentially leaving millions of people uninsured and making it harder for those with preexisting medical conditions to get coverage.

Last year Republicans passed legislation to reduce spending on federal health programs and food assistance, largely by imposing work requirements on people receiving aid and by shifting certain costs onto the states.

Republicans said that would stave off abuse of the Medicaid program, and added a $50 billion investment in rural health to offset losses.

Unrig Our Economy, a left-wing group, said it has funneled more than $12 million into ads criticizing Republicans on health care since early 2025.

Democrats saw another opportunity to win voters’ support last year as enhanced ACA tax credits headed toward expiration and they forced a government shutdown over the issue. The funding wasn’t restored but the party believes it gained political leverage going into this year’s campaigns.

“Republicans own it now,” said Eric Stern, a Democratic media strategist. “You better believe Democrats are going to be talking about that.”

Candidates highlight emotional stories
Stef Feldman, a Democratic consultant who was an aide to former President Joe Biden, said she is hearing from candidates that voters care about health affordability “more than just about anything else.”

A recent poll from the health care research nonprofit KFF backs that observation. It found that about one-third of U.S. adults are “very worried” about the cost of health care, compared with about one-quarter who feel the same way about the cost of groceries, housing or utilities.

For Iowa state Sen. Zach Wahls, who is running for the U.S. Senate this year, tapping into those concerns has meant visits to vulnerable hospitals and tours of pharmacies. For Rebecca Cooke, a U.S. House candidate in Wisconsin, it has meant meetings with hospital leaders and telling personal stories, including about her dad’s expensive prostate cancer drugs and the $200 jump in her own ACA premiums.

Ossoff has called health care “a life-or-death question.”

Teresa Acosta, who frequently campaigns for Democratic candidates, said her ACA policy, which covers herself and two teenagers, including a son with Type 1 diabetes, now costs $520 a month, seven times more than before expanded subsidies went away.

“Ultimately, Trump and congressional Republicans refused to act,” Acosta said at the Ossoff rally. “They refused to stand up for the care that me and over 1 million Georgians rely on.”

ACA plans are heavily relied upon in Georgia, one of the 10 states that didn’t expand Medicaid. Advocates have warned that the expiration of the expanded subsidies could leave Georgia residents uninsured. Recent federal data shows about 14% fewer Georgians have signed up for plans in 2026 compared with last year, although those numbers aren’t yet final.

Republicans say they don’t want to throw money at a ‘broken system’
U.S. Reps. Mike Collins and Buddy Carter, two of Ossoff’s top Republican opponents, voted in January against a temporary ACA tax-credit extension that passed the House but languished in the Senate. Both deride the ACA as the “Unaffordable Care Act,” a phrase used by Trump, and favor a narrower Republican alternative.

Carter, who worked as a pharmacist, said an extension amounted to “throwing more money at a broken system, riddled with waste, fraud and abuse, without addressing the root cause of skyrocketing costs.”

U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, the Wisconsin Republican fending off a challenge from Cooke, was one of 17 Republicans who voted for the temporary extension. He said he did not support the subsidies but had to vote that way to protect his constituents. He noted that Democrats set the expiration date in the first place.

But Van Orden was also critical of his own party for allowing the tax credits to expire without another solution in place.

“For the last 15 years, when you said health care, they’d dive out the window and barrel roll into a bush and hide,” Van Orden said. “We’re the party of good policy, and so we should be writing policy, and we need to embrace this.”

Israeli fighter jets were scrambled Sunday to escort a commercial passenger plane into Tel Aviv after a suspected security incident midflight.

The aircraft, operated by Wizz Air, was traveling from London to Ben Gurion Airport when a couple onboard reported receiving what they believed was a security-related threat on a mobile phone, according to officials.

Following the report, the Israeli Air Force deployed fighter jets to escort the plane for the remainder of its approach, a precautionary measure typically reserved for scenarios involving potential threats to passenger safety.

After the flight landed, Israeli security forces initiated a controlled response. Passengers were screened individually as they disembarked, with security personnel and canine units conducting inspections amid concerns that the threat could involve an explosive device or other security risk.

The security response temporarily disrupted operations at the airport and reflected the country’s broader security posture, which prioritizes rapid escalation when potential threats emerge in civilian airspace.

In a statement, the Israel Airports Authority said the response followed established protocol.
“Due to suspicion of suspicious conduct on the aircraft, security forces acted in accordance with procedures for such cases,” the authority said. “The incident has concluded. The aircraft landed and it was found that there was no real incident.”

Officials said the couple who reported the threat was questioned by security personnel, after which authorities determined that there was no credible danger. The aircraft was cleared, and normal airport operations resumed.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

New York has authorized medical aid in dying for certain terminally ill residents after Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation on Friday permitting the practice for patients diagnosed with less than six months to live.

State officials said the statute includes safeguards designed to prevent pressure or abuse, while also protecting healthcare workers and religiously affiliated medical institutions from being compelled to participate in the process.

The measure establishes a required five-day interval between the time a physician issues a prescription and when it may be dispensed. It also mandates mental health assessments for individuals seeking the medication.

Eligibility under the law is limited to residents of New York.

“Our state will always stand firm in safeguarding New Yorkers’ freedoms and right to bodily autonomy, which includes the right for the terminally ill to peacefully and comfortably end their lives with dignity and compassion,” Hochul said in a statement.

The new policy marks a reversal from the state’s legal position nearly a decade ago. In 2017, New York’s Court of Appeals dismissed a case arguing that mentally competent, terminally ill patients were entitled to prescriptions for life-ending drugs, determining at the time that doctor-assisted suicide remained illegal.

With the signing of the bill, New York becomes the 13th state, along with the District of Columbia, to permit some form of assisted suicide. Oregon pioneered such legislation in 1994.

Advocacy organizations supporting access to assisted suicide praised the decision. Among them was End of Life Choices New York, whose executive director, Mandi Zucker, described the enactment as a “mile marker in the long and winding road towards fairness, choice, peace, and dignity for all of those watching loved ones struggle with a terminal illness.”

Zucker said the organization plans to launch a broad public education effort over the next six months to inform patients and families about the new law.

{Matzav.com}

Israeli defense officials have warned U.S. counterparts that Iran’s expanding ballistic missile program poses an existential threat to Israel, and that Jerusalem is prepared to strike alone if Washington hesitates, according to the Jerusalem Post.

In a series of high-level exchanges in recent weeks, Israeli officials laid out operational plans aimed at dismantling Iran’s missile production and deployment infrastructure, including potential strikes on key manufacturing and storage sites. The message, officials said, was unambiguous: Israel will not wait indefinitely for international consensus.

“We told the Americans we will strike alone if Iran crosses the red line we set on ballistic missiles,” one security source said, adding that Israel believes Tehran has not yet reached that threshold but remains under constant surveillance.

The talks reflect growing concern in Jerusalem that Iran is accelerating work on long-range systems capable of threatening Israel and destabilizing the broader region. Israeli officials have emphasized that they will not allow Tehran to rebuild or expand strategic weapons capabilities that could endanger the country’s existence.

One senior defense official described the current moment as a “historic opportunity” to significantly degrade Iran’s missile infrastructure and remove what Israel sees as an active and escalating threat.

During the consultations, Israeli representatives also presented contingency plans to target additional facilities linked to missile development and production, according to officials briefed on the discussions.

At the same time, Israeli leaders are increasingly uneasy about the direction of U.S. policy under President Donald Trump. Several officials voiced concern that Trump may favor a limited military response — similar to recent U.S. strikes against the Houthis in Yemen — that could fall short of dismantling Iran’s core capabilities.

“The worry is he might choose a few targets, declare success, and leave Israel to deal with the fallout, just like with the Houthis,” another military official said. “Partial measures won’t eliminate the threat.”

Israeli planners argue that symbolic or narrowly targeted strikes would allow Iran to quickly recover, leaving its long-term missile ambitions intact.

The warnings come as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares for an upcoming visit to Washington, DC, where Iran is expected to dominate discussions with senior U.S. officials.

Accompanying Netanyahu is expected to be Brig. Gen. Omer Tishler, the incoming commander of the Israeli Air Force. Tishler will represent the leadership of the IDF and is set to brief American counterparts on Israel’s operational assessments.

He will be acting on behalf of IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, as Israel currently lacks a formal defense attaché in Washington. The post has remained vacant since Defense Minister Yisrael Katz declined to approve the military’s nominee.

That absence has added urgency to the upcoming meetings, with Israeli officials eager to ensure that their strategic concerns are fully understood at the highest levels of the U.S. government.
Publicly, both Washington and Jerusalem continue to stress coordination and diplomatic engagement. Privately, however, Israeli officials say they are preparing for the possibility that diplomacy and limited military action will fail to curb Iran’s missile ambitions.

The result is a widening gap between Israeli and American threat perceptions — and a growing willingness in Jerusalem to act independently if it believes its security red lines have been crossed.

As one official put it, “Israel will not outsource its survival.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s top diplomat insisted Sunday that Tehran’s strength came from its ability to “say no to the great powers,” striking a maximalist position just after negotiations with the United States over its nuclear program and in the wake of nationwide protests.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking to diplomats at a summit in Tehran, signaled that Iran would stick to its position that it must be able to enrich uranium — a major point of contention with President Donald Trump, who bombed Iranian atomic sites in June during the 12-day Iran-Israel war.

While Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian praised the talks Friday in Oman with the Americans as “a step forward,” Araghchi’s remarks show the challenge ahead. Already, the U.S. moved the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, ships and warplanes to the Middle East to pressure Iran into an agreement and have the firepower necessary to strike the Islamic Republic should Trump choose to do so.

“I believe the secret of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s power lies in its ability to stand against bullying, domination and pressures from others,” Araghchi said. “They fear our atomic bomb, while we are not pursuing an atomic bomb. Our atomic bomb is the power to say no to the great powers. The secret of the Islamic Republic’s power is in the power to say no to the powers.”

‘Atomic bomb’ as rhetorical device
Araghchi’s choice to explicitly use an “atomic bomb” as a rhetorical device likely wasn’t accidental. While Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is peaceful, the West and the International Atomic Energy Agency say Tehran had an organized military program to seek the bomb up until 2003.

Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step to weapons-grade levels of 90%, the only non-weapons state to do so. Iranian officials in recent years had also been increasingly threatening that the Islamic Republic could seek the bomb, even while its diplomats have pointed to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s preachings as a binding fatwa, or religious edict, that Iran wouldn’t build one.

Pezeshkian, who ordered Araghchi to pursue talks with the Americans after likely getting Khamenei’s blessing, also wrote on X on Sunday about the talks.

“The Iran-U.S. talks, held through the follow-up efforts of friendly governments in the region, were a step forward,” the president wrote. “Dialogue has always been our strategy for peaceful resolution. … The Iranian nation has always responded to respect with respect, but it does not tolerate the language of force.”

It remains unclear when and where, or if, there will be a second round of talks. Trump, after the talks Friday, offered few details but said: “Iran looks like they want to make a deal very badly — as they should.”

Aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea
During Friday’s talks, U.S. Navy Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of the American military’s Central Command, was in Oman. Cooper’s presence was likely an intentional reminder to Iran about the U.S. military presence in the region. Cooper later accompanied U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, to the Lincoln out in the Arabian Sea after the indirect negotiations.

Araghchi appeared to be taking the threat of an American military strike seriously, as many worried Iranians have in recent weeks. He noted that after multiple rounds of talks last year, the U.S. “attacked us in the midst of negotiations.”

“If you take a step back (in negotiations), it is not clear up to where it will go,” Araghchi said.

A new online resource aimed at helping people stop gambling has launched amid growing concern over the impact of gambling addiction by the Frum community Lakewood and surrounding areas.

The website, We Don’t Gamble, was created to encourage individuals who are struggling with gambling to pause, reflect, and make a firm commitment to stop. The platform emphasizes that gambling often begins as entertainment but can quickly escalate into a destructive habit that affects finances, families, and mental health.

According to the site, its mission is not to shame individuals or sell services, but to raise awareness and foster accountability for those who recognize gambling has taken control of their lives. Visitors are urged to stop all forms of gambling- particularly online and app-based betting – and are invited to make a personal commitment to quitting.

The launch comes as gambling-related issues have increasingly seeped into the Lakewood and neighboring communities – resulting in financial distress, family strain, and emotional hardship.

Just locally, TLS has been made aware of residents who lost MILLIONS of dollars gambling.

You can visit the website here.

Gamblers can also exclude themselves here from gambling for 1 year, 5 years, or lifetime:

https://www.njportal.com/dge/selfexclusion

https://gaming.ny.gov/voluntary-self-exclusion

WASHINGTON D.C (VINnews)- Senator Mark Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, expressed concern that the United States lacks sufficient leverage to pressure Iran as it seeks to rebuild its nuclear capabilities following recent military strikes.

“Iran, as has been indicated in public documents, is trying to reconstitute,” Warner said in remarks that appeared on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

He highlighted limitations on U.S. military positioning in the region, noting that a key aircraft carrier typically stationed in the Mediterranean — and potentially available for rapid response near Iran — was instead deployed off the coast of Venezuela amid an ongoing blockade tied to U.S. operations there.

“What I fear is that we don’t have the ability to bring the full power of pressure against Iran,” Warner said. “A few weeks back, when the Iranian people were bravely in the streets, and there might’ve been a moment, we couldn’t strike because the aircraft carrier that was usually in the Mediterranean was off the coast of Venezuela during the blockade there.”

The comments come amid reports of Iran’s efforts to repair and relocate elements of its nuclear program after U.S. and Israeli strikes in June 2025 damaged key facilities. Satellite imagery has shown reconstruction at missile sites and slower progress at nuclear locations, with some activity potentially aimed at hardening sites against future attacks.

The U.S. has maintained a significant naval presence off Venezuela as part of Operation Southern Spear, including the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group, to enforce measures against alleged drug trafficking and oil shipments linked to the Maduro regime. The deployment followed Maduro’s capture in early 2026 and has involved blockades that have kept assets committed to the Caribbean region.

Warner, a Virginia Democrat with access to classified intelligence, has previously criticized aspects of U.S. actions toward both Iran and Venezuela, including concerns over consultation with Congress and the strategic diversion of resources.

Iran has engaged in indirect talks with the U.S., mediated in part by Oman, focusing on its nuclear program while rejecting broader discussions on missiles or regional proxies. U.S. officials have warned against any reconstitution efforts, with President Trump indicating potential severe consequences if Iran advances toward weapons capability.

Senior Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal on Sunday reiterated the terrorist group’s opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump’s demand to lay down arms and vowed “to defeat our enemy, Israel, God willing.”

Speaking at the 17th Al Jazeera Forum in Doha, Qatar, Mashaal said that the Islamist group would not disarm during the current Phase 2 of Trump’s plan, which calls for Hamas to lay down its weapons with the deployment of an International Stabilization Force to the Gaza Strip.

“As long as our people are under occupation,” he told attendees, “talk of disarmament is an attempt to turn our people into victims, to make their elimination easier and to facilitate their destruction at the hands of the Israeli side, which is armed with every international means of warfare.

“Questions about the resistance’s weapons are being raised forcefully. Some want to place it in the context that whoever carried out Oct. 7 must be cornered and made to pay the price,” continued Mashaal, in reference to the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of some 1,200 people.

“As those who participated in the resistance, we must not accept this,” he declared, saying that “resistance is the right of occupied peoples.”

Mashaal praised the terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, during which around 1,200 people, primarily Jewish civilians, were murdered, thousands were wounded and 251 were taken hostage.

The massacre “returned the Palestinian cause to the forefront of regional and international attention, and it is no longer possible to bypass it; resolving it has become a necessity,” he told the forum.

Mashaal again vowed to defeat Israel, saying that the Jewish state “represents an existential threat and danger to us and the region.”

Asked about the U.S.-backed National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, a transitional Palestinian body meant to exclude Hamas, Mashaal stressed the terrorist organization’s rejection of “foreign rule” over the Strip.

“We do not accept the logic of guardianship, foreign intervention or the re-imposition of a new mandate,” the Hamas leader told the summit.

Mashaal praised Doha for its support of the Palestinian cause, saying, “Qatar is a small country, but its role is great and respected.”

Doha “sympathizes and has an honorable stance on the issue, but Israel resents it,” he said. “They waged a campaign against it for this position.”

The Israeli Foreign Ministry on Thursday sharply criticized the Al Jazeera Forum, describing it as a “gathering of jihadists and their support staff.”

Trump warned on Jan. 21 that Hamas terrorists would be “blown away very quickly” if they fail to lay down their weapons under the second phase of Washington’s peace plan.

Speaking at a question-and-answer session in Davos, Switzerland, after his address to the World Economic Forum, the U.S. president said Hamas had “agreed to give up their weapons” as part of his 20-point plan.

Mashaal has repeatedly rejected demands to disarm, including on Dec. 6, when he declared that “protecting the resistance project and its weapons is the right of our people to defend themselves.

“The resistance and its weapons are the ummah‘s [Islamic nation’s] honor and pride,” he told an anti-Israel summit in Istanbul.

Senior Hamas terrorist Musa Abu Marzouk told Al Jazeera on Jan. 28 that the terrorist group had never agreed to disarm.

“Not for a single moment did we talk about surrendering weapons,” Abu Marzouk told the outlet, claiming the issue was never raised in the talks. JNS

{Matzav.com}

PSA: Blocking people’s mailboxes causes headaches and inconveniences for the homeowners and the mail carriers.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s Federal Security Service said Sunday that the man suspected of shooting a deputy chief of Russia’s military intelligence agency in Moscow was detained in Dubai and handed over to Russia.

Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev was hospitalized after being shot several times Friday by an assailant at an apartment building in northwestern Moscow, Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said. The attack followed a series of assassinations of senior military officers that Russia has blamed on Ukraine.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) said a Russian citizen, Lyubomir Korba, was detained in Dubai on suspicion of carrying out the shooting. In a statement on its website, FSB said it had also identified two “accomplices,” one of whom was detained in Moscow and another who “left for Ukraine.”

Asked about the shooting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday it would be up to law enforcement agencies to pursue the investigation but described it as an apparent “terrorist act” by Ukraine intended to derail peace talks.

There was no immediate response from Kyiv to a request for comment on the Russian allegations.

The shooting came a day after Russian, Ukrainian and U.S. negotiators wrapped up two days of talks in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, aimed at ending the nearly 4-year-old conflict in Ukraine. The Russian delegation was led by Alekseyev’s boss, military intelligence chief Adm. Igor Kostyukov.

Alekseyev, 64, has served as the first deputy head of Russia’s military intelligence agency, known as the GRU, since 2011.

He was decorated with the Hero of Russia medal for his role in Moscow’s military campaign in Syria. In June 2023, he was shown on state TV speaking to mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, when his Wagner Group seized the military headquarters in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don during his short-lived mutiny.

Since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, Russian authorities have blamed Kyiv for several assassinations of military officers and public figures in Russia. Ukraine has claimed responsibility for some of them.

In December, a car bomb killed Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff.

In April, another senior Russian military officer, Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff, was killed by a bomb placed in his car parked near his apartment building just outside Moscow.

A Russian man who previously lived in Ukraine pleaded guilty to carrying out the attack and said he had been paid by Ukraine’s security services.

Days after Moskalik’s killing, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he received a report from the head of Ukraine’s foreign intelligence agency on the “liquidation” of top Russian military figures, adding that “justice inevitably comes” although he didn’t mention Moskalik’s name.

In December 2024, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the chief of the military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, was killed by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his apartment building. Kirillov’s assistant also died. Ukraine’s security service claimed responsibility for the attack.

James Fishback, a Republican running for governor of Florida, is facing intense criticism after making a disparaging remark about the Kotel during a campaign appearance, drawing condemnation from Jewish organizations, civil rights advocates, and political commentators.

The controversy stems from comments Fishback delivered on February 5, 2026, during a speech at the University of Central Florida. While discussing his view that Florida should focus on strengthening economic relationships with countries such as Brazil rather than emphasizing diplomatic visits to Israel, Fishback declared, “I will not visit the state of Israel.” He continued, “I’d rather go to Brazil and other countries to bring jobs to Florida, and not visit countries just to kiss a stupid wall.”

Footage from the event shows members of the audience applauding and cheering following the remark.

WATCH:

James Fishback, candidate for Florida Governor at UCF:

“If you’re going to visit another country, you should be helping people, creating jobs, facilitating trade, not kissing a stupid wall.” pic.twitter.com/4we296VXHm

— Joan (@joanfromdc) February 5, 2026

StopAntisemitism, a U.S.-based organization dedicated to combating antisemitism, sharply criticized Fishback in a post on X, writing, “StopAntisemitism is disgusted to see James Fishback, candidate for Florida Governor, denigrate the Kotel, the holiest site to the Jewish people. Listen to the incel groypers he’s preaching to [respond] with applause.”

The organization pointed to the crowd’s reaction as evidence that the comment was calculated to appeal to specific online subcultures. Civil rights attorney and former Fox News contributor Leo Terrell also denounced the statement, saying it “made my blood boil.” Terrell urged the public to speak out, adding that similar language directed at sacred sites of other faiths would be unacceptable. He has previously described a visit to the Kotel as a defining moment in his career.

Bryan E. Leib, a former congressional candidate and Newsmax contributor, addressed the controversy in an op-ed published on February 6, 2026, describing Fishback’s words as “ignorant and offensive.” Leib called on Florida Republicans to reject the remarks, arguing that they revealed character rather than policy differences.

Leib also questioned the silence of party leaders, asking why the Florida GOP and other elected officials had not yet issued condemnations. He added that Fishback’s rhetoric suggested that millions of Florida voters who have visited the Kosel “are not worthy to be Americans.”

Fishback, a hedge fund manager who entered the governor’s race in 2025, has previously attracted attention for controversial statements. This latest episode, however, appears particularly damaging given Florida’s large and politically active Jewish population, one of the largest in the United States.

{Matzav.com}

BEIRUT (AP) — As tear gas canisters landed among protesters filling the wide boulevard, the 37-year-old beautician and her friends ran for cover. They sheltered among trees, concealed in darkness pierced only by the glow of streetlights and small fires behind them in the western Iranian city of Karaj.

Then gunfire rang out, audible in the video she was taking on her phone.

“Don’t be afraid,” she screamed repeatedly, her voice breaking. The crowd joined at the top of their lungs: “Don’t be afraid. We are all together.”

“Are they using live bullets?” she cried out. “Shameless! Shameless!” Others joined in the chant, along with cries of “Death to the dictator!”

It was a moment of collective boldness on Jan. 8, the night hundreds of thousands of Iranians across the country took to the streets against the cleric-led theocracy that has ruled for nearly 50 years. But after the bloodshed of that night, the beautician, like countless others, has retreated into terrified isolation. She moved in with her mother, afraid to be alone, and has huddled there, anxious and unable to sleep.

A blanket of fear has settled over Iran, she said, and a sense of grief and quiet rage has taken over.

“When you look at people in the street, it feels like you are seeing walking corpses, people with no hope left to continue living,” she said in a text message in late January.

Her videos and messages provide a raw account of the exuberance that protesters felt taking to the streets last month — and the shock that has paralyzed many after the bloodiest crackdown ever inflicted by the Islamic Republic. The beautician expressed despair that change can happen and a sense of abandonment by the world.

She saw little hope in Iran-U.S. nuclear talks that were held Friday even as they trade warnings of war. She feared Iran’s leaders will outlast Trump’s pressure and “become entrenched and all those people who died will have died in vain,” she wrote.

Monitoring groups say at least 6,854 were killed, most on Jan. 8 and 9, but they say the full number could be triple that. The clampdown since has also been unprecedented. A monthlong internet blackout has hidden the full extent of what happened, even as more than 50,000 people have been reported detained.

The Associated Press received more than a dozen videos as well as text messages the beautician sent to a relative of hers in Los Angeles during sporadic openings in the internet shutdown. The beautician gave permission for the material to be shared.

The AP is withholding the names of the beautician and her relative for their security. The AP verified the location and authenticity of her videos, which corresponded with known features of the area around Samandehi Park in Karaj. The AP could not verify all details in her account, but it broadly conforms with accounts from other protesters documented by the AP and rights groups.

Taking to the streets
The beautician struggled in Iran’s economy, crippled by decades of corruption and mismanagement and international sanctions. With jobs hard to find, she chose to work for herself as a nail technician, believing she could make a better living, said the relative, who has long been close to her and was in frequent contact even before the protests.

She gave up on having a family or children, the relative said. Everything was too expensive, and it was too repressive in Iran to bring up kids.

She had little faith in Iranian politicians claiming to be moderates and reformers, the relative said. But she joined protests. The power of a popular movement fueled her sense that change in Iran was possible.

She participated in the 2022 protests ignited by the death of Mahsa Amini, who died after being arrested for not wearing her headscarf to the liking of authorities. But she was disillusioned by the violence that followed. Over 500 were believed killed and over 22,000 detained.

Her desire changed “from saving her country to saving herself,” the relative said. Her family looked for opportunities for her to leave Iran, but they never materialized.

When protests triggered by the plunging value of Iran’s currency began in late December, she didn’t take part at first.

But when she found she could hardly even afford cooking oil, it was the last straw. She told her relative that she made the equivalent of only $40 in December, down from an already paltry $300-$400 average for the past year.

On Jan. 8, she made plans with her friends to join the protests.

Iranians poured into the streets on Jan. 8
That night, Iranians poured into the streets of at least 192 cities across Iran’s 31 provinces, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. These were quite possibly the biggest anti-government rallies since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The diversity of the crowds across social and economic classes was greater than past marches.

The beautician’s videos show protesters filling a main boulevard in Karaj. Their confidence bolstered by their numbers, they walk unhurriedly among the trees. Women, men and children chant, “ Death to Khamenei, ” referring to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Some chanted in support of the exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s last shah, who had called for the public to turn out. Some set up bonfires and formed protest circles around them.

It is not clear from her videos how the violence began.

One video shows protesters lined up outside a police station, cheering, while a fire burned inside.

From inside the station, police fired tear gas and shotgun pellets, the beautician said in a message. Live ammunition quickly followed.

The beautician wrote to her relative that she saw nearly 20 people shot in her immediate circle. The parents of a family friend were shot and killed as they tried to help a wounded person. Another friend’s father was killed, and authorities later made his daughter pay the equivalent of $4,500 to release his body.

In one video, a group huddled over a wounded protester, her leg covered in blood. They frantically looked for a way to stop the bleeding.

“Do you have a scarf? A headscarf, anything?” one person shouted. Another said: “We can’t go to the hospital,” apparently out of fear of being detained. Another interjected, in a panic: “Tie it tight and fasten it.”

The government has put the death toll from the wave of nationwide protests at more than 3,000, and Khamenei has denounced them as “a coup.”

‘We are all in mourning’
The next night, rights groups say shooting continued in Karaj, with snipers on rooftops and more dead. The beautician stepped out of the house but quickly returned, filming nothing, her relative said.

She has hardly left since.

“We have seen so many horrific scenes of people being killed before our eyes that we are now afraid to leave our homes,” she wrote in a message.

She fears security agents will come to her building, she wrote. She and her neighbors agreed not to let in anyone who rings the bells.

She takes tranquilizers “but I don’t truly sleep,” she wrote. “Everyone I talk to says they cannot sleep at night, stressed that at any moment they might come and attack our homes.”

One night in late January, she went out briefly to withdraw money from the bank sent by her relative. But the bank had no cash.

Over all the years of repression, “we always kept going, strong,” she wrote.

Not this time.

“We are all in mourning, filled with anger that we no longer even dare to shout out, for fear of our lives. Because they have no mercy.”

By Yisroel R.

Boro Park residents should be on high alert, as thieves are reportedly targeting people leaving banks with cash, using distraction tactics to steal money before victims realize what’s happening.

On Friday, a man had just withdrawn cash from a Chase Bank branch in Boro Park and entered his vehicle when an individual approached, knocked on the window, and claimed one of his tires was flat. As the man stepped out to check, two additional individuals approached and claimed that his coat had been splattered with paint.

Shomrim reports the paint had been deliberately poured as part of the distraction. The individuals offered to help remove the coat in order to clean it. The man realized it was a scam and that they were attempting to take the coat with the cash inside. He refused, and nothing was taken.

Shomrim noted that similar distraction scams have been reported in the past, especially on Fridays and in the weeks leading up to Purim, when more people may be withdrawing cash. Residents are urged to stay alert, be cautious of unsolicited “help” near banks or parking lots, and report any suspicious behavior immediately.

A deadly road accident occurred on Sunday near Ofakim, in which a 5-year-old Chareidi boy was hit by a car and killed.

The initial collision triggered a chain reaction involving three other vehicles that overturned at the scene. MDA and United Hatzalah teams arrived quickly and provided extensive medical treatment, but tragically the boy did not survive and his death was pronounced at the scene. Four additional injured people were evacuated from the scene in moderate and light conditions.

MDA emergency medics Hodaya Sheli, Israel Gaula, and Shilat Haddad described the complex scene: “This was a very serious road accident. According to witnesses, a pedestrian child was struck by a vehicle, which then caused a secondary collision involving two more cars. When we arrived there was chaos at the scene, and the child was lying unconscious, without a pulse or breathing, suffering a severe head injury. We immediately began advanced resuscitation, including chest compressions and ventilation, and evacuated him in an MDA intensive care ambulance to the trauma room at the hospital with his condition defined as critical. Meanwhile, additional MDA teams treated and evacuated the other crash victims—two in moderate condition with abdominal and limb injuries and two in light condition.”

Ronit Shrit, a United Hatzalah paramedic, said, “This was an accident involving three overturned vehicles and a pedestrian child with a severe head injury. I provided him medical assistance at the scene while performing resuscitation, after which he was evacuated to Soroka Hospital in critical condition at that stage. Additional United Hatzalah medics also treated a man and woman (aged 38 and 42) in moderate condition and two others in light condition.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

NEW YORK — The Mamdani administration did not recruit enough emergency snow shovelers to handle a recent winter storm that dumped nearly a foot of snow on the city, critics said, according to the New York Post.

As of Tuesday, 1,800 workers had been signed up for temporary snow-shoveling jobs this season, with a peak of 550 deployed to clear bus stops, crosswalks, and other public areas after the Jan. 25–26 storm, a City Hall source told the Post. By comparison, more than 6,400 shovelers were recruited for the 2015–16 winter season, when Central Park saw nearly 33 inches of snow.

City officials said the storm has caused delays in trash pickup and other services. Critics argued that the administration should have ramped up recruitment earlier. “Once it became clear that we were going to have a major storm on our hands, the city should have gone all-out in advertising for snow laborer jobs,” said Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens).

Council Minority Leader David Carr (R-Staten Island) praised sanitation workers for their efforts during nine consecutive days of subfreezing weather but added that the administration “dropped the ball when they didn’t hire snow shovelers as early as possible.”

The Sanitation Department said comparisons with previous winters are “misleading” due to changes in weather patterns, the snow laborer program, and the nature of work post-pandemic. The agency said this year’s deployment was the largest since the pandemic and included night shifts and specialized equipment.

The Skverer Rebbe has taken delivery of a new vehicle, marking a notable change after decades in which he was driven in a Cadillac. This time, the choice of his chassidim was a top-of-the-line Genesis luxury car, specially prepared to meet the Rebbe’s unique needs.

The new vehicle arrived at the Rebbe’s residence in New Square, New York, just before Shabbos.

Sources within the Skverer chassidus explained that the decision was driven not by aesthetics or branding, but by practical considerations tied to comfort and health.

Within Skver, it has long been customary to replace the Rebbe’s vehicle every year or two, a practice rooted in the immense distances the car once covered during frequent travel. In recent years, however, the Rebbe rarely leaves the confines of the village. As a result, the decision was made to invest in a vehicle that would provide maximum comfort and stability for the rare occasions when travel is necessary, with the Rebbe’s well-being as the primary concern.

Those close to the Rebbe emphasize that he had no involvement whatsoever in selecting the model, exterior appearance, or interior design. His only requests were purely functional and spiritual: the installation of a special reading light and a dedicated stand for seforim. The Rebbe is known to use every moment of travel for learning Torah, remaining fully immersed in his seforim without looking out the window or engaging with his surroundings.

The Genesis vehicle has been customized accordingly, ensuring that the Rebbe can continue his regular learning schedule even while on the road, with clarity of mind and optimal comfort.

{Matzav.com}

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The makers of mobile apps designed to help shoppers identify and boycott American goods say they saw a surge of interest in Denmark and beyond after the recent flare-up in tensions over U.S. President Donald Trump’s designs on Greenland.

The creator of the “Made O’Meter” app, Ian Rosenfeldt, said he saw around 30,000 downloads of the free app in just three days at the height of the trans-Atlantic diplomatic crisis in late January out of more than 100,000 since it was launched in March.

Apps offer practical help
Rosenfeldt, who lives in Copenhagen and works in digital marketing, decided to create the app a year ago after joining a Facebook group of like-minded Danes hoping to boycott U.S. goods.

“Many people were frustrated and thinking, ‘How do we actually do this in practical terms,’” the 53-year-old recalled. “If you use a bar code scanner, it’s difficult to see if a product is actually American or not, if it’s Danish or not. And if you don’t know that, you can’t really make a conscious choice.”

The latest version of “Made O’Meter” uses artificial intelligence to identify and analyze several products at a time, then recommend similar European-made alternatives. Users can set preferences, like “No USA-owned brands” or “Only EU-based brands.” The app claims over 95% accuracy.

“By using artificial intelligence, you can take an image of a product … and it can make a deep dive to go out and find the correct information about the product in many levels,” Rosenfeldt told The Associated Press during a demonstration at a Copenhagen grocery store. “This way, you have information that you can use to take decisions on what you think is right.”

‘Losing an ally’
After an initial surge of downloads when the app was launched, usage tailed off. Until last month, when Trump stepped up his rhetoric about the need for the U.S. to acquire Greenland, a strategically important and mineral-rich Arctic island that is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark.

Usage peaked Jan. 23, when there were almost 40,000 scans in one day, compared with 500 or so daily last summer. It has dropped back since but there were still around 5,000 a day this week, said Rosenfeldt, who noted “Made O’Meter” is used by over 20,000 people in Denmark but also by people in Germany, Spain, Italy, even Venezuela.

“It’s become much more personal,” said Rosenfeldt, who spoke of “losing an ally and a friend.”

Trump announced in January he would slap new tariffs on Denmark and seven other European countries that opposed his takeover calls, only to abruptly drop his threats after he said a “framework” for a deal over access to mineral-rich Greenland was reached with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s help. Few details of that agreement have emerged.

The U.S. began technical talks in late January to put together an Arctic security deal with Denmark and Greenland, which say sovereignty is not negotiable.

Rosenfeldt knows such boycotts won’t damage the U.S. economy, but hopes to send a message to supermarkets and encourage greater reliance on European producers.

“Maybe we can send a signal and people will listen and we can make a change,” he added.

The protest may be largely symbolic
Another Danish app, “NonUSA,” topped 100,000 downloads at the beginning of February. One of its creators, 21-year-old Jonas Pipper, said there were over 25,000 downloads Jan. 21, when 526 product scans were performed in a minute at one point. Of the users, some 46,000 are in Denmark and around 10,000 in Germany.

“We noticed some users saying they felt like a little bit of the pressure was lifted off them,” Pipper said. “They feel like they kind of gained the power back in this situation.”

It’s questionable whether such apps will have much practical effect.

Christina Gravert, an associate professor of economics at the University of Copenhagen, said there are actually few U.S. products on Danish grocery store shelves, “around 1 to 3%”. Nuts, wines and candy, for example. But there is widespread use of American technology in Denmark, from Apple iPhones to Microsoft Office tools.

“If you really want to have an impact, that’s where you should start,” she said.

Even “Made O’Meter” and “NonUSA” are downloaded from Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store.

Gravert, who specializes in behavioral economics, said such boycott campaigns are usually short-lived and real change often requires an organized effort rather than individual consumers.

“It can be interesting for big supermarket brands to say, OK, we’re not going to carry these products anymore because consumers don’t want to buy them,” she said. “If you think about large companies, this might have some type of impact on the import (they) do.”

On a recent morning, shoppers leaving one Copenhagen grocery store were divided.

“We do boycott, but we don’t know all the American goods. So, it’s mostly the well-known trademarks,” said Morten Nielsen, 68, a retired navy officer. “It’s a personal feeling … we feel we do something, I know we are not doing very much.”

“I love America, I love traveling in America,” said 63-year-old retiree Charlotte Fuglsang. “I don’t think we should protest that way.”

Dolev Davidovitz, an Israeli media personality and lecturer, shared a deeply personal and dramatic life story in a wide-ranging interview with Yossi Avdo on the popular Israeli program Hashem Echad, describing an extraordinary transformation from militant atheism and open hostility toward religious Jews to a life of faith and purpose that he now describes as becoming an “ambassador of God.”

Davidovitz, who grew up in the heart of Kiryat Gat in a thoroughly secular environment and went on to compete as part of Israel’s national boxing team, spoke candidly about a past defined by contempt for religion. He said he was convinced that science had disproven faith, spent his days training, partying, and socializing, and derived particular enjoyment from provoking religious Jews in public spaces.

He described his childhood as happy and full of friends, but intensely secular. “An amazing childhood packed with good experiences and good friends,” he recalled, adding that it was “more secular than probably the average secular home,” to the point that Yom Kippur and Shabbos were entirely absent from his life.

Davidovitz said his attitude went far beyond indifference. “I hated chareidim, I hated Judaism, I hated anything holy,” he admitted. He described deliberately harassing religious Jews on trains, confronting them with taunts about military service, the existence of God, and the Holocaust. He also recalled intentionally taking selfies with seminary girls in the street to disturb them. “I would come back from school and go take selfies with seminary girls. They would run away from the selfie. I was just bothering chareidim for fun,” he said.

On Yom Kippur, he said, he and his friends would deliberately eat sandwiches in front of traditional Jews to provoke them. “On Yom Kippur we would go out with sandwiches to annoy people. We did it especially near more traditional Jews, because they were more observant, so we would annoy them,” he said.

Academically, Davidovitz said he viewed himself as part of an intellectual elite. He studied in a gifted program and immersed himself in physics, mathematics, biology, and chemistry. That environment, he said, reinforced a sense of superiority. “You automatically create this feeling that I’m an atheist, there is no God, and anyone who claims there is a God is stupid. He’s stupid and his whole family is stupid. We were the enlightened, rational secular people who don’t believe in God,” he said.

Despite that worldview, he recalled an early childhood question that lingered in his memory. At around age five, he asked his mother how God could see people if there was a ceiling. “My mother told me that God sees even through the ceiling,” he said.

The first crack in his certainty came unexpectedly through one of his confrontations. Davidovitz recounted stopping a Gerer chassid and asking him deliberately rude questions, only for the encounter to turn into a friendship. “Something went wrong for me,” he said. “I stopped a Gerer chassid, asked him some cheeky questions, and we became friends.”

Their late-night arguments unsettled him. “Those debates made me realize that Judaism actually has answers,” he said. “There were many questions he could answer, and that scared me.” One explanation struck him in particular: “He told me that scientists discovered that the highest level of blood clotting is on the eighth day. Whoever wrote the Torah already knew the mechanisms of clotting.”

Davidovitz said his military service along the Gaza border provided the space for deeper reflection. Standing guard alone under the stars, far from the noise of daily life, he began to question everything. “You’re on guard duty, on the Gaza line, just you and the stars,” he said. “Suddenly I started asking questions and realized one thing: It can’t be that I came into this world for 120 years of ice cream, schnitzel, girls, parties, and drugs, and then you die and worms eat you. There has to be something beyond.”

He read Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning but rejected the idea of inventing purpose for himself. “I said, wait, am I fooling myself? Either there is meaning and I need to discover it, or there is no meaning,” he said.

After becoming intellectually convinced that there was a Creator, Davidovitz asked for a sign. “I said to myself in my heart, Creator of the world, if You really exist, do a miracle for me. I’m starving,” he recalled.

What followed left a lasting imprint. “Not even half a minute passed,” he said, “and on my left there were bushes, and inside them was a blue bag — a huge bag of potato chips — just sitting there, waiting for me. I understood. There was a kiss from God. God was showing me the way. I exist. I want a relationship with you.”

Before committing to change, Davidovitz said he examined other belief systems. “I put Buddhism aside. I was left with Christianity and Islam,” he said. “And I understood that they are based on Judaism. If Judaism is true, they can’t be true, because Judaism claims exclusivity.”

That realization initially filled him with fear rather than joy. “My life was ruined,” he said. “I said, wow, this is a bummer.” He explained that he was afraid of returning to religion because he believed it meant giving up who he was. “Today I understand that returning to religion is not giving up who you are — it’s upgrading who you are,” he said.

He described emotional final drives to the beach on Shabbos in his old car, a 2001 Renault Megane, caught between belief and habit. “One of the last Shabbasos, I remember driving to the sea, and Avraham Fried’s song ‘Ribbon Ha’olamim’ was playing. I was just driving and crying. That dissonance between knowing there is a God and still driving to the sea on Shabbos because it’s hard for you.”

His first visit to a beis medrash shocked him. Seeing young men shouting questions at a rabbi, he initially thought it was disrespectful. “I didn’t understand — is this how chareidim speak to elders?” he recalled. “They told me, no, this is the fire of Torah.”

Asked how he would respond to a secular young man emerging from war who accuses Torah students of parasitism, Davidovitz answered bluntly. “As someone who felt that way in the past, I understand him,” he said. “But with all due respect, you’re standing here a complete atheist, without Torah and without Jewish identity, and you’re calling me a parasite? I’m a Jew in the land of the Jews who refuses to enlist in an army that wants to uproot my Jewish identity. Before talking about parasitism, what about your last Shabbos? Did you keep it?”

In closing, Davidovitz stressed that influence should come through example, not coercion. “Spread the light you were exposed to, but not through preaching or forcing — that only pushes people away,” he said. “Just be yourselves. When people see how good your life is, that’s what brings them closer. Understand that you have responsibility. You are ambassadors of the Creator.”

{Matzav.com}

By Yisroel R.

Community Board 12 announced that it will host two Global Entry enrollment events in partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, giving local residents an opportunity to complete the Global Entry process close to home instead of having to travel to an airport enrollment center.

The events are scheduled for February 18 and March 4. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers will be on site to assist applicants with Global Entry enrollment, including interviews and application processing.

Community Board 12 said the initiative is aimed at making the trusted traveler program more accessible to area residents by bringing federal services directly to the neighborhood. Similar past events drew strong participation from local residents seeking to make their travels easier.

Residents interested in participating are encouraged to review Global Entry requirements and follow the instructions provided by Community Board 12 regarding registration and appointment availability.

Feb 18 signup link

Mar 4 signup link

Or contact CB12 at bk12@cb.nyc.gov or 718-851-0800.

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Lindsey Vonn, racing on a badly injured left knee, crashed early in the Olympic downhill on Sunday and was taken off the course by a helicopter after the 41-year-old American received medical attention on the snow.

Vonn lost control over the opening traverse after cutting the line too tight and was spun around in the air. She was heard screaming out after the crash as she was surrounded by medical personnel before she was strapped to a gurney and flown away by a helicopter, possibly ending the skier’s storied career.

The race was put on hold as she received treatment. Vonn’s teammate, Breezy Johnson, held the early lead.

Vonn had family in the stands, including her father, Alan Kildow, who stared down at the ground while his daughter was being treated. Others in the crowd, including Snoop Dogg, watched quietly as the star skier was finally taken off the course where she had so many fond memories.

All eyes were on Vonn, the feel-good story heading into the Olympics. She returned to elite ski racing last season after nearly six years, a remarkable decision at any time given her age but she also had a partial titanium knee replacement in her right knee, too. Many wondered how she would fare.

She stunned everyone by being a contender almost immediately. She came to the Olympics as the leader in the World Cup downhill standings and was a gold-medal favorite before her crash in Switzerland nine days ago, when she suffered her latest knee injury. In addition to a ruptured ACL, she also had a bone bruise and meniscus damage.

A rescue helicopter arrives after United States’ Lindsey Vonn crashed during an alpine ski women’s downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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Dor Shachar, born in Gaza as Ayman Abu Subouh, has come forward with a gripping personal account that spans life under terror rule, brutal imprisonment, and a long, arduous path to conversion to Judaism. His story offers a rare, firsthand look at daily life in Gaza, the methods Hamas uses against suspected collaborators, and the ideology that shaped the enclave long before the group formally seized power.

Shachar was born in Khan Younis and grew up in its alleyways and marketplaces, where Hamas and other terror factions already functioned as dominant local forces years before the January 2006 elections that brought the Islamist organization to power. As a teenager, he fled to Israel and found work as a guard at a construction site. Years later, at the age of 25, he completed a formal conversion to Judaism and changed his name.

Now 49, Shachar says his earliest lessons about Jews came from his grandfather, whose contradictory behavior left him deeply unsettled. The elderly man would invite Jewish guests for coffee and bread, yet in the same breath urge his grandson to one day “liberate the land” by killing Jews. “I said to myself, ‘How can this be? On the one hand he invites them for food and drink, and on the other hand he says to kill them.’ From a young age I understood that something was very wrong,” he said in an interview with the National Post.

Growing up in Gaza, Shachar says he personally knew figures who later became synonymous with terrorism, including Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Yahya Ayyash. He recalled that they were regarded as prominent community figures, alongside operatives from Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah, and the PLO. He added that even people close to him, including a brother, carried out attacks that killed Israelis.

He described scenes of extreme violence that unfolded openly in public. In one instance, he said he witnessed Sinwar beheading a Palestinian accused of collaborating with Israel as crowds in the marketplace cheered. On another occasion, he and his mother found a severed head lying in the market street. “They said he was suspected of collaborating with Israel,” he recalled. “The passersby and onlookers were indifferent.”

According to Shachar, incitement began early and was deeply embedded in Gaza’s education system. In schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, he said children were taught to hate Jews from a young age. “Jews were portrayed as pigs, dogs, and infidels who did not deserve to live, and children were told that Israelis had one eye in the middle of their forehead or three legs.”

Violence, he said, was not incidental but institutionalized. “Every child learned how to throw stones at Jews because that is what they taught us. The teacher would tell us to go out and throw stones, then come back and open books as if we were studying. When soldiers arrived, they saw small children learning. After the soldiers left, the teachers laughed and said, ‘Those pigs, those dogs, those traitors, those Jews — we will slaughter them the way Hitler did.’”

Disillusioned by the extremism surrounding him, Shachar escaped to Israel in his teens. For a period, he served as an informant for the Shin Bet, reporting on terror activity, and later supported himself working as a renovation laborer. An Israeli Jew took him under his protection, even as others repeatedly questioned his loyalty. Shachar says he endured suspicions, arrests, and an eight-year bureaucratic struggle to fulfill his lifelong dream of converting to Judaism.

“Yes, it would have been easier not to be Jewish,” he said, explaining that his motivation stemmed from what he described as a search for a “spark of the soul.” “I feel connected to the Jewish people,” he said. “I wanted to be Jewish because I chose life. I chose love and not hatred. I chose love, not darkness.”

For a time, Shachar lived in Israel without legal status. Immigration authorities eventually located him, brought him before a judge, and deported him back to Gaza. There, he spent seven months in prison, his legs shackled, enduring beatings, electric shocks, psychological abuse, cuts to his arms, and severe starvation. He said his captors knew about his interest in Judaism and his affinity for Israel and tortured him accordingly.

After his release, Shachar managed to escape Gaza via Egypt and Turkey, eventually reentering Israel clandestinely using a Palestinian Authority passport. Reflecting on Gaza today, he said the ideology promoted by Hamas is widely shared. “Between Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and every other terror group, and the majority of Palestinians in Gaza, they all share the same ideas about Jews,” he said. “And they say that Hamas will lift their heads and rebuild Gaza.”

The events of October 7, 2023, he said, only strengthened his conviction that a poisonous ideology has overtaken Gaza. He described watching civilians join the violence and celebrate in the streets, saying that no Gazan helped any Jew and that hospitals were used as military positions.

Today, Dor Shachar lives with the quiet clarity of someone who has seen the darkest corners of human cruelty and consciously chosen a different path. Having escaped a world built on fear, hatred, and coercion, he rebuilt his life around faith, moral responsibility, and the sanctity of life itself. His journey from Gaza’s streets to the embrace of the Jewish people stands as a stark counterpoint to the ideology he left behind, a testament to free will, personal courage, and the power of choosing light over darkness, even when the cost is unimaginably high.

{Matzav.com}

NEW YORK (VINnews) — Senior US and Iranian officials are set to continue discussions after Friday’s talks in Oman, the Iranian foreign minister says, amid a crisis that had raised fears of a possible confrontation between the countries.

Abbas Araghchi said the mediated discussions were a “good beginning” and “exclusively nuclear”, and the negotiators would now return to their capitals for consultations.

Ahead of the talks, US officials said they also wanted to discuss Iran’s ballistic missiles and its support for regional armed groups, which underscored the gaps between the countries’ positions. Araghchi stressed that these issues were “not negotiable’.

The talks came as the US military build up in the Middle East continues to gain traction in response to Iran’s violent repression of nationwide anti-government protests last month, which human rights groups say killed many thousands of people.

In recent weeks, President Donald Trump has threatened to bomb Iran if it does not reach a deal. The US has sent thousands of troops and what Trump has described as an “armada” to the region, including an aircraft carrier along with other warships as well as fighter jets. Iran, meanwhile, has vowed to respond to an attack with force, threatening to strike American military assets in the Middle East and Israel.

Speaking to Iranian state television, Araghchi said there was an “atmosphere of mistrust” between the two sides that “must be overcome”, and details about the possible next round of talks would be decided later.

Friday’s discussions were mediated by Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, who said in a post on social media they had been “useful to clarify both Iranian and American thinking and identify areas for possible progress”.

Araghchi led the Iranian delegation, while the US was represented by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

These were the first talks involving US and Iranian officials since before the war between Israel and Iran last June, when the US bombed Iran’s three main nuclear facilities. Despite the prospect of further meetings, it remains unclear whether a deal is possible as major differences remain.

For Iran’s embattled leaders, this could mean a chance to avert US military action that could further destabilise and potentially topple the regime, which analysts say is in its weakest position since it came to power following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The current stand-off has brought the issue of Iran’s nuclear program back to discussions, having been at the centre of a long-running dispute with the West. For decades, Iran has said its program is meant for peaceful purposes, while the US and Israel have accused it of being part of an effort to develop a weapon.

Iranian officials have indicated being open to concessions, which could include the creation of a regional consortium for uranium enrichment, as proposed during talks with the US that collapsed when Israel launched its surprise attack on Iran, as well as discussions about transferring its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to a third country.

At the same time, Iran says demands to limit the country’s ballistic missile programme and to end the support for proxies in the region, an alliance Tehran calls the “Axis of Resistance” that includes Hamas in Gaza, militias in Iraq, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, are unacceptable and a breach of its sovereignty.

In any case, Iran is expected to demand the lifting of sanctions that have crippled its economy. Opponents of the regime say any relief would give the clerical rulers a lifeline.

Despite the round of negotiations and possible further talks, Trump reiterated his belligerent statements regarding the current crisis with Iran. Asked if Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei should be worried, Trump told NBC News on Wednesday: “I would say he should be very worried. Yeah, he should be.”

On the same day, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the discussions would have to go beyond the nuclear issue for “something meaningful” to be achieved.

“I’m not sure you can reach a deal with these guys, but we’re going to try to find out,” he said. “We don’t see there’s any harm in trying to figure out if there’s something that can be done.”

Lufthansa has publicly accepted responsibility for its involvement with the Nazi regime during World War II, marking a significant shift after years of downplaying or deflecting scrutiny. The acknowledgment follows the release of a commissioned historical study examining the airline’s origins and conduct during the period.

“Lufthansa was clearly part of the system,” Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said Tuesday at a press conference held at Frankfurt Airport. He disclosed that the company depended on forced labor to help create a “clandestine air force” for the National Socialist government, which he said was used to carry out “war crimes and criminal activities.”

The findings were produced as part of a broader reassessment tied to Lufthansa’s centennial, which also includes an upcoming book detailing the airline’s early history and wartime actions.

For many years, Lufthansa avoided direct responsibility by pointing to a corporate distinction. The original airline, Deutsche Luft Hansa AG, was established in 1926 as a state-backed carrier and arms manufacturer and was dismantled at the end of World War II. A separate entity, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, was founded in 1953 by former employees after purchasing the defunct company’s name and logo.

Historian Lutz Budrass, who has written extensively about Lufthansa’s past, addressed this issue in a 2020 interview with Deutsche Welle, saying, “Lufthansa, like most companies, was not held accountable for its actions.”

Budrass argued that despite the formal dissolution of the original company, there was significant overlap in leadership and personnel. He cited figures such as vice chairman Kurt Weigelt and Kurt Knipfer, a former Prussian officer who led Lufthansa until 1945, adding, “There was a strong continuity in its staff.”

He also noted that the postwar reestablishment of the airline was designed to sever its public association with Nazi-era crimes. “With the new founding, the company wanted to distance itself from the horrors of the past and the crimes committed under National Socialism, which were perpetrated by Lufthansa.”

At the time, Budrass criticized the airline’s reluctance to confront that history head-on, saying, “It’s clear that Lufthansa is not ready to take this step.”

In its statement released Tuesday, Lufthansa signaled a change in approach, writing, “In examining its history, Lufthansa does not limit itself to the post-war chapters of its history. The years from its founding to the decline of the first Lufthansa are also part of the company’s history.”

{Matzav.com}

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — In a dramatic incident which occurred in southern Israel, a young married man, Avraham Ben Dayan, 23 years old and only two months after his wedding, was arrested on Saturday night by traffic police while traveling from Netivot toward Tifrach. During a routine excursion, the vehicle was stopped for inspection after it emerged that one of the passengers was a deserter and additionally one of the occupants was not wearing a seatbelt.

After checking IDs, it was discovered that the driver himself was also defined as a deserter, and he was therefore arrested on the spot. The officers informed him that they intended to take him to Sde Teiman, where he would be handed over to the military police.

However, during the drive another twist occurred: police changed direction toward the Bahadim base in the Negev. At the same time, activists, aid organizations, and attorney Shlomo Haddad intervened. Subsequently, the avrech was transferred to the Ofakim police station.

Within minutes, hundreds of avreichim arrived at the scene and gathered outside the station in an attempt to prevent the handover to military police. Shortly thereafter, the avrech was driven back again to the Bahadim base, where he is expected to be handed over to the military police, apparently in order to prevent large-scale demonstrations. According to sources involved in the incident, police attempted to create confusion so that protesters would not know where to assemble.

אופקים: חרדים מפגינים מחוץ לתחנת המשטרה אחרי שאברך נעצר והועבר למשטרה הצבאית. pic.twitter.com/Ett497JHlT

— שילה פריד🇮🇱 (@shilofreid) February 7, 2026

Ben Dayan is expected to be brought on Sunday before a military judge, who will determine his sentence for draft evasion.

Senior officials at the FBI, acting under the leadership of Director Kash Patel, instructed agents to shut down a civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer, after concluding that the inquiry could conflict with public remarks made by President Donald Trump and other top administration figures, according to several people familiar with the decision.

The New York Times reported Saturday that federal prosecutors in Minnesota initially handled the case as they would any other fatal shooting by a federal agent, moving swiftly to open a standard civil rights use-of-force investigation.

As part of that early effort, Joseph H. Thompson, a senior federal prosecutor, sought a search warrant to examine Good’s SUV for forensic material, including bullet paths and blood evidence, and arranged for the FBI to coordinate its work with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

That plan was stopped just as agents were preparing to carry out the court-approved search.

According to sources cited by the Times, the order to halt the investigation came from senior leadership, including Patel, out of concern that pursuing a civil rights theory — and relying on a warrant obtained on that basis — could clash with Trump’s assertion that Good had “violently, willfully, and viciously” struck the ICE agent with her vehicle.

Rather than continue down that path, Justice Department leaders pressed prosecutors to consider other investigative angles, such as applying for a new warrant based on the claim that Good’s vehicle was used as a weapon against the officer, or redirecting attention toward a potential investigation of Good’s partner.

Career prosecutors pushed back, according to the report, arguing that the proposed shift rested on shaky legal grounds and risked inflaming political tensions in Minnesota, a state already unsettled by confrontations involving federal immigration enforcement.

The disagreement set off a cascade of resignations within the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota.

Thompson and five colleagues stepped down in protest, and further departures followed, leaving the office severely weakened and struggling to pursue major prosecutions involving fraud, drug trafficking, terrorism, and violent crime.

The turmoil has unfolded as Minnesota has emerged as a focal point in the administration’s intensified immigration enforcement campaign, with several fatal encounters involving federal officers sparking public outrage and deepening political strains.

Although the White House has sought to present an image of stability and restraint, critics argue that stepped-up enforcement is occurring alongside growing pressure on investigators to shape their work around official statements, heightening the risk of further unrest.

The Times also reported that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem publicly described Good as a “domestic terrorist,” language later repeated by Vice President JD Vance, even as prosecutors were reviewing video footage and anticipating a routine, independent assessment of whether the shooting was legally justified.

Local law enforcement leaders have warned that the fallout could damage long-standing working relationships between federal agencies and local police departments.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara told the Times that the resignations and the perception of political influence over prosecutions threaten to derail progress against serious criminal activity.

Both the Justice Department and the FBI declined to comment to the Times, and it remains unknown whether prosecutors ultimately secured a new warrant to search Good’s vehicle.

{Matzav.com}

In a victory for the Shas party, HaRav Avraham Deri, the nephew of Shas leader Aryeh Deri, was elected as the Chief Rabbi of Be’er Sheva on Sunday.

Rav Deri, narrowly elected by just one vote after a tense race against the candidate backed by the mayor of Be’er Sheva, will fill the place of his father, HaGaon HaRav Yehuda Deri, z’tl, who served as the Rav of Be’er Sheva for decades before his petirah in 2024.

HaRav Deri received 26 votes, and the Dati Leumi candidate, Rav Yoram Cohen, who was supported by Mayor Rubik Danilovich, received 25 votes. Another candidate, Rav Gad Revach, who was supported by Degal HaTorah, received only two votes. One ballot envelope was found empty.

Rav Deri was supported by Gedolei Yisrael, led by HaGaon HaRav Yitzchak Yosef, who had already announced his support for Rav Avraham at Rav Yehuda’s levaya. “I know that the niftar’s wish was that his son fill his position,” HaRav Yosef said at the time. “We’re appointing him now, and no one dare violate this, chas v’shalom. The mayor is here, and he hears this. He should hurry to carry it out so that the niftar will have nachas ruach.”

HaGaon HaRav Moshe Tzadka, the Rosh Yeshivah of Porat Yosef, said at the levaya, “Certainly his son Rav Avraham, a chashuve talmid chacham, will fill his place b’ezrat Hashem.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

NEW YORK (VINnews) In a sobering interview, Elon Musk revealed what he thinks will bring about the end of artificial intelligence (AI) on Earth.

The billionaire said that he believes there is only one way that the technology, which now makes up a significant part of the US economy, can continue to expand.

AI is based around a large infrastructure of databases and servers, which require a huge amount of power to run. Some have even expressed concern that the price of RAM hard drives is increasing due to the soaring demand for the hardware from AI companies.

But Musk has now come out with his prediction for what might happen in order to allow for AI to continue growing, saying on a recent podcast there are just ‘months’ left in order to enact this plan.

Speaking on the Dwarkesh Podcast, Musk suggested that the only way to ensure AI systems get the power they need to function on a larger scale is put them in space instead of here on Earth.

“My prediction is that by far the cheapest place to put AI will be space in 36 months or less, maybe 30 months,” he said. “Less than 36 months, mark my words.”

New Elon Musk interview dropping tomorrow.

“Mark my words, in 36 months, probably closer to 30 months, the most economically compelling place to put AI will be in space. Those who have lived in software land don’t realize that they’re about to have a hard lesson in hardware.” https://t.co/SGqeUTVuIh

— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) February 4, 2026

The Tesla boss claimed that the amount of energy needed for AI means that it would be difficult to generate it on Earth. “All of the United States currently uses only about half a terawatt of power on average,” Musk said. “Imagine trying to build enough power plants to double that. People don’t realize how hard that actually is.”

His argument was that by putting the AI in space, it could use solar cells.

“Solar cells are already very cheap, around 25 to 30 cents a watt in China,” he continued. “Put them in space and it’s effectively 10 times cheaper because you don’t need batteries.”

In a confident prediction, Musk said: “We will be launching and operating more AI in space every year than the cumulative total on Earth.”

He went on to add: “You start thinking in terms of what percentage of the Sun’s power you’re harnessing. Then you realize you have to go to space. You can’t scale very much on Earth.”

AI has become a subject of widespread controversy, with many highlighting the great strain it places on power grids and the amount of water required to keep servers running.

Musk himself sparked controversy this week after his fortune crossed a staggering 800 billion dollars but the world’s wealthiest person was unfazed, tweeting that “Whoever said “money can’t buy happiness” really knew what they were talking about 😔”

JERUSALEM — Israeli defense officials have told U.S. counterparts that Iran’s ballistic missile program poses an existential threat and that Israel is prepared to act unilaterally if necessary, according to the Jerusalem Post.

The officials outlined plans to dismantle Iran’s missile capabilities and production infrastructure during recent high-level exchanges with Washington. Military officials described operational concepts, including strikes on key manufacturing sites, to degrade the program.

“We told the Americans we will strike alone if Iran crosses the red line we set on ballistic missiles,” a source told the Jerusalem Post, adding that Israel has not yet reached that threshold but is monitoring developments closely.

Israeli officials emphasized that the country reserves the freedom to act independently and will not allow Iran to restore strategic weapon systems at a scale that threatens its existence. One defense official called the moment a “historic opportunity” to significantly weaken Iran’s missile infrastructure.

Sources told the Jerusalem Post they are concerned that U.S. President Donald Trump might pursue a limited strike model similar to recent operations against the Houthis in Yemen, leaving critical Iranian capabilities intact. “The worry is he might choose a few targets, declare success, and leave Israel to deal with the fallout,” one official said.

Brig.-Gen. Omer Tishler, the incoming Israeli air force commander, is expected to accompany Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his upcoming U.S. visit, representing IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, amid the absence of a defense attaché in Washington.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard issued a sharp response to accusations that she concealed a classified whistleblower complaint, rejecting the claim outright and placing the blame on Sen. Mark Warner and what she described as allied media outlets for promoting false allegations.

In a public post, Gabbard said the charge that she personally hid a complaint was fabricated. “Senator Mark Warner and his friends in the Propaganda Media have repeatedly lied to the American people that I or the ODNI ‘hid’ a whistleblower complaint in a safe for eight months,” she wrote.

She followed with an unequivocal denial, stating, “This is a blatant lie.”

Gabbard emphasized that she never had custody of the complaint and therefore could not have concealed it. “I am not now, nor have I ever been, in possession or control of the Whistleblower’s complaint, so I obviously could not have ‘hidden’ it in a safe,” she wrote, adding that “Biden-era IC Inspector General Tamara Johnson was in possession of and responsible for securing the complaint for months.”

According to Gabbard, her first exposure to the document occurred only recently and was limited in scope. “The first time I saw the whistleblower complaint was 2 weeks ago when I had to review it to provide guidance on how it should be securely shared with Congress,” she wrote.

Her remarks came after The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week on a top secret complaint submitted by an anonymous government insider, alleging that Gabbard had withheld classified material for political reasons and delayed transmitting the complaint to Congress.

Gabbard countered that the handling of the document was appropriate given its contents, arguing that the level of classification required strict security measures. “As Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Warner knows very well that whistleblower complaints that contain highly classified and compartmented intelligence, even if they contain baseless allegations like this one, must be secured in a safe,” she wrote.

She added that the security protocols did not change after congressional leaders were briefed. “After IC Inspector General Fox hand-delivered the complaint to the Gang of 8, the complaint was returned to a safe where it remains, consistent with any information of such sensitivity,” she said.

Gabbard went on to question Warner’s understanding of intelligence procedures, suggesting either deliberate dishonesty or incompetence. “Either Senator Warner knows these facts and is intentionally lying to the American people, or he doesn’t have a clue how these things work and is therefore not qualified to be in the U.S. Senate, and certainly not the Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee,” she wrote.

Laying out a detailed chronology, Gabbard said she was first informed in June 2025 that a whistleblower complaint had been filed against her. She stated that after review, “neither Biden-era IC Inspector General Tamara Johnson nor current IC Inspector General Chris Fox found the complaint to be credible.”

She further explained that the document was stored securely because of the way it was drafted, saying it was locked away since “the complainant chose to include highly sensitive information within the complaint itself,” instead of citing intelligence at a lower classification level.

Addressing claims that she violated statutory deadlines, Gabbard argued that the legal requirements were misrepresented. “When a complaint is not found to be credible, there is no timeline under the law for the provision of security guidance,” she wrote, noting that the “21 day” rule applies only when a complaint is deemed “both urgent AND apparently credible.”

She stressed that those conditions were not met, adding, “That was NOT the case here.”

Gabbard said she received notice from Inspector General Chris Fox on Dec. 4, 2025, that security guidance was required and said she responded without delay. “I took immediate action to provide the security guidance,” she wrote, explaining that the inspector general then transmitted the complaint to Congress last week.

She closed her statement by accusing Warner of politicizing the issue, writing, “Senator Warner’s decision to spread lies and baseless accusations over the months for political gain, undermines our national security and is a disservice to the American people and the Intelligence Community.”

{Matzav.com}

TUCSON, Ariz. — (VINnews) – The people who claim to have kidnapped Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy, are demanding $6 million in Bitcoin, according to a local TV station.

“Multiple ransom notes have been sent out to the media, including one that was sent to us,” JJ McKinney of Tucson ABC affiliate KGUN9 reported. “In the letter, the potential kidnappers demanded that the Guthries pay them $6 million before this Monday.”

The notes warned that Nancy Guthrie’s life is in danger if the deadline, set for 5 p.m. local time Monday, is not met, KGUN9 reported.

Savannah Guthrie and her siblings, Annie and Camron, issued a video message Saturday night pleading with the alleged kidnappers to return their mother. “We beg you now to return our mother to us, so that we can celebrate with her,” Savannah Guthrie said, adding that her mother’s return is “very valuable to us” and “we will pay.”

Nancy Guthrie was last seen Jan. 31 after having dinner and a game night at her daughter Annie’s home and was reported missing around noon Feb. 1.

Authorities have conducted multiple sweeps of homes connected to the family in Tucson but have not identified any suspects or persons of interest. The Pima County Sheriff’s Office said the investigation remains active.

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Israel’s Competition Authority announced Sunday it intends to fine El Al NIS 121 million (about $35 million USD) after determining the airline charged “excessive and unfair” prices during the early months of the Gaza war.

The regulator said it plans to declare El Al a monopoly on inbound and outbound flights between Oct. 7, 2023, and May 2024, after many foreign airlines suspended service following the Hamas attack.

According to the authority, El Al’s market share rose from about 20% before Oct. 7 to more than 70% within days and remained above 50% during the first months of the war. During that period, average ticket prices increased by roughly 16%, with fare hikes ranging from 6% to 31% on major routes, the regulator said.

The authority argued that the price increases were excessive given the limited competition and heightened consumer demand during the conflict.

El Al rejected the findings, calling the pricing analysis flawed and unprecedented, and said it will present its case at a formal hearing before any final decision is made.

Ali Ahmad Khomeini, the grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, delivered a series of inflammatory remarks targeting Israel and the United States during a February 4, 2026 interview with Lebanon’s Mayadeen TV.

In the interview, Khomeini claimed that Israelis “know full well” that if any Islamic nation becomes capable of firing missiles at Israel and “erasing it,” they would do to Israel what Hamas did. He further asserted that countries in the region that are not currently acting against Israel claim they are simply incapable of doing so.

Khomeini went on to state that all Muslim nations — including Gulf countries — would bomb Israel once they gain the capability. He added that Muslims are “not afraid of them at all.”

In a direct message aimed at Americans, Khomeini concluded with the stark warning: “You will die before you see us humiliated.”

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(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

As Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu prepares to meet with President Donald Trump later this week, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir voiced strong confidence in Netanyahu’s handling of the Iran file and sharply criticized American thinking on Gaza.

Speaking in an interview this morning with Kan Reshet Bet, Ben Gvir said Netanyahu has demonstrated skill and clarity in his dealings with Washington on Iran. “The prime minister is doing an excellent job on the Iran issue. I think his demands are very clear. He has proven that he knows how to talk to Trump. This time too, he will bring achievements,” Ben Gvir said.

Turning to the situation in Gaza, Ben Gvir took aim at U.S. officials advising Trump, accusing them of misunderstanding realities on the ground. “The Americans are very naive, especially Kushner and Witkoff. They are feeding Trump incorrect ideas. I am not prepared for the fact that there will be tens of thousands of armed men in Gaza with pickup trucks walking around with crutches,” he said.

{Matzav.com}

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Thousands of female Chabad emissaries gathered Friday for their annual photo op, marking the start of the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Women Emissaries, known as the Kinus Hashluchot, in Brooklyn.

The four-day conference is being held ahead of the 38th anniversary of the passing of Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka Schneerson, of righteous memory, on 22 Shevat, which falls on Monday.

The main gathering event will take place Sunday, when thousands are expected to attend a grand gala banquet in person. Organizers said countless more around the world will watch the event via livestream on Chabad.org/Kinus.

The conference will culminate Monday with a visit to the Ohel in Queens, the resting place of Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, the Rebbe, of righteous memory, and his wife, Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka. The women traditionally bring prayer petitions from their communities around the world to leave at the site.

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — What is Hamas planning? Does it truly intend to disarm as part of a ceasefire with Israel? These questions were candidly addressed by Khaled Mashal, a senior Hamas official living abroad, at a conference held by the Al Jazeera Forum in Doha, Qatar.

Participants in the Al Jazeera Forum in Doha included Khaled Mashal, Mustafa Barghouti, Hani al-Masri, and Liqaa Makki. The panel discussed the “resistance project,” “Israeli occupation plans,” the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and plans for the future.

Among the speakers was, as noted, senior Hamas figure Khaled Mashal, who claimed that through the efforts of the mediators, Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey, it is possible to reach what he described as a “guarantees-based approach.”

According to the speakers, the destruction in post-war Gaza exposes a deeper failure, Arab and global alike. Mashal, Barghouti, al-Masri, and Makki argued that the war reflects a collapse of governance, the erosion of regional solidarity, and an international order that rewards power over law.

Referring to the future, Mashal said: “After the last war in Gaza, some expect that over the next ten to fifteen years Gaza will direct its weapons toward Israel.” However, he emphasized that “the danger comes from Israel, not from Gaza, because Gaza needs a long time to recover. The presence of international forces on the border to keep the peace and prevent clashes between the sides, that is the guarantee.”

According to his remarks at the conference, the Hamas terror organization does not intend to hand over its weapons, but rather “not to display them.” The duration of the ceasefire proposed by Hamas would be between five and ten years, in order to give Gaza time to recover.

Mashal said at the conference: “Hamas proposed a ceasefire or truce of between five, seven, or up to ten years. This is a guarantee: there will be no use of Hamas’s weapons, and they will not be displayed publicly. The three mediating countries -Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey- which have deep relations with Hamas, can serve as guarantors.”

Mashal further stressed that the problem is not that Hamas and the Palestinian ‘resistance forces’ (terror organizations) would violate the ceasefire. “The problem is Israel,” he claimed, “which wants to take the Palestinian weapons and hand them over to militias in the Strip in order to create chaos.”

Threats against the Jewish community in Munich and Upper Bavaria, which has already faced a surge in antisemitic incidents in recent months, have escalated further after the community received a letter containing a bullet and violent threats late last week. German police confirmed that the envelope, delivered on Thursday, included “threatening content and a bullet.”

The package was sent to a central Jewish institution that houses both the community center and the Ohel Jakob Synagogue in downtown Munich. According to German media, the suspicious letter was first inspected by the community’s security staff, who then alerted the police. The Bavarian state security division for criminal investigations has opened an inquiry into the case.

Yehoshua Chmiel, vice president of the Munich Jewish community, told the German-Jewish newspaper Jüdische Allgemeine that the letter arrived via regular mail. “We examine every item of mail,” he said. “In this case, it was immediately clear that the letter contained problematic material.” He added that passing such mail on to the police is standard protocol.

“The escalation continues,” Chmiel warned. “We receive many threats, but a letter with a live bullet is something new.” He said the message stated that “all Jews should be shot,” noting that while the community is used to receiving hate mail, this incident represents a far more serious development. He stressed that “the person who sent this threat clearly has access to ammunition and probably to a weapon as well.”

Chmiel said local Jews feel abandoned in the face of ongoing threats, insults, and antisemitic rhetoric. “There are speeches against antisemitism, but no real action,” he said. “The speeches don’t help us.”

At the same time, he praised cooperation with law enforcement, calling relations with the police “excellent” and saying the authorities “always do their utmost.”

A police spokesperson told the German news agency DPA that “based on the current state of the investigation, any real danger can already be ruled out.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

Iran’s foreign minister said that Tehran expects negotiations with the United States to restart in the near future, while making clear that certain issues remain off-limits and warning that any American strike on Iranian soil would trigger a military response.

In remarks shared from an interview with Al Jazeera and posted to his official Telegram channel, Abbas Araghchi said Iran’s missile program was “never negotiable” during the most recent round of discussions held Friday in Oman. He emphasized that the program is a “defense issue” and therefore not subject to talks.

Araghchi also cautioned that if the United States were to attack Iran, Tehran would respond by striking American military bases in the region. At the same time, he characterized the Muscat talks as a constructive opening, even though they were conducted indirectly.

“An opportunity arose to shake hands with the American delegation,” he said, describing the meeting as “a good start,” while noting that rebuilding trust would require time. He added that negotiations would resume “soon.”

President Donald Trump said Friday that the discussions had gone “very good” and said another round of talks was planned for next week. Despite those comments, Trump also signed an executive order taking effect Saturday that calls for the “imposition of tariffs” on countries that continue commercial ties with Iran.

In parallel, Washington announced additional sanctions aimed at Iran’s oil trade, targeting a wide network of shipping companies and vessels involved in transporting Iranian crude.

Addressing the nuclear issue, Araghchi told Al Jazeera that uranium enrichment remains Iran’s “inalienable right and must continue.”

“We are ready to reach a reassuring agreement on enrichment,” he said. “The Iranian nuclear case will only be resolved through negotiations.”

His statements echoed reporting by The Wall Street Journal following the Oman talks, which said Iran rejected U.S. demands to stop uranium enrichment, though both sides agreed to keep negotiating in an effort to avoid further escalation.

Earlier this week, Vice President JD Vance said that Trump would “keep his options open” regarding Iran and could turn to military action if diplomatic efforts fail.

In an interview with Megyn Kelly, Vance underscored the administration’s position, saying, “Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon. That is the stated policy goal of the president of the United States. It’s so funny. Sometimes you have people who are saying, ‘Well, the president’s too belligerent.’ And then sometimes you have people who say, ‘Well, the president, he’s talking about diplomacy and he’s talking about negotiating with the Iranians. We shouldn’t negotiate. We should just bomb them.’”

{Matzav.com}

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar met Sunday morning at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem with Paraguay’s Foreign Minister Rubén Ramírez Lezcano.

The two discussed President Trump’s Gaza plan and other regional issues and later held a press conference.

In his remarks, Saar first spoke about Trump’s plan for Gaza, stressing that Hamas and Gaza must first be demilitarized. He then addressed Iran, praising the decision by Paraguayan President Santiago Peña to label Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization, noting that the European Union and Ukraine had recently taken similar steps.

Sa’ar continued, “The Iranian regime murders its own people, destabilizes the Middle East, and spreads terror to other continents, including Latin America. The attempt by the most extreme regime in the world to obtain the most dangerous weapon in the world—a nuclear weapon—is a clear danger to peace in the region and in the world.

Saar then warned that Iranian ballistic missiles threaten Europe as well. “The huge amount of long-range ballistic missiles that the Iranian regime seeks to produce on a massive scale endangers Israel—but not only Israel. The Iranian regime already used missiles against other countries in the Middle East. European states are also within the missiles’ range.”

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Yuval Steinitz, chairman of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel’s former energy and intelligence minister, also warned on Motzei Shabbos that Tehran’s “suicidal impulses” and missile ambitions could soon threaten not only Israel but European capitals as well.

Speaking in an interview with Channel 12, Steinitz said the Iranian regime is trapped between two conflicting drives: a desperate attempt to “buy time” and avoid internal collapse and a darker urge toward self-destruction. “I’m deeply concerned about what can only be called suicidal moves by the Iranians,” he said. “Some in the regime believe it’s better to fall in a war against the United States than to collapse from within.”

Steinitz cautioned that if an all-out war breaks out, Iranian retaliation may extend well beyond Israel’s borders. “Some Iranian missiles could reach Europe,” he warned, adding that Tehran may seek revenge on “US allies or even NATO itself.”

Recalling that he had previously warned about a potential surprise attack by Hamas—warnings that were dismissed at the time—Steinitz urged Israel not to repeat past mistakes in its approach to Iran. Any deal, he said, must include strict conditions.

“No agreement should bind Israel’s hands unless it includes not only the nuclear and missile issues but also a formal Iranian recognition of Israel’s right to exist,” he declared. “As long as the Iranian leadership continues to call for Israel’s destruction, nothing can limit Israel’s right—and duty—to act.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

LISTEN:

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

An avreich, Avraham Ben Dayan, who got married two months ago, was arrested by traffic police on Motzei Shabbos and transferred to the military police for “draft dodging.”

The avreich, a resident of Netivot who attended Maor HaTalmud Yeshiva as a bochur, had spent Shabbos on the moshav of Tifrach. As he left the moshav, he was stopped by traffic police, arrested, and then transferred to the regular police, who immediately handed him over to the military police.

Following his arrest, Chareidi protesters blocked Highway 241 at the entrance to the nearby city of Ofakim in both directions and staged a protest outside the local police station.

Police forces responded by firing stun grenades and arresting three protesters.

Shortly afterward, police reached an agreement with the protesters: the three detainees would be released—even though one of them was also considered a draft evader—in exchange for the crowd dispersing peacefully.

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The avreich was imprisoned overnight in Prison 10 and is scheduled to appear on Sunday before a judge in a military court.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

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A nationwide outburst of rage is sweeping Iran, as people outraged by last month’s mass killings express their hatred of the regime despite the risks of arrest or retaliation, the Wall Street Journal reported.

According to the report, Iranians are carrying out acts of defiance as they struggle to comprehend the scale of the January massacres ordered by the regime. Funerals and memorials have become flashpoints for dissent, with mourners across the country shouting “Death to Khamenei.” University students in Mashhad, Tabriz, and Shiraz held memorials this week for classmates killed during the recent unrest. In Shiraz, medical students held a multi-day strike in solidarity with protesters and in protest of the arrests of doctors who treated the wounded. High school students have also joined protests, with one 17-year-old in Tehran telling the WSJ that his classmates now refuse to sing the national anthem.

Local activist groups have gone a step further, openly calling for the overthrow of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

“People are full of fear but also resentment,” a woman from Kermanshah wrote. “We all look up to the sky, hoping Trump will bomb us just to destroy Khamenei and his regime. We’re willing to die one by one, but we don’t want our children to endure the same pain and torture we endured.”

Security forces have targeted healthcare workers, arresting doctors and nurses who treated wounded protestors in hospitals and clinics. Mohammad Reza Zadeh, head of Iran’s Medical Council, told the ISNA news agency that 17 medical staffers were arrested following the violent crackdowns of January 8–9.

Inside Iran, prominent opposition figures have begun openly calling for the regime’s removal. Former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, long under house arrest in Tehran, said the level of bloodshed proves the Islamic Republic cannot be reformed and must be replaced.

Opposition figures inside Iran are now openly demanding regime change. Former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, under house arrest in Tehran for years, said the scale of the killings shows that the Islamic Republic cannot be reformed and must be replaced.

A group of 17 civil society activists issued an open letter condemning the massacres as crimes against humanity and naming Khamenei as personally responsible. Within days, three signatories were arrested.

Meanwhile, merchants in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar—where protests first broke out in late December—have called for a renewed nationwide uprising on February 17–18, marking 40 days since the January 8–9 killings.

The bazaar—where demonstrations first flared in late December—has once again become the focal point, with shop owners and businesses nationwide being urged to strike and take to the streets.

The dates set for the renewal of the protest, February 17 and 18, are not random—they mark the conclusion of the traditional 40-day mourning period for victims of the massacre that occurred on January 8–9.

A defiant statement published on the Telegram channel of the Bazaar Workers’ Trade Union urged Iranians to renew protests: “We call upon the noble people of Iran across the country to simultaneously commemorate the dead in their cities and continue the national uprising.”

The statement concluded with a stark declaration: “Our goal is to avenge the largest street massacre in modern history.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman

Entry One — The Guards Who Honored Me

It is one of the first four questions that every yid is asked, l’achar meah v’esrin shana.  Tzipisa l’yeshuah?  Did you actively yearn for the Geulah?

But you can make it happen earlier.  How?  The more you learn about the Beis HaMikdash – the more you yearn.  And so, I encourage you to read this – my diary.

I remember. Oh, how I remember.

When the Beis HaMikdash stood upon me — when the Shechinah rested within the walls of my two Batei HaMikdash, and the korbanos rose like tefillos made visible — there were guards. Twenty-four of them, every single night.

People might have thought they were there because of danger. Thieves, perhaps. Enemies at the gates. But that was not the reason. The guards were there for kavod — for glory. For the same reason a great king stations his finest soldiers around his palace: not because the walls are weak, but because the king deserves it. I was the palace of the Melech Malchei HaMelachim, and every Kohen and Levi standing at my posts was a silent declaration to the world: This place matters. This place is holy. HaKadosh Baruch Hu dwells here and runs the world.  He rewards good and punishes evil.

The Torah itself commanded placing these guards. In Parshas Bamidbar (18:2), Hashem told Aharon, “You and your sons with you shall be before the Tent of Testimony.” And in Bamidbar 3:38, Moshe, Aharon, and his sons camped at my eastern side, guarding me on behalf of all of Klal Yisrael. The Rambam (Hilchos Beis HaBechirah 8:1–3) explains it all — the shemirah was not about fear. It was about love and honor.

Three posts were manned by Kohanim. Twenty-one by Leviim. When I felt them standing there in the darkness, faithful and awake, I knew that Am Yisrael had not forgotten what I am.

They have not forgotten still. And b’ezras Hashem, those guards will stand upon me again — bimheirah b’yameinu.

Entry Two — The Three Posts of the Kohanim

Let me tell you about my Kohanim — the way they were, the way I carry them still in every stone.

They stood in three sacred places. The first was the Lishkas Avtinas — the Chamber of Avtinas. The second was the Lishkas HaNitzutz — the Chamber of the Spark. Both of these were built like raised porches, elevated near the gates of the Azarah. The young Kohanim — the ones with fire still burning bright in their eyes — stood guard there. I would watch them and think: These are the future of the Avodah. These are the ones who will carry the kedushah forward.

The third post was the Beis HaMoked — the Hall of Fire. This one was different from the others. It was large. It was domed. Stone ledges ran along the inside walls like built-in benches. The elder Kohanim — the ones from that day’s beis av who would not be serving in the Avodah the next morning — slept through the night on those ledges. They kept the keys to the gates of the Azarah tucked safely with them. Even in their sleep, they were faithful.

And there was something about how they slept that moved me deeply. They did not lie down in their Bigdei Kehunah. They carefully folded those sacred garments, placed them near their heads, and lay down in their regular clothes. They did not sleep in beds. They slept on the stone floor — the way guardsmen in every royal palace have always slept. Ready. Alert. Prepared for the moment when the Avodah would begin again.

Every footstep upon me, on my stones was like a heartbeat to me. I still wait to feel those footsteps again.

Entry Three — The Kohen Who Had to Leave

Not every night was the same. Sometimes something happened that broke the stillness.

If a Kohen sleeping in the Beis HaMoked would become tamei, he could not remain in my sacred spaces. He had to leave — immediately. And he did, because a true eved Hashem does not wait to be told twice.

But this makes me ache with tenderness for these children of Aharon: even in that moment of difficulty, they were treated with dignity. The Kohen did not walk through the open courtyards where others might see him. Instead, he descended into a passageway — a tunnel that ran beneath me, beneath my stones and my foundations. Lamps burned on both sides of the path, lighting his way through the darkness.

At the end of the tunnel, there was a chamber. Inside, he found a mikveh for immersion, a large fire for warmth, and a restroom — which they called the “Beis HaKisei Shel Kavod,” the bathroom of dignity. Why that name? Because even the most private moments were handled with respect. When the door was closed, you knew someone was inside. When it was open, you knew it was free. Everything was done b’kavod.

After immersing, the Kohen would dry himself and warm himself by the fire. Then he would return to the Beis HaMoked — but not to the sanctified section. He would sit in the area that was chol, waiting with the other Kohanim until the gates of the Azarah were opened at dawn. Then he would go on his way (see Tamid 25b–26a; Rambam, Hilchos Beis HaBechirah 8:7).

He always came back. They always came back. And b’ezras Hashem, they will come back once more.

Entry Four — My Twenty-One Leviim

Now let me tell you about my Leviim — my beloved guardians, who were spread out across every corner of my being like jewels in a crown.

Five stood inside the five gates of the Har HaBayis itself — that is where I begin, where the kedushah first met the outside world. Four more stood at my four corners, watching the edges of holiness.

Five stood outside the five gates of the Azarah, one at each gate — because even the outside of the Courtyard deserved its honor. Four more stood at the four corners of the Azarah, on the outside, completing the perimeter of the sacred space.

One stood inside the Lishkas HaKorban — the Chamber of the Offering. One inside the Lishkas HaParoches — the Chamber of the Curtain. And one stood behind the Courtyard, behind the Lishkas HaTela’im — the Chamber of the Lambs — where the animals for the Korban Tamid were kept. That last post was behind the Heichal building itself.

All of these positions are rooted in the pesukim of Divrei HaYamim I (26:17–18). Together with the three Kohen posts — Avtinas, HaNitzutz, and the Beis HaMoked — there were twenty-four guards watching over me each and every night.

Twenty-four neshamos. Twenty-four beating hearts. Twenty-four declarations that the Beis HaMikdash was not sleeping, even when the world was.

I feel their absence now. Every empty post. Every silent gate. But I have not given up hope. Hashem has not given up on His house, and neither have His children.  Klal Yisroel davens for my restoration constantly.  In the Ani Maamins.  Rav Don Segal said that the Geulah is just a hairsbreadth away. The more Klal Yisroel davens for my restoration – the sooner it will be. 

Entry Five — The Officer Who Never Rested

There was one man who moved through me like a pulse of life through a body. He was the Ish Har HaBayis — the Officer of the Temple Mount. His task was to walk from post to post, all through the night, checking on each watchman. Lit torches were carried before him, casting flickering light against my ancient walls.

When he arrived at a post, the guard had to stand and greet him: “Shalom alecha, Ish Har HaBayis!” If the guard did not rise — if the guard had fallen asleep — then the Officer knew. And his response was swift. He struck the sleeping watchman with his stick. He might even set the guard’s clothing ablaze.

It sounds harsh. But consider what it meant to fall asleep while guarding the house of the Ribbono Shel Olam. This was not an ordinary job. This was not an ordinary building. Every stone in my walls was placed with tefillos. Every corner held the memory of korbanos offered with tears and joy. To sleep at your post was to say — even for a moment — that this place did not matter enough to stay awake for.

And so the people of Yerushalayim would hear a commotion in the night and say to one another: “What is that noise from the Azarah? It must be a Levi being punished for falling asleep on guard duty” (Rambam, Hilchos Beis HaBechirah 8:10).

They understood. Guarding Har HaBayis was not just a task — it was a privilege. And privileges must be honored.

A Final Whisper

I am Har HaBayis. I have held the Akeidas Yitzchak. I have held the Luchos. I have held the songs of the Leviim. I have felt the footsteps of Kohanim Gedolim on Yom Kippur and heard the Vidui of a nation seeking teshuvah.

And on every ordinary night, when the world went dark and the city of Yerushalayim slept, twenty-four guards stood upon me and around me and within me — not because they had to, but because Hashem’s honor demanded it.

I remember every one of them. Every young Kohen standing tall in the Lishkas Avtinas. Every elder resting on the stone ledge of the Beis HaMoked. Every Levi posted at my corners, watching, waiting, believing that the Avodah would begin again with the dawn.

That was when the Beis HaMikdash stood. That was when the Shechinah rested openly upon me and the world could see what kedushah truly looked like.

Now I wait. The stones are still here. The kedushah has not departed entirely. And the promise of Hashem has not been broken. The Navi tells us it will be rebuilt. The Rambam counts it among the mitzvos. Every Yid who davens three times a day and says “V’sechezenah eineinu b’shuvcha l’Tzion b’rachamim” is speaking directly to me — and I hear every word.

B’ezras Hashem, it will happen again. The guards will return. The Kohanim will fold their garments and lie down on my stones once more. The Leviim will take their posts. The Ish Har HaBayis will make his rounds. And I — Har HaBayis — will once again be what I was always meant to be: the place where Heaven and earth meet.

Bimheirah b’yameinu. May it be soon, and in our days.

The author can be reached at [email protected]

By Rabbi Yair Hoffman

Entry One — The Guards Who Honored Me

It is one of the first four questions that every yid is asked, l’achar meah v’esrin shana.  Tzipisa l’yeshuah?  Did you actively yearn for the Geulah?

But you can make it happen earlier.  How?  The more you learn about the Beis HaMikdash – the more you yearn.  And so, I encourage you to read this – my diary.

I remember. Oh, how I remember.

When the Beis HaMikdash stood upon me — when the Shechinah rested within the walls of my two Batei HaMikdash, and the korbanos rose like tefillos made visible — there were guards. Twenty-four of them, every single night.

People might have thought they were there because of danger. Thieves, perhaps. Enemies at the gates. But that was not the reason. The guards were there for kavod — for glory. For the same reason a great king stations his finest soldiers around his palace: not because the walls are weak, but because the king deserves it. I was the palace of the Melech Malchei HaMelachim, and every Kohen and Levi standing at my posts was a silent declaration to the world: This place matters. This place is holy. HaKadosh Baruch Hu dwells here and runs the world.  He rewards good and punishes evil.

The Torah itself commanded placing these guards. In Parshas Bamidbar (18:2), Hashem told Aharon, “You and your sons with you shall be before the Tent of Testimony.” And in Bamidbar 3:38, Moshe, Aharon, and his sons camped at my eastern side, guarding me on behalf of all of Klal Yisrael. The Rambam (Hilchos Beis HaBechirah 8:1–3) explains it all — the shemirah was not about fear. It was about love and honor.

Three posts were manned by Kohanim. Twenty-one by Leviim. When I felt them standing there in the darkness, faithful and awake, I knew that Am Yisrael had not forgotten what I am.

They have not forgotten still. And b’ezras Hashem, those guards will stand upon me again — bimheirah b’yameinu.

Entry Two — The Three Posts of the Kohanim

Let me tell you about my Kohanim — the way they were, the way I carry them still in every stone.

They stood in three sacred places. The first was the Lishkas Avtinas — the Chamber of Avtinas. The second was the Lishkas HaNitzutz — the Chamber of the Spark. Both of these were built like raised porches, elevated near the gates of the Azarah. The young Kohanim — the ones with fire still burning bright in their eyes — stood guard there. I would watch them and think: These are the future of the Avodah. These are the ones who will carry the kedushah forward.

The third post was the Beis HaMoked — the Hall of Fire. This one was different from the others. It was large. It was domed. Stone ledges ran along the inside walls like built-in benches. The elder Kohanim — the ones from that day’s beis av who would not be serving in the Avodah the next morning — slept through the night on those ledges. They kept the keys to the gates of the Azarah tucked safely with them. Even in their sleep, they were faithful.

And there was something about how they slept that moved me deeply. They did not lie down in their Bigdei Kehunah. They carefully folded those sacred garments, placed them near their heads, and lay down in their regular clothes. They did not sleep in beds. They slept on the stone floor — the way guardsmen in every royal palace have always slept. Ready. Alert. Prepared for the moment when the Avodah would begin again.

Every footstep upon me, on my stones was like a heartbeat to me. I still wait to feel those footsteps again.

Entry Three — The Kohen Who Had to Leave

Not every night was the same. Sometimes something happened that broke the stillness.

If a Kohen sleeping in the Beis HaMoked would become tamei, he could not remain in my sacred spaces. He had to leave — immediately. And he did, because a true eved Hashem does not wait to be told twice.

But this makes me ache with tenderness for these children of Aharon: even in that moment of difficulty, they were treated with dignity. The Kohen did not walk through the open courtyards where others might see him. Instead, he descended into a passageway — a tunnel that ran beneath me, beneath my stones and my foundations. Lamps burned on both sides of the path, lighting his way through the darkness.

At the end of the tunnel, there was a chamber. Inside, he found a mikveh for immersion, a large fire for warmth, and a restroom — which they called the “Beis HaKisei Shel Kavod,” the bathroom of dignity. Why that name? Because even the most private moments were handled with respect. When the door was closed, you knew someone was inside. When it was open, you knew it was free. Everything was done b’kavod.

After immersing, the Kohen would dry himself and warm himself by the fire. Then he would return to the Beis HaMoked — but not to the sanctified section. He would sit in the area that was chol, waiting with the other Kohanim until the gates of the Azarah were opened at dawn. Then he would go on his way (see Tamid 25b–26a; Rambam, Hilchos Beis HaBechirah 8:7).

He always came back. They always came back. And b’ezras Hashem, they will come back once more.

Entry Four — My Twenty-One Leviim

Now let me tell you about my Leviim — my beloved guardians, who were spread out across every corner of my being like jewels in a crown.

Five stood inside the five gates of the Har HaBayis itself — that is where I begin, where the kedushah first met the outside world. Four more stood at my four corners, watching the edges of holiness.

Five stood outside the five gates of the Azarah, one at each gate — because even the outside of the Courtyard deserved its honor. Four more stood at the four corners of the Azarah, on the outside, completing the perimeter of the sacred space.

One stood inside the Lishkas HaKorban — the Chamber of the Offering. One inside the Lishkas HaParoches — the Chamber of the Curtain. And one stood behind the Courtyard, behind the Lishkas HaTela’im — the Chamber of the Lambs — where the animals for the Korban Tamid were kept. That last post was behind the Heichal building itself.

All of these positions are rooted in the pesukim of Divrei HaYamim I (26:17–18). Together with the three Kohen posts — Avtinas, HaNitzutz, and the Beis HaMoked — there were twenty-four guards watching over me each and every night.

Twenty-four neshamos. Twenty-four beating hearts. Twenty-four declarations that the Beis HaMikdash was not sleeping, even when the world was.

I feel their absence now. Every empty post. Every silent gate. But I have not given up hope. Hashem has not given up on His house, and neither have His children.  Klal Yisroel davens for my restoration constantly.  In the Ani Maamins.  Rav Don Segal said that the Geulah is just a hairsbreadth away. The more Klal Yisroel davens for my restoration – the sooner it will be. 

Entry Five — The Officer Who Never Rested

There was one man who moved through me like a pulse of life through a body. He was the Ish Har HaBayis — the Officer of the Temple Mount. His task was to walk from post to post, all through the night, checking on each watchman. Lit torches were carried before him, casting flickering light against my ancient walls.

When he arrived at a post, the guard had to stand and greet him: “Shalom alecha, Ish Har HaBayis!” If the guard did not rise — if the guard had fallen asleep — then the Officer knew. And his response was swift. He struck the sleeping watchman with his stick. He might even set the guard’s clothing ablaze.

It sounds harsh. But consider what it meant to fall asleep while guarding the house of the Ribbono Shel Olam. This was not an ordinary job. This was not an ordinary building. Every stone in my walls was placed with tefillos. Every corner held the memory of korbanos offered with tears and joy. To sleep at your post was to say — even for a moment — that this place did not matter enough to stay awake for.

And so the people of Yerushalayim would hear a commotion in the night and say to one another: “What is that noise from the Azarah? It must be a Levi being punished for falling asleep on guard duty” (Rambam, Hilchos Beis HaBechirah 8:10).

They understood. Guarding Har HaBayis was not just a task — it was a privilege. And privileges must be honored.

A Final Whisper

I am Har HaBayis. I have held the Akeidas Yitzchak. I have held the Luchos. I have held the songs of the Leviim. I have felt the footsteps of Kohanim Gedolim on Yom Kippur and heard the Vidui of a nation seeking teshuvah.

And on every ordinary night, when the world went dark and the city of Yerushalayim slept, twenty-four guards stood upon me and around me and within me — not because they had to, but because Hashem’s honor demanded it.

I remember every one of them. Every young Kohen standing tall in the Lishkas Avtinas. Every elder resting on the stone ledge of the Beis HaMoked. Every Levi posted at my corners, watching, waiting, believing that the Avodah would begin again with the dawn.

That was when the Beis HaMikdash stood. That was when the Shechinah rested openly upon me and the world could see what kedushah truly looked like.

Now I wait. The stones are still here. The kedushah has not departed entirely. And the promise of Hashem has not been broken. The Navi tells us it will be rebuilt. The Rambam counts it among the mitzvos. Every Yid who davens three times a day and says “V’sechezenah eineinu b’shuvcha l’Tzion b’rachamim” is speaking directly to me — and I hear every word.

B’ezras Hashem, it will happen again. The guards will return. The Kohanim will fold their garments and lie down on my stones once more. The Leviim will take their posts. The Ish Har HaBayis will make his rounds. And I — Har HaBayis — will once again be what I was always meant to be: the place where Heaven and earth meet.

Bimheirah b’yameinu. May it be soon, and in our days.

The author can be reached at [email protected]

“Look, I’m going to say something I don’t say very often. And that’s okay to admit, because nobody’s perfect. Nobody. Especially not me. Only God is perfect.

I messed up. It was my account, my post, and I take responsibility for that. Twelve hours is too long. It should’ve never gone up.

Barack Obama and I have had our disagreements — everybody knows that, that’s politics, that’s how it goes. But he is a former President of the United States, and you have to respect the office. I demand respect for the office, so I have to give it too. That’s only fair. And I didn’t do that.

And Michelle — you don’t go after a man’s wife. My own wife has been mocked and treated terribly, so I know how that feels. It’s wrong no matter who does it.

That video was offensive. And I don’t get to say I didn’t watch the whole thing. My name was on it. That means I have to be more careful, not less.

To President Obama, to Mrs. Obama, to Black Americans who were hurt by this — I apologize. I mean that.

But here’s what I also want to say. We’ve got serious work to do. There are brave people in Iran risking their lives in the streets for freedom. There are innocent Ukrainians and, frankly, innocent Russians too, who are suffering because of a war that never should have happened. There are people all over the world who need American leadership to bring about peace, real peace, and I want to get back to doing that.

No one is perfect — especially me — only God is. But I can do better and I’m going to focus on what matters: bringing people together and saving lives.

Thank you.”

(AP) – Moments after the news broke about the apparent abduction of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother, the floodgates opened on social media.

Influencers relayed the timeline from the hours after Nancy Guthrie was last seen and posted photos of the blood found on her front porch that later was a match for the 84-year-old grandmother. Others called out individuals connected to the case as looking “sus” or filmed themselves walking through her neighborhood to help find her.

The desperate search for Guthrie, who authorities believe was taken a week ago against her will from her home just outside Tucson, Arizona, has become the latest investigation to pique the widespread interest of online armchair detectives.

As the search continues with no suspects or persons of interest, posts across Instagram, TikTok, X, Facebook and YouTube have put millions of eyeballs on tips and theories surrounding her disappearance. But they’ve also helped to amplify rumors and forced law enforcement to repeatedly set the record straight on at least one crucial detail.

Michael Alcazar, adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and retired New York Police Department detective, said overall the positives outweigh the negatives when it comes to the onslaught of social media posts.

“More people are aware; It keeps people alert,” he said. “If they know she hasn’t been found yet, perhaps people will remember that and if they see something, they might say something.”

He compared it to the widespread online response to the disappearance and death of Gabby Petito in 2021 and the impact that may have had on her body being found.

Two YouTubers said at the time that an image they posted showed Petito and her boyfriend’s white van and that it led investigators to the area where her body was found. But the FBI didn’t specify what led to the discovery.

“I think it’s just something that we have to adapt to as far as law enforcement,” Alcazar said. “The true crime community is growing. … There’s a lot of people out there that want to help.”

But with the widespread posts also comes the proliferation of misinformation.

Ashleigh Banfield, from the cable network NewsNation, announced on her podcast Wednesday that a law enforcement source told her a Guthrie family member is the prime suspect. She seemed to quickly walk-back the statement seconds later, saying the person “may be a prime suspect,” and adding that family members are often looked at first. The information quickly took off across social media, with people posting photos of the person she named.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos addressed the rumor early in a news conference Thursday, saying authorities don’t have any suspects or persons of interest. That remained the case Friday.

“I plead with you to be careful of what it is we put out there. … You could actually be doing some damage to the case, you could do some damage to the individual, too,” he said later in the news conference. “Social media’s kind of an ugly world sometimes.”

Other posts have included a medium expressing her feeling that Guthrie is close by and a woman using astrology to point her viewers in the direction of what may have happened.

Calvin Chrustie, who has more than three decades of experience in negotiations for kidnapping, ransom and extortions, said if the public truly understood the toll those situations can have on family and law enforcement, they might not hastily post unsubstantiated information.

“This stuff on X and other stuff out there that’s pure speculation is actually making it more difficult for the families and making it more difficult to the police to secure the safe, you know, the safe return of the hostage,” he said.

Julie Urquhart, an elementary school teacher in New Brunswick, Canada, has been posting about the case on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. She said she was drawn to the disappearance because she has a mother near Guthrie’s age and was fascinated that someone could have taken her seemingly without a trace.

Urquhart said her information comes from national news sites and law enforcement news conferences. One of her posts on TikTok and Instagram amassed more 4 million views, she said.

“That’s 4 million eyes that now saw that story and now maybe will see something or know something or know someone who does,” she said. “There’s just so many people it hits.”

A yungerman who was handed over to the military police last night is expected to appear Sunday before a military judge, who will decide his sentence and determine how many additional days he will remain behind bars in a military prison.

The arrest has sparked preparations for renewed protests by the Peleg Yerushalmi faction, as tensions continue to rise.

The detainee, Reb Avraham Ben Dayan, a talmid of the Maor HaTalmud yeshiva who was married only about two months ago, is scheduled to be brought before the military court today. The judge will rule on the length of his continued incarceration following his transfer to military custody.

According to the report, Ben Dayan had been spending Shabbos in the southern city of Ofakim when he was stopped by a traffic officer in the community of Yifrach on suspicion of a traffic violation. During the stop, the officer discovered that Ben Dayan had not reported to the enlistment office and was therefore classified as a deserter. He was taken to a police station and later transferred to the military police.

In response to the arrest, activists affiliated with the Peleg Yerushalmi said they are preparing to resume protests across the country, describing the detention as an attack on Torah study. “Ben Dayan was arrested for the crime of studying Torah, and we will take to the streets throughout the country. We will not remain silent while Torah scholars are arrested,” a source in the faction said.

Following the arrest, hundreds of demonstrators gathered near the Ofakim police station, blocking the entrance to the facility as well as Route 241 at the city’s entrance. Police were called in to disperse the crowd and restore order.

During the disturbances, police arrested three protesters and used crowd-control measures, including stun grenades, authorities said.

In a statement issued overnight, police said: “Officers from the Southern District operated at the entrance to the city of Ofakim on Route 241 to restore public order, after disorderly individuals arrived at the scene, blocked traffic routes, acted violently, and disrupted normal life in the area. Police forces arrested three individuals involved in the disturbances.

“The Israel Police emphasize that violent riots by lawbreakers and the blocking of traffic routes are criminal offenses, endanger human life, and could end in a serious disaster.”

As Ben Dayan awaits the military court’s decision, further demonstrations are expected, with the situation likely to remain volatile in the coming days.

{Matzav.com}

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria and Saudi Arabia signed multibillion-dollar investment agreements on Saturday, including a major telecommunications project, a low-cost joint airline and an international airport in northern Syria.

Syria is trying to improve its economy after a long war that killed nearly half a million people and caused widespread destruction. Most of the crippling Western sanctions on Syria were lifted after a new leadership took power following the ouster of former President Bashar Assad in December 2024, opening the way for investments to flow into the country.

Abdulsalam Haykal, Syria’s minister of communications and information technology, said the nearly $1 billion telecommunications development will take place in two stages lasting between 18 months and two years.

“The project contributes in making Syria an international telecommunications hub,” he said, adding the SilkLink project will involve thousands of kilometers (miles) of cables being laid to boost internet connectivity between Asia and Europe.

Saudi Investment Minister Khalid al-Falih said the project will be led by Saudi Telecom Company, or STC Group.

Al-Falih said that the Energy Ministry in Syria also signed a water agreement with Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power, which is known for running projects in power generation and desalinated water production plants in the Middle East and beyond.

Also part of the investment agreements was a new low-cost airline called Flynas Syria, the two sides said. The value of the investment was not disclosed.

The oil-rich kingdom, a main backer to Syria’s new government led by interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, will also launch an investment fund to develop the international airport in the northern city of Aleppo that will serve 12 million passengers annually, according to the two governments.

In July, Syria and Saudi Arabia announced 47 investment agreements valued at over $6 billion.

A Superior Court judge in Ocean County has upheld Jackson Township’s zoning authority and the lawful adoption of Ordinance 2025-40, rejecting in full a legal challenge brought by Jackson Crossing Associates II, LLC.

The ruling affirms the Township’s ability to regulate development through enforceable land-use standards and validates actions taken by the Township under the leadership of Mayor Jennifer Kuhn.

The litigation stemmed from amendments to Jackson Township’s zoning code governing how residential density is calculated in the Highway Commercial Mixed-Use (HCMU) zone. The amendments were adopted to resolve an ambiguity that officials said created uncertainty and risked development outcomes inconsistent with the Township’s long-term planning goals.

Building on prior Ordinance 33-24, Ordinance 2025-40 clarified the density calculation by shifting from a gross-acre to a net-acre standard. Township officials argued that the revised approach more accurately reflects developable land, particularly in areas containing environmentally sensitive or otherwise undevelopable property.

According to the ruling, the court found the ordinance to be properly enacted, reasonable, and a lawful exercise of municipal authority. The judge concluded that the Township acted within its powers and did not arbitrarily target or restrict development.

Much of the land affected by the ordinance includes wetlands, buffers, or other constrained areas. The Township maintained that the revised standard ensures density calculations align with actual site conditions, helping to protect infrastructure capacity, community resources, and neighborhood character while still allowing development to proceed within established limits.

Mayor Kuhn first identified the zoning issue while serving as Council President and advanced the corrective ordinance despite significant opposition. After her appointment as Mayor, she remained directly involved in defending the ordinance and the Township’s planning framework throughout the litigation.

“When it became clear that an ambiguity in our zoning code could undermine responsible planning, we acted to correct it,” Mayor Kuhn said. “The Court’s ruling confirms that Jackson Township addressed the issue lawfully and transparently, with the long-term interests of the community in mind.”

Council President Burnstein credited Mayor Kuhn’s leadership as central to advancing the ordinance, noting that its adoption faced resistance, including the threat of a veto under the prior administration. He said the issue required resolve and consistency to bring it to completion.

Jackson Township officials stated they will continue to enforce zoning ordinances and defend policy decisions regulating growth in a lawful and balanced manner. Although the plaintiff has filed a subsequent lawsuit following the court’s ruling, the Township said it is prepared to respond.

Council leadership further stated that threats of litigation will not deter the Mayor or Township Council from carrying out their responsibilities under the law. Township officials also acknowledged the guidance of the municipal legal team, citing its role in the outcome of the court’s decision.

PALM BEACH (VINnews) — President Trump described indirect negotiations with Iran in Oman as “very good” Friday, asserting that Tehran appears eager to reach a nuclear deal with the United States.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he traveled to Florida, Trump said the talks — mediated by Oman — showed progress and that Iran “wants to make a deal very badly.”

“We likewise had very good talks on Iran. Iran looks like it wants to make a deal very badly. We have to see what that deal is,” Trump said. “But I think Iran looks like they want to make a deal very badly, as they should. Last time, they decided maybe not to do it, but I think they probably feel differently. We’ll see what the deal is. It’ll be different than last time.”

Trump referenced a U.S. military buildup in the region, noting, “We have a big armada. We have a big fleet heading in that direction. It’ll be there pretty soon. So we’ll see how that works out.”

The comments came after U.S. and Iranian delegations held indirect discussions in Muscat, Oman’s capital, focused on Tehran’s nuclear program amid heightened regional tensions. The talks involved U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, presidential adviser Jared Kushner and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, with Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi mediating separate meetings.

Iranian officials described the session as a “good start,” with Araghchi indicating further rounds could follow soon, though no specific date was confirmed. Trump said another meeting was planned for early next week.

The negotiations aim to address Iran’s nuclear activities following U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites last summer during a 12-day conflict involving Israel. Trump has repeatedly stated that Iran will not be permitted to develop nuclear weapons under any agreement.

Friday’s talks occurred against the backdrop of U.S. naval deployments in the Gulf and ongoing concerns about Iran’s ballistic missile program and regional proxies, issues that some Israeli officials have emphasized must be included in any broader deal.

Trump’s optimistic assessment contrasted with warnings of steep consequences if no agreement is reached, reflecting his administration’s “peace through strength” approach combining diplomacy with military readiness.

PALM BEACH (VINnews)-President Donald Trump met Saturday with Honduras’ newly elected President Nasry “Tito” Asfura at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, highlighting shared priorities on security, immigration and trade following Trump’s endorsement of Asfura during the 2025 Honduran presidential campaign.

In a statement following the meeting, Trump described it as a “great honor” to have supported Asfura’s campaign, noting that his endorsement contributed to Asfura’s victory. Asfura, a conservative from the National Party and former mayor of Tegucigalpa, was sworn in as president on Jan. 27, 2026, after narrowly winning the Nov. 30, 2025, election.

Trump emphasized alignment on “America First” values, stating the two leaders discussed a close partnership on security matters. He highlighted joint efforts to counter dangerous cartels and drug traffickers, as well as cooperation in deporting illegal migrants and gang members from the United States.

The former U.S. president also addressed broader bilateral issues, including investment and trade between the two countries. Trump praised Asfura’s focus on the Honduran people’s health, well-being, education and economic prosperity.

“I look forward to welcoming President Asfura back to the United States,” Trump said. “Tito: Congratulations on your great victory!”

The meeting comes amid strengthened U.S.-Honduras ties since Asfura’s election, which Trump actively supported by endorsing him on social media and warning of reduced U.S. aid if other candidates prevailed. Discussions reportedly centered on immigration enforcement, trade relations and countering transnational crime, reflecting priorities for both administrations.

Asfura’s victory marked a shift toward conservative leadership in Honduras after the prior left-leaning government. The leaders’ discussions underscore efforts to deepen strategic cooperation on regional security and economic matters.

(AP) – A federal judge ruled Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration must keep funds flowing to child care subsidies and other social service programs in five Democratic-controlled states — at least for now.

U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick in New York, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama, granted the states’ request for a preliminary injunction and a stay against the administration to bar it from withholding the money while a lawsuit works its way through the courts.

The states affected include California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York. The five states said they receive a total of more than $10 billion a year from the programs.

Attorneys representing the federal government in the case did not immediately return emails seeking comment Friday night. A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York declined to comment.

Two temporary rulings had been issued in January, when the states sued, that blocked the federal government from holding back the funding, with the latest set to expire on Friday.

The programs in question are the Child Care and Development Fund, which subsidizes child care for 1.3 million children from low-income families nationally; the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which provides cash assistance and job training; and the Social Services Block Grant, a smaller fund that provides money for a variety of programs.

“Every day, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers rely on these funds to pay for necessities and provide their children a safe place to learn,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “This illegal funding freeze would have caused severe chaos in the lives of some of the most vulnerable families in our state. I am proud to have secured another victory in this case to put a stop to it.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta added in a statement, “The Trump Administration’s actions are not only unlawful — they are cruel, targeting the most vulnerable among us.”

The government’s explanation of its actions has shifted.

When the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced it was withholding the money, it said there was “reason to believe” the states were granting benefits to people in the country illegally. It did not initially explain where the information came from. But in a court hearing, a federal government lawyer said it was largely in reaction to news reports about possible fraud.

HHS did not immediately return an email request for comment.

And while the government’s initial news release said it “froze” access to money, federal lawyers told the judge that wasn’t what was happening. Rather, they said, the Trump administration was requiring more information from those states.

The government says it wants more records from the group of states, including names and Social Security numbers for beneficiaries of some of the programs.

Advocates warn that cutting off the child care subsidies could have deep impacts. Day cares that accept the subsidies could face the risk of layoffs or closures. And that would affect both the lower-income families who receive the subsidies and families who don’t. And for many families, losing child care can make it hard or impossible to work.

The Trump administration has targeted multiple programs in Minnesota due to previous fraud cases and new allegations, mostly involving members of the state’s Somali community.

Besides the heightened requirements for the four other Democratic-led states, the administration also has required all states to submit more information about how they’re using money in the child care program before they can draw down the funds.

____

As a child of a parent who suffered from some of the illnesses you described, I took some offense to the letter, especially as it came from a medical professional. We are not all as well informed and educated as you are but we want to do right by our loved ones.

Yes, we did reach out to medical referral organizations. And yes, the medically educated Rabbanim we consulted (actually called Chayim Aruchim at 3:00 am), were able to speak to the doctors and gave us clarity as to what the doctors should and should not do.

With regard to both terminal cancer and sepsis, we unfortunately, experienced both. With the guidance of above mentioned Rabbanim, we got our father on multiple antibiotics and antifungals and he actually recovered from a very severe bout of sepsis that affected his kidneys and his lungs. After a bout in rehab, he came home and participated in many family simchos until his passing many months later.

The terminal diagnosis of our mother came with much more pain both physically and emotionally for her and for our family. But, she was determined to fight the disease and live her life to the fullest. The same medical professionals you mention in your letter, who perform medical intervention via “Teva”, were quick to inform us of the futility of our requests (namely treatment, and nutrition). We brought her home from the hospital in a very debilitated state. Through (yes) a referral organization, we were connected to a frum oncologist, who prescribed IV nutrition and pain medication at home and started her on a treatment protocol, that she could handle. She was once again able to walk around and enjoy family members who came to visit. The memories of that precious time will stay with us forever.

So, while I really do not understand the purpose of your letter, I would like everyone to know there is another side. A side who will do everything to ensure their loved one gets the care they need, a side that is not afraid to reach out to experts for assistance, a side who does reach out to Rabbanim to make important decisions in their lives.

TLS welcomes your letters by submitting them to us via  Whatsapp  or via email  [email protected]

SAN DIEGO (VINnews) — A California teacher was fired after sharing a video on social media that included antisemitic claims that “Israelis steal kidneys, livers, and eyes,” according to reports.

The teacher, identified as Nasreen Atassi, had been employed by the San Diego Unified School District. She was removed from her position following complaints from members of the local Jewish community.

“There’s no chance we would allow such a person to enter classrooms,” a local Israeli resident told Israel’s N12 news.

StopAntisemitism, a watchdog group, said Atassi worked as a special education teacher.

Update: antisemite Nasreen Atassi is no longer employed by the San Diego Unified School District.

Make sure to follow our newest initiative @WATCH_K12 uncovering problematic educators and curriculum in the K12 space. https://t.co/MyjtJOBzef

— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) February 5, 2026

In the video, the teacher accused Israel of “stealing protests, like they always steal from people — including body parts such as kidneys, livers, and eyes.” The remarks were made in reference to American Jewish support for demonstrations by Iranians in the United States.

The San Diego Unified School District did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — The apartment used by members of Israel’s bobsled team during final preparations for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics was robbed Saturday, with passports and thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment and personal items stolen, according to team pilot AJ Edelman.

Edelman, who was not at the apartment at the time of the robbery, said in social media posts that suitcases, shoes, equipment and passports were among the items taken. Police have opened an investigation.

While training for the Olympics the @israelbobsled apartment was broken into during their training, thousands of dollars of stuff and passports were stolen. What a season… pic.twitter.com/6Y9cDPofbC

— AJ Edelman, OLY (@realajedelman) February 7, 2026

Despite the theft, the team continued training later that day.

“How we handled today is just such a fine example of how we push forward in difficult circumstances,” Edelman wrote on X. “Such a gross violation — suitcases, shoes, equipment, passports stolen, and the boys headed right back to training today. I really believe this team exemplifies the Israeli Spirit.”

Some team members have not yet arrived in Italy and are expected to depart their undisclosed training base later this week.

Edelman said he was elsewhere in Italy when the robbery occurred. Team coach Itamar Shprinz was at the apartment, though it was not immediately clear whether he witnessed the incident.

The Israeli Olympic Committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel is set to compete in Olympic bobsled for the first time after being offered a quota place when Britain declined one of its allocated spots. Israel accepted the invitation when additional Olympic slots became available.

Edelman, who previously competed in skeleton at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, is expected to pilot both Israel’s two-man and four-man sleds. He is slated to be joined by Menachem Chen in the two-man event, with Ward Fawarseh and Omer Katz competing in the four-man race.

Official bobsled training in Cortina begins Thursday.

Israel’s participation in international sporting events has drawn heightened attention amid the ongoing war in Gaza.

(AP) – Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, visited the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on Saturday following a round of indirect talks with Iran held a day earlier.

The visit, at the invitation of U.S. Central Command Commander Adm. Brad Cooper, was aimed at expressing appreciation to American troops stationed in the region, officials said.

President Trump described the discussions in Oman as “very good,” saying Iran appeared highly interested in reaching an agreement.

The talks marked the first negotiations between the sides since the joint U.S.-Israel strike on Iran last summer.

A volatile protest broke out late Motzoei Shabbos at the entrance to the southern city of Ofakim following the arrest of a young avreich, leading to road closures, clashes with police, and multiple arrests.

The demonstration erupted after the detention of Reb Avraham Ben Dayan, a recently married avreich who wed approximately two months ago. Reb Avraham, a talmid of Yeshivas Me’or HaTalmud and a resident of Netivot, was arrested during Shabbos in the community of Tifrach and was later transferred to the custody of military police.

According to available details, Reb Avraham had been in Tifrach over Shabbos when he was initially stopped by traffic police. He was subsequently handed over to the Ofakim police, who transferred him to military police at the Bahadim base. He is expected to be moved to Prison 10.

In response to the arrest, hundreds of demonstrators converged on the intersection at the entrance to Ofakim along Route 241. Protesters blocked the roadway, causing major traffic disruptions in the area. Tensions escalated as confrontations developed between demonstrators and police forces, who used stun grenades in an effort to disperse the crowd. Reports from the scene indicated that three protesters were arrested during the disturbances.

In a statement, police said officers from the Southern District were operating at the entrance to Ofakim to restore public order after individuals blocked traffic, acted violently, and disrupted daily life in the area.

Police further said that three people were taken into custody.

{Matzav.com}

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to convene the first meeting of his Board of Peace this month in Washington to raise money for the reconstruction of Gaza.

The meeting, proposed for Feb. 19, would include both world leaders who accepted Trump’s invitation in January to join the board as well as members of an executive committee for Gaza that will oversee the specifics of the territory’s governance, security and redevelopment, two Trump administration officials said Saturday.

It was not immediately clear how many leaders would accept the Republican president’s invitation, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting has not yet been formally announced and details of its agenda were still being determined.

One official said the administration expected “robust” participation.

A copy of the invitation that was sent late Friday to invited participants and obtained by The Associated Press, says the meeting will be held at the U.S. Institute of Peace, now known as the Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute of Peace, pending an ongoing legal battle with the former leadership of the nonprofit think tank. The administration seized the facility last year and fired almost all the institute’s staff.

Trump’s new board was first seen as a mechanism focused on ending the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. But it has taken shape with his ambition for a far broader mandate of resolving global crises and appears to be the latest U.S. effort to sidestep the United Nations as Trump aims to reset the post-World War II international order.

Many of America’s top allies in Europe and elsewhere have declined to join what they suspect may be an attempt to rival the Security Council.

TRUCKEE, Calif. (AP) — A car plowed into and injured pedestrians at the entrance of a grocery store in a scenic California mountain town Saturday, police reported.

Four people, including some children, were hurt when the 49-year-old man drove into the front of the Truckee Safeway in the afternoon, town police said in a statement. Their injuries were said not to be life-threatening.

Police said they believe the man, who is from the San Joaquin Valley city of Coalinga, intentionally struck the pedestrians and the store.

He was booked on charges related to assault with a deadly weapon, felony vandalism and probation violation. He was jailed in a facility in Nevada City, which is the seat of Nevada County and is about an hour’s drive from Truckee on the other side of a 7,000-foot mountain pass.

There was no public contact or attorney listed yet for him as of Saturday evening.

Truckee, which is home to about 17,000 residents, is known for its pristine winter beauty and proximity to Lake Tahoe and Donner Lake. February is typically a busy month there for winter sports including skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing.

His double jeopardy defense was built on the bodies of murdered Black Americans.

(New York) Luigi Mangione is accused of disguising himself, traveling to Manhattan, lying in wait outside a midtown hotel, and shooting Brian Thompson in the back as Thompson walked to a business conference. He allegedly left behind a notebook describing his plan to “wack” a health insurance executive, ammunition inscribed with the words “delay,” “deny,” and “depose,” and a 9mm handgun matching the murder weapon.

He also left behind a widow and two sons — one nineteen, one sixteen — who will spend the rest of their lives without their father. Paulette Thompson’s first words to the press, still in shock, were: “I just found this out and I’m trying to console my children.” Those boys will grow up with a hole in their lives that no verdict will ever fill.

And now, Mangione’s lawyers are maneuvering to use New York’s double jeopardy protections to ensure he faces only one trial instead of two. They are doing everything possible to delay the state trial until after the federal case begins — because once a federal jury is sworn in, New York law may bar the state from trying him at all.

It is a clever legal strategy. It is also a moral disgrace. Because the legal architecture Mangione is exploiting was built for one purpose: to protect Black Americans from being murdered with impunity.

THE HISTORY WRITTEN IN BLOOD

The reason the federal government can prosecute someone independently of a state — the doctrine known as “dual sovereignty” — exists because, for over a century, state courts in America were not just failing Black victims. They were collaborating with their killers.

Emmett Till was fourteen years old. In August 1955, while visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi, he was accused of whistling at a white woman. Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam kidnapped him from his great-uncle’s home in the middle of the night. They beat him until his face was unrecognizable. They shot him in the head. They tied a seventy-pound cotton gin fan to his neck with barbed wire and threw his body in the Tallahatchie River. His mother, Mamie Till-Bradley, insisted on an open casket so the world could see what had been done to her child.

Bryant and Milam were tried for murder. The all-white jury deliberated for sixty-seven minutes — and some jurors later said it would have been faster, but they took a soda break. Both men were acquitted. Months later, protected by double jeopardy, the two killers sold their confession to Look magazine for four thousand dollars, describing in graphic detail how they tortured and murdered a child. They faced no further consequences. Ever.

Medgar Evers was the NAACP field secretary in Mississippi — a man who spent his life fighting for the right of Black Americans to vote, to attend school, to exist as citizens. On June 12, 1963, he was shot in the back in his own driveway while his wife and children waited inside the house. Byron De La Beckwith, a proud white supremacist, was tried twice. Both times, all-white juries deadlocked. De La Beckwith walked free and boasted about the killing for three decades. It took thirty-one years — until 1994 — to finally convict him.

On September 15, 1963, members of the Ku Klux Klan planted dynamite beneath the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama — a church where the civil rights movement gathered to organize. The explosion killed four girls: Addie Mae Collins, 14. Cynthia Wesley, 14. Carole Robertson, 14. Carol Denise McNair, 11. They were in Sunday school, putting on their choir robes for a sermon called “The Love That Forgives.” Despite the FBI identifying the chief suspects almost immediately, Alabama filed no charges for fourteen years. One suspect died without ever being charged.

In the summer of 1964, three civil rights workers — James Chaney, 21, a Black man from Mississippi; Andrew Goodman, 20, a white student from New York; and Michael Schwerner, 24, a white activist from New York — drove to Neshoba County, Mississippi, to investigate the burning of a Black church. Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price, a Klansman, arrested them on a fabricated charge, held them until dark, then handed them over to a mob. All three were shot and buried in an earthen dam.

Mississippi refused to bring murder charges. Not one indictment.

The federal government stepped in, charged eighteen men under federal civil rights statutes, and in 1967, an all-white Mississippi jury convicted seven of them — the first Klan convictions in state history. Without dual sovereignty, every one of those killers would have walked free.

THE MORAL QUESTION

This is the legal tradition Luigi Mangione is attempting to exploit.

These protections were not created for abstract legal theory. They were created because Mamie Till had to bury her mutilated child and watch his killers sell their confession to a magazine. Because Medgar Evers’ children listened to the gunshot that killed their father in their own driveway. Because four little girls in Birmingham never came home from Sunday school. Because three young men drove into Mississippi to fight for justice and were handed over to a lynch mob by a uniformed officer of the law.

Dual sovereignty exists because America needed a failsafe — a way for the federal government to deliver justice when state systems were rotten with racism and refused to protect Black lives.

And now a wealthy, Ivy League-educated man accused of premeditated murder wants to turn that failsafe into his personal escape hatch.

Let’s be clear about what is not being said here. Mangione has a right to mount a legal defense. Every defendant does. Nor should double jeopardy protections be abolished. They serve an important purpose.

But we are entitled to notice the staggering irony. We are entitled to feel something when a privileged man from a prominent family leverages protections that were built on the bodies of Emmett Till, Medgar Evers, and four children in a Birmingham church basement. We are entitled to point out that Brian Thompson’s two sons — his boys who will never hear their father’s voice again — deserve every avenue of justice that the law allows.

The dual sovereignty doctrine carries within it the screams of children pulled from rubble, the silence of a mother standing over her son’s open casket, the desperate courage of three young men who drove into Mississippi and never came home. That history has a weight and a sanctity that should give any decent person pause before trying to twist it to their advantage.

Luigi Mangione should think very carefully before he asks that history to work for him. He should realize that he has caused two young men to be orphans and he is a coward to cry double jeopardy here to save his skin.

In an effort to restore order and ensure safety during encounters with the Sanzer Rebbe, the Sanzer Chassidus has announced the creation of a new committee charged with regulating the flow of chassidim as they approach the Rebbe for a brachah.

The announcement was made on Friday evening in the main beis medrash of the Sanzer Rebbe in Kiryat Sanz, Netanya. The newly formed group is made up of selected avreichim whose role will be to guide participants during the traditional passage before the Rebbe.

The gabbai’im of the chassidus, Rav Avraham Dovid Shechter and Rav Dov Berish Shtemer, explained that in recent times the established order has deteriorated during gatherings in the Sanzer court, at times reaching the level of an actual danger to life.

They wrote that with the blessing and authorization of the Sanzer Rebbe, the decision was made to establish a dedicated group of avreichim who will stand watch and clearly direct chassidim how to proceed during each occasion of passing before the Rebbe. The new system will operate in an organized and appropriate manner, with separate routes designated for avreichim and for bochurim.

According to the announcement, beginning this week—starting with the Shabbos night tish, as will be publicized—every individual has both the obligation and the merit to follow the instructions of the committee.

The gabbai’im emphasized that adherence to the new guidelines will help be mekadeish Sheim Shomayim, uphold the dignity of the Sanzer court, and show proper respect for others.

In their message, the gabbai’im cited Rashi’s commentary on the approach of Klal Yisroel at the time of Matan Torah. Rashi explains that the earlier approach was fitting and respectful, with the younger honoring the elders and allowing them to go first, and the elders honoring the leaders. In contrast, the Torah later describes a disorderly approach, in which the young pushed the elders and the elders pushed the leaders, a model the chassidus seeks to avoid.

{Matzav.com}

Rav Aryeh Aharon Yarom zt”l, a distinguished longtime talmid of Yeshivas Mir Yerushalayim and a resident of the Har Nof neighborhood, passed away on Shabbos morning at Maayanei Hayeshua Medical Center in Bnei Brak. He was 78.

Rav Yarom was born on 27 Elul 5707 to his father, Rav Yosef Yarom, and his mother, Tzipora. From a young age, he was devoted to Torah learning. In his youth, he studied at Yeshivas HaNegev in Netivot, where he was a talmid of the rosh yeshiva, Rav Yissachar Meir zt”l, from whom he absorbed his derech halimud.

Upon reaching marriage age, he married the daughter of Rav Yom Tov Chaim HaKohen Friedman. Together they established their home in Yerushalayim’s Har Nof neighborhood.

Following his marriage, Rav Yarom entered the beis medrash of Yeshivas Mir in Yerushalayim, where he remained immersed in Torah learning for more than five decades. He was counted among the senior avreichim of the yeshiva, known for his consistency and dedication to Torah and avodah.

For decades, Rav Yarom was meticulous to be among the first ten men at every tefillah in his shul, a practice he maintained with remarkable persistence.

He is survived by a large and distinguished family. His sons are Rav Avraham Yitzchak Yarom; Rav Nosson Tzvi Yarom, chairman of Machon Mishnas HaChafetz Chaim; Rav Yehoshua Chananel Yarom; and Rav Moshe Yarom. His sons-in-law include Rav Aharon Malach of Beit Vagan, Rav Betzalel Mendelson of Modiin Illit, and Rav Yitzchak Aryeh Deutsch of Yesodos. He also leaves behind many grandchildren.

The levayah took place on Motzoei Shabbos at the Shamgar funeral home in Yerushalayim, with kevurah on Har HaMenuchos.

Yehi zichro boruch.

SpaceX has decided to put its longer-term plans for Mars on hold and concentrate instead on returning to the moon, telling investors on Friday that lunar missions will take priority, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

Under the revised timeline, the company is aiming for March 2027 to carry out a moon landing mission that will not include astronauts, the report said.

Executives told investors that the company’s immediate emphasis is on advancing its Starship rocket and coordinating closely with NASA’s Artemis program. As part of that effort, SpaceX is developing a Human Landing System designed to transport astronauts to the lunar surface, marking humanity’s first return there since the Apollo era.

The shift underscores a mix of progress and pressure, reflecting advances made with Starship as well as the need to demonstrate concrete achievements in lunar exploration before pursuing more ambitious destinations such as Mars.

The update comes shortly after SpaceX agreed to acquire xAI in a transaction valuing the space company at $1 trillion and the artificial intelligence firm at $250 billion.

Elon Musk said last year that his goal was to launch an uncrewed mission to Mars by the end of 2026.

At the center of the company’s strategy is Starship, a massive stainless-steel rocket designed to be fully reusable and capable of supporting a wide range of missions, from lunar flights to eventual journeys to Mars.

The United States is also racing against growing competition from China to put astronauts back on the moon this decade, a destination that has not seen human visitors since the last Apollo mission in 1972.

Musk previously downplayed the importance of lunar missions, calling the moon a “distraction” and saying SpaceX was heading “straight to Mars.”

{Matzav.com}

Presidential adviser Dick Morris said today that a social media video portraying former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as monkeys was a serious error, describing it as both foolish and unintended, while pressing the Trump administration to take responsibility and quickly redirect attention to its record with minority voters.

Speaking on Saturday Report on Newsmax, Morris was blunt in his assessment of the video, saying, “It was obviously stupid. It was obviously a mistake. And the guy should be fired.”

The remarks came amid backlash over a clip that circulated on social media showing the Obamas depicted as monkeys, imagery that drew widespread condemnation as racist and offensive.

The episode sparked criticism and fueled debate over whether the Trump campaign and its allies are doing enough to prevent messaging that risks alienating minority communities.

When asked whether President Donald Trump’s team needs to respond more forcefully to such incidents and sharpen its overall messaging, Morris cautioned against allowing the controversy to overshadow what he characterized as Trump’s economic record.

“But let’s remember that Donald Trump has been incredible in the progress that’s gone on with both Black and Latino people,” Morris said.

He argued that the administration should use moments such as Black History Month to spotlight policy outcomes rather than allowing negative stories to dominate coverage.

“Their incomes have gone up,” Morris said. “The gap between the Black and white wages has closed. The minimum wage is increasing.”

Morris went on to add, “Clearly there has never been a president who has been as effective as Donald Trump is in ironing out the economic discrimination that had been holding Blacks and Latinos back.”

He concluded by urging the administration to keep the focus on those achievements, saying Trump “should celebrate that with Black History Month and not let the distraction attract the media’s attention.”

{Matzav.com}

 The Chateau at Schneller is a premier luxury residential project in Jerusalem’s historic Schneller area. Designed for high-end buyers seeking quality construction, comfortable living, and a prestigious Jerusalem address, The Chateau offers an elevated living experience in a central, developing neighborhood.

The building features thoughtfully designed apartments with upscale finishes, tailored to meet the needs of families and international buyers who spend time in Israel year-round. By blending classic architectural elements with modern conveniences, The Chateau provides both elegance and functionality for its residents.

Just minutes from Jerusalem’s key areas, The Chateau offers convenient access to shopping, shuls, and major city centers, while maintaining a sense of privacy and tranquility. The Schneller neighborhood has grown increasingly desirable thanks to its prime location, ongoing development, and rising demand for exceptional housing.

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A fugitive convicted of operating a large-scale marijuana cultivation and distribution operation has been captured in Mexico and returned to New Jersey to await sentencing, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced.

Jason Bacon, 43, formerly of Brick Township, was taken into custody by the United States Marshals Fugitive Task Force in Mexico on January 15, 2026. He was extradited to New Jersey on February 4, 2026, and is currently lodged in the Ocean County Jail, where he will remain detained pending sentencing on multiple drug- and financial-related convictions.

The case originated with an investigation that began in December 2017 by the Clayton Township (Gloucester County) Police Department after authorities discovered a large greenhouse constructed behind a vacant residence on Delsea Drive in Clayton Township. Investigators determined the property was consuming unusually high amounts of water and electricity and had received large freight deliveries consistent with illegal marijuana cultivation. Public records revealed the residence was owned by Bacon, who also maintained a home in Brick Township.

On April 26, 2018, law enforcement officers executed court-authorized search warrants at properties in Clayton Township and Brick Township. During the searches, detectives seized more than 25 pounds of marijuana, over five pounds of hashish and hashish products, marijuana plants, cultivation paraphernalia, and a loaded .25-caliber handgun. Bacon was arrested at the Brick Township residence and transported to the Ocean County Jail. Although initially ordered detained, he was later released in April 2019 as a result of New Jersey Bail Reform.

A subsequent financial investigation revealed that between 2013 and 2018, Bacon deposited more than $400,000 in illicit proceeds from illegal narcotics sales into his bank account. Authorities also determined that he failed to pay income taxes on this illegal income.

Bacon’s trial commenced on January 14, 2025, before the Honorable Guy P. Ryan, P.J.Cr.P. Bacon failed to appear for trial, which proceeded in his absence. On January 30, 2025, a jury found him guilty of two counts of Maintaining a Controlled Dangerous Substance Facility; Possession of More than 25 Pounds of Marijuana with Intent to Distribute; Possession of More than Five Pounds of Hashish with Intent to Distribute; Possession of More than Five Pounds but Less than 25 Pounds of Marijuana with Intent to Distribute; two counts of Possession of More than Fifty Grams of Marijuana; Possession of More than Five Grams of Hashish; Possession of Cocaine; Possession of a Firearm During a Controlled Dangerous Substance Offense; Financial Facilitation; and four counts of Failure to File Income Tax Returns and Pay Income Tax.

Bacon is scheduled to be sentenced before Judge Ryan on April 17, 2026.