President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a memorandum ordering the withdrawal of U.S. support for 66 organizations, agencies, and commissions, including 31 UN organizations.
Many of the organizations are designated to “woke” or “diversity-related” issues, such as the UN Forum on People of African Descent and the UN treaty that establishes international climate negotiations
“The Trump Administration has found these institutions to be redundant in their scope, mismanaged, unnecessary, wasteful, poorly run, captured by the interests of actors advancing their own agendas contrary to our own, or a threat to our nation’s sovereignty, freedoms, and general prosperity,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Undercover officers from the Yaffo police district overnight Wednesday arrested an illegal infiltrator from Chevron who posed as a Walt delivery courier and tore down and stole dozens of mezuzahs from many buildings in the Yaffo and Bat Yam area.
Over the past month, the police emergency center received numerous reports of the theft of mezuzahs.
Following the reports, the Yaffo police officer opened a covert investigation, using advanced technological and intelligence means.
As the investigation progressed and evidence was gathered, operational activity combined with intelligence efforts led to the identification of the suspect who posed as a Wolt courier to carry out his nefarious acts.
The police ambushed the suspect in an abandoned building in Yaffo. After arresting him and an accomplice, they seized findings that linked him to the offenses attributed to him.
Shas MK Yoni Mashriki sent a letter to Defense Minister Yisrael Katz on Wednesday decrying the conditions that some Chareidi detainees are being held in at Prison 10, with their most basic nutritional needs and religious rights neglected.
MK Mashriki visited the prison on Tuesday and met with three yeshiva bochurim who raised serious complaints about their lack of access to food that meets their kashrus standards, saying they weren’t provided with Mehadrin food for three days in a row despite their repeated requests.
MK Mashriki emphasized in his appeal that the situation is unacceptable and constitutes a violation of the detainees’ rights. He noted that the right to food is a fundamental right anchored in the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, which guarantees the protection of every person’s life and dignity. Mashriki also cited the Supreme Court’s ruling that the state is obligated to hold detainees in appropriate conditions, including providing food in quantities and composition appropriate for maintaining their health and dignity.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday announced that his government will establish a royal commission into the Bondi Beach massacre that will also examine antisemitism in the country.
Albanese, who initially expressed strong opposition to the establishment of a royal commission, caved into heavy pressure and scathing criticism of his lack of response to surging antisemitism in the country from the Jewish community, senior public officials, and much of the public.
Earlier this week, over 60 prominent sports figures in the country, including Olympic competitors, called on Albanese to establish a royal inquiry, writing that the situation constituted “a national crisis requiring a national response.”
A healthy two-month-old infant has died of influenza, the Israel Ministry of Health reported Wednesday, marking the sixth pediatric death linked to the flu this year.
The infant, a resident of northern Israel, was too young to receive a flu vaccination.
“Even though at this age a child cannot be vaccinated, vaccination of the people in the child’s environment and who come in contact with him provides a certain measure of protection,” the health ministry said in a statement, urging the broader public to be immunized.
Health officials noted that while the flu vaccine does not prevent infection in all cases, it significantly reduces the severity of illness for most people. The vaccine is available free of charge at health clinics nationwide.
An anti-Zionist activist group that has previously drawn condemnation for protests outside shuls abruptly canceled a planned demonstration Wednesday evening targeting an Israel-related immigration event in New York City.
The group, Pal-Awda, announced earlier this week that it intended to protest a Nefesh B’Nefesh event scheduled for Wednesday night, but did not disclose the location. Less than an hour before the demonstration was set to begin, Pal-Awda said the protest had been canceled. The Nefesh B’Nefesh event itself proceeded as planned.
Heightened political tension followed the conclusion Wednesday night of a meeting of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudas Yisroel (Admorim) in Yerushalayim, as no official decision was released regarding support for the proposed military draft law.
The gathering, held at the Belz Chassidus’ Beis Malka halls on Brandeis Street, lasted approximately an hour and a half and ended without a formal resolution after the departure of the Gerrer and Belzer Rebbes. In an unusual move, Chareidi Knesset members were not permitted to enter the session.
Arriving shortly after 9:00 p.m., leading Chassidic Rebbes participated in the meeting, including the Admorim of Gur, Belz, Vizhnitz, Sanz, Boyan, Seret-Vizhnitz, and Modzitz.
The Slonimer Rebbe did not attend in person and instead sent a letter that was read aloud during the session. The Biala Rebbe was absent due to his stay in the United States.
A prominent researcher long embraced by Jewish organizations and bipartisan policymakers for exposing online antisemitism now finds himself in the crosshairs of the Trump administration, in a case critics say exposes deep contradictions in Washington’s stated commitment to fighting hate.
Imran Ahmed, the British-born founder of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), said he was stunned when the State Department announced in late December that it was revoking visas for digital anti-hate activists over what Secretary of State Marco Rubio described as “egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship.” Though Ahmed was not named in the formal announcement, a senior State Department official later singled him out on social media as a “key collaborator” in alleged government overreach.
Former Jerusalem mayor and ba’al chessed Rabbi Uri Lupolianski z”l was niftar at the age of 74 on Wednesday night. He had been hospitalized approximately two weeks earlier at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem for severe breathing issues related to pneumonia.
In his youth, he studied at Yeshivas Torah Ohr in Yerushalyim under the Rosh Yeshiva, Hagaon HaRav Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg ZT”L, and later at Yeshivas HaNegev in Netivos.
He was a close confidant of Maran HaGaon Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv ZT”L. The historic and widely noted meeting between Maran Rav Shach ZT”L and Maran Rav Elyashiv ZT”L took place at the offices of Yad Sarah.
In 1976, Rabbi Lupolianski founded the Yad Sarah organization to help the elderly and disabled. The organization is named for his Polish grandmother, who was murdered in the Holocaust. It lends out medical equipment and supplies a variety of services to the sick, elderly and lonely. Yad Sarah has a network of 6,000 volunteers working out of 96 branches, and serves all sectors of the population
A new investigative documentary has uncovered a disturbing and unprecedented case: a young Jewish woman from Israel who ultimately found herself in Syria at the heart of the ISIS terror organization.
The revelation comes from the premiere episode of “Ashraf Marwan – Alias”, which aired Tuesday night on Channel 14 and was produced with the support of the Shomron Film Fund. While the series focuses on the controversial Dar al-Salam Islamic center in Kafr Qara, it also exposes a harrowing personal story that raises urgent questions about radicalization, oversight, and ideological influence inside Israel.
According to the investigation, the woman—whose identity is being withheld for privacy reasons—was born Jewish and lived in one of Israel’s major cities. In 2013, she converted to Islam in the office of Akrima Sabri, a cleric long accused of extremist incitement, on Har Habayis. Video footage revealed in the series shows that the conversion was conducted by Sheikh Rassan Atamna, founder of the Dar al-Salam center in Kafr Qara, who has since died.
Overpowering Speaker Mike Johnson, a bipartisan coalition in the House voted Wednesday to push forward a measure that would revive an enhanced pandemic-era subsidy that lowered health insurance costs for roughly 22 million people, but that had expired last month.
The tally of 221-205 was a key test before passage of the bill, which is expected Thursday. And it came about because four GOP centrist lawmakers joined with Democrats in signing a so-called discharge petition to force the vote. After last year’s government shutdown failed to resolve the issue, they said doing nothing was not an option as many of their constituents faced soaring health insurance premiums beginning this month.
Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, one of the Republicans who crossed party lines to back the Democratic proposal, portrayed it as a vehicle senators could use to reach a compromise.
An 11-month-old baby girl from a community near Jerusalem is in critical condition after contracting measles, amid concern about declining vaccination rates and the return of a disease once considered largely under control.
The infant is being treated in the pediatric intensive care unit at Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center, where hospital officials said she was placed on life support after her condition deteriorated. According to the hospital, the child had been treated at home for several days before being rushed to the emergency room late Tuesday night.
“This is a severe and completely preventable illness,” said Dr. Uri Pollak, head of Hadassah’s pediatric cardiac critical care unit. “I once again urge all parents to vaccinate their children against measles and to follow the Health Ministry’s guidelines to prevent severe and life-threatening disease.”
Senator Lindsey Graham warned on Tuesday that if Donald Trump’s administration determines that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei continues lethal repression of demonstrators, the president could order a direct strike against him.
Graham, a Republican from South Carolina and close ally of Trump, made the remarks on Fox News, urging Tehran’s clerical leadership to “take Trump seriously” as nationwide unrest enters its eleventh day. “If you keep killing your people who are demanding a better life, Donald J. Trump is going to kill you,” Graham said, directly addressing Iran’s leadership in the interview.
Graham also invoked the U.S. operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, describing it as an example of American resolve and suggesting Tehran should view that action as a cautionary precedent.
Newly released state data has revealed that Israel is currently holding 1,287 Gazan detainees in prisons and detention centers under the controversial Law for Incarcerating Illegal Combatants, months after active hostilities formally ceased.
The figures were submitted this week to Israel’s High Court of Justice in response to a petition filed by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, which is challenging the continued use of the 2002 law. According to the data, at least 41 Gazans have been detained under the statute since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect on October 10, 2025, raising questions about the scope and duration of post-war detentions.
Of those currently incarcerated, 1,239 detainees are being held in facilities operated by the Israel Prison Service, while 48 are held in military detention centers under the authority of the Israel Defense Forces.
HaGaon HaRav Shlomo Yedidya Zafrani, Av Beis Din of Kesser Torah, a Rosh Kollel in Yeshivas Tiferes Shraga, and the Rosh Yeshivah of a yeshivah ketanah in Har Nof, spoke words of chizzuk to Bnei Torah in an interview with Kol Chai host Betzalel Kahn on Tuesday
“We’re beginning to read [in the Parsha] about the descent to Mitzrayim, about Galus and Geulah,” the Rosh Yeshivah began. “The entire purpose of going down to Mitzrayim was—’When you take the people out of Mitzrayim, you will serve Hashem on this mountain.’ We went down into the iron furnace not for the spoils of silver and gold, but in order to receive the Torah.”
He added that the question of how Avraham Avinu remained silent regarding the decree of Galus, while he stood and argued for Sodom and Amorah, is answered by the words of the Zohar: “The Dor Hambul was supposed to be the generation that received the Torah, but ‘all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth.’ Therefore we went down to Egypt to rectify this, and the ‘great wealth’ is the redemption of speech—Pesach, peh‑sach (the mouth that speaks). When there is speech, there is Torah.”
Iran’s army chief threatened preemptive military action Wednesday over the “rhetoric” targeting the Islamic Republic, likely referring to U.S. President Donald Trump’s warning that if Tehran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States “will come to their rescue.”
The comments by Maj. Gen. Amir Hatami come as Iran tries to respond to what it sees as a dual threat posed by Israel and the United States, as well as the protests sparked by its economic woes that have grown into a direct challenge to its theocracy.
Seeking to halt the anger, Iran’s government began Wednesday paying the equivalent of $7 a month to subsidize rising costs for dinner table essentials like rice, meat and pastas. Shopkeepers warn prices for items as basic as cooking oil likely will triple under pressure from the collapse of Iran’s rial currency and the end of a preferential subsidized dollar-rial exchange rate for importers and manufacturers — likely fueling further popular anger.
Otzma Yehudit MK Amichai Eliyahu published a post on Facebook in response to former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak, who claimed in a speech at an anti-government protest in Tel Aviv on Motzei Shabbos that “Israel is no longer a liberal democracy.”
Eliyahu wrote, “The truth is, Mr. Barak, you are absolutely right. Israel indeed stopped being a liberal democracy—but not yesterday, and not because of the current government. Israel ceased to be a liberal democracy 30 years ago, on the day you, Mr. Barak, created what you grandly called ‘the constitutional revolution.’ That was the day you decided—without a mandate from the people, without Knesset approval, and without any democratic process—that you and your judicial elite would become the true sovereigns of the state.”
An urgent and extraordinary gathering of Gedolei Yisroel was convened on Sunday at the initiative of the Rosh Yeshiva of South Fallsburg, Rav Elya Ber Wachtfogel, to confront what was described as a growing and existential spiritual danger posed by the unchecked use of open artificial intelligence technologies.
The meeting took place at the Ateres Chana/Bais Faiga Hall in Lakewood and brought together senior roshei yeshiva, Admorim, dayanim, and rabbonim representing Litvish, Chassidish, and Sephardic kehillos. Over the course of several hours, the Gedolim engaged in in-depth discussion regarding the spiritual, emotional, and communal risks associated with AI, with particular concern focused on AI chat services that are accessible even through standard home and cell phones.
An anti-Zionist activist group that drew widespread condemnation after staging a hostile protest outside a Manhattan shul in November is planning two new demonstrations this week, setting up an early test for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and his fledgling administration.
The group, Pal-Awda, announced that it will protest two Israel-related events in the coming days: a Nefesh B’Nefesh gathering scheduled for Wednesday and an Israel real-estate event on Thursday. The organization said it will reveal the locations only on the day of the protests.
Pal-Awda previously organized a protest in November outside Park East Synagogue, where Nefesh B’Nefesh was hosting an event. During that rally, demonstrators shouted threats and antisemitic slurs at attendees, prompting outrage from Jewish leaders and elected officials.
A federal officer shot and killed a Minneapolis motorist when she allegedly tried to run over law enforcement officers during an immigration crackdown in the city, authorities said Wednesday.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot the woman in her vehicle in a residential neighborhood in Minneapolis, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
The shooting marks a dramatic escalation of the latest in a series of immigration enforcement operations in major American cities under the Trump administration. It’s at least the fifth person killed in a handful of states since 2024.
The twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have been on edge since DHS announced Tuesday that it had launched the operation, with 2,000 agents and officers expected to participate in the crackdown tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents.
State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman’s report published on Tuesday exposed alarming government failures during emergencies, as evident in the war following the October 7 massacre.
Audits across dozens of local authorities and ministries revealed systemic breakdowns at every level. Critical systems—from health and security to education and mental health—failed to function properly and left citizens without proper support.
Public shelters
Nearly one-third of Israel’s population still lacks adequate protection from missile attacks. According to the report, as of early 2025, approximately 3.2 million people—33.6% of Israel’s residents—do not have access to standard protective shelters. This includes 42,575 residents living in high-risk areas, in communities 7 to 20 kilometers (4 to 12 miles) from the Gaza border. In addition, about 11.7% of public shelters across the country are deemed unfit for use.
U.S. forces have seized two sanctioned oil tankers with ties to both Russia and Venezuela in the North Atlantic, officials and news outlets reported Wednesday morning.
One vessel, now sailing under the Russian flag as the Marinera and formerly known as Bella-1, was intercepted after eluding a U.S. blockade of sanctioned oil shipments near Venezuela for more than two weeks. United States Coast Guard and military personnel boarded the tanker in international waters, according to an anonymous U.S. official. The operation came after the ship refused a U.S. Coast Guard boarding attempt in Caribbean waters in December and subsequently changed course and identity to avoid capture.
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The al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, has reportedly resumed coordinated searches alongside the International Committee of the Red Cross for the body of Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili HY”D in eastern Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, according to Palestinian media reports.
Footage circulating from the area shows armed Hamas operatives operating in the vicinity, with Red Cross vehicles and heavy machinery, including bulldozers, visible at the scene as the search effort continues.
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Notably absent from the operation are members of the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). PIJ terrorists were responsible for capturing Gvili’s body after he was killed while heroically defending Kibbutz Alumim during the Hamas-led massacre and invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023 — the attack that ignited the ongoing war in Gaza.
President Donald Trump’s administration said Tuesday that it is withholding funding for programs that support needy families with children in five Democratic-led states over concerns about fraud.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the program, will require the states to provide extra documentation to access the funds.
“Families who rely on child care and family assistance programs deserve confidence that these resources are used lawfully and for their intended purpose,” HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill said in a statement.
The administration has not laid out details about the fraud allegations.
HHS said in a statement evening that it “identified concerns that these benefits intended for American citizens and lawful residents may have been improperly provided to individuals who are not eligible under federal law.”
Former Jerusalem mayor and ba’al chessed Rabbi Uri Lupolianski is currently in critical condition after being hospitalized about two weeks ago at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem.
His family and Yad Sarah released a statement saying, “Rav Uri Lupolianski is in critical condition and needs our tefillos. The name for tefillah is Uri ben Malka—and that all chasadim should be in his zechus.”
Rabbi Lupolianski, 74, known for dedicating his life to easing the suffering of the ill and those with disabilities, was hospitalized after suffering from severe pneumonia that caused severe breathing difficulties.
Rabbi Lupolianski founded and headed the famed Yad Sarah organization. He launched the chessed project in a small apartment, and over the years it grew into a vast network serving millions of people and earning international recognition. He later made history as the first Chareidi representative elected to serve as mayor of Jerusalem, a role in which he worked tirelessly for the city’s development and the welfare of all its residents.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement Wednesday morning following the tragic petirah of a yeshiva bochur who was R”L killed during disturbances in Jerusalem, an incident that has sent shockwaves through the Torah world.
“I feel deep pain over the death of the dear Yeshiva student, Yosef Eisenthal, of blessed memory, who was struck and killed yesterday during a protest in Jerusalem,” Netanyahu said.
The Prime Minister stated that authorities will conduct a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the tragedy. “The circumstances of this tragic disaster will be fully investigated in order to learn all necessary insights and lessons,” he said.
Netanyahu also expressed condolences to the grieving family, who are now sitting in deep mourning over the sudden loss of their son. “I send my deepest condolences to the Eisenthal family,” he said.
New details emerged on Wednesday about the ramming incident that occurred last night during a Chareidi demonstration in Jerusalem, in which Yosef Eisenthal, z’l, 14, was killed.
Footage shows dozens of Chareidi youth surrounding the bus and preventing the driver from moving, including banging on his windshield. The bus driver called the police to report the attack.
But then, the driver accelerated at full force, plowing into the bochurim, dragging two of them under his wheel, and then turning into another street, running over Eisenthal, z’l, and then continuing driving for several meters.
Dubi Cohen said, “There were masses of bochurim in front of him. He simply flung large numbers of them away. I saw two bochurim being dragged under the wheels.”
New details emerged on Wednesday about the ramming incident that occurred last night during a Chareidi demonstration in Jerusalem, in which Yosef Eisenthal, z’l, 14, was killed.
Footage shows dozens of Chareidi youth surrounding the bus and preventing the driver from moving, including banging on his windshield. The bus driver called the police to report the attack.
But then, the driver accelerated at full force, plowing into the bochurim, dragging two of them under his wheel, and then turning into another street, running over Eisenthal, z’l, and then continuing driving for several meters.
Dubi Cohen said, “There were masses of bochurim in front of him. He simply flung large numbers of them away. I saw two bochurim being dragged under the wheels.”
The killing of a Chareidi boy, Yosef Eisenthal, z’l, who was run over by an Arab bus driver during a protest against the Chareidi draft law on Tuesday evening, was met with shock and consternation.
Shas chairman, MK Aryeh Deri, spoke on Tuesday evening with the Police Commissioner, Chief Superintendent Danny Levy, and demanded “to act with full determination to get to the truth and to bring the driver who ran him over to justice.”
Commissioner Levy said during the conversation that “the driver was immediately arrested and transferred for questioning; the police are treating the incident with the full severity of the law.”
The chairman of Degel HaTorah, MK Moshe Gafni, said on Tuesday in response to the incident. “The incident of the running over and killing of the boy at the demonstration in Jerusalem is shocking to the depths of the soul. We demand that the driver be brought to justice and punished with the full severity of the law. One cannot move on from such a horrifying act of killing.”
The levaya of Chaim Yosef Eisenthal, z’l, 14, who was murdered on Tuesday evening after being run over by an Arab bus driver at a rally against the draft law in Jerusalem, began on Wednesday at 1 p.m. at the Beis Medrash of the Ohel Torah yeshivah in the Ramot Daled neighborhood of Jerusalem, where the niftar learned.
The kevurah will take place at Har Hamenuchos.
Yosef, z’l, was the son of Rav Shmuel Eisenthal, a maggid shiur at the “Ohel Torah–Ponevezh” Yeshiva in the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem (where Yosef learned).
The levaya of Chaim Yosef Eisenthal, z’l, 14, who was murdered on Tuesday evening after being run over by an Arab bus driver at a rally against the draft law in Jerusalem, began on Wednesday at 1 p.m. at the Beis Medrash of the Ohel Torah yeshivah in the Ramot Daled neighborhood of Jerusalem, where the niftar learned.
The kevurah will take place at Har Hamenuchos.
Yosef, z’l, was the son of Rav Shmuel Eisenthal, a maggid shiur at the “Ohel Torah–Ponevezh” Yeshiva in the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem (where Yosef learned).
In recent weeks, Major (res.) Dovi Yudkin has been exposing the abuse of Chareidim in military prison, the lack of even the most basic accommodations for Chareidi soldiers, and the astonishing reality that the IDF has no need for Chareidi soldiers, as evident by the fact that hundreds of thousands of reservists have not been called up since October 7.
Speaking in an interview with Kol Chai, Yudkin, a combat officer who has served for hundreds of days since the war began after October 7, said, “The Chareidi conscription story is inciteful political nonsense.”
“I’ve received testimony about clear cases of harassment and abuse of Chareidi deserters,” Yudkin said. He recounted one particularly troubling incident involving a young father from Bnei Brak who voluntarily turned himself in to enlist—only to be thrown into prison under severe psychological pressure, without proper medical attention or legal representation.
Thousands of Iranians poured back into the streets Tuesday as the country’s largest protest movement in years surged into its 10th day, with a government announcement of a token monthly cash payment instead intensifying public fury rather than easing it.
Demonstrations erupted across Iran after officials revealed that roughly 80 million eligible citizens would receive 10 million Iranian rials per month—worth about $7.70 at real exchange rates—in what authorities called an emergency stimulus to blunt the impact of inflation and a collapsing currency. The announcement was widely mocked by protesters struggling to afford food, rent, and basic necessities.
Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Monajerani announced the plan on state television, saying the payments would be delivered by direct deposit as credits usable for essential household goods to help “reduce the economic pressure on the people.” But on the streets, the announcement was seen as a provocation.
Moshe Radman, one of the leaders of the pre-October 7 protests against the Netanyahu government, announced on Tuesday that he is joining The Democrats party, headed by Yair Golan.
Before the October 7 massacre, Radman vowed to destroy Israel’s economy in order to bring down the government and also encouraged IDF refusal.
Other leaders of the leftist protests are also joining the party, including Ami Dror, who was investigated by police on suspicion of incitement after calling to “erase Netanyahu’s memory” and who claimed that Israel is intentionally starving Gaza.
A pro-Hamas arson attack targeted the home of Andreas Büttner, the commissioner for combating antisemitism in the German state of Brandenburg.
German authorities confirmed that assailants set fire to a shed on Büttner’s property Sunday in the town of Templin, roughly 43 miles north of Berlin. The attackers also spray-painted an inverted red triangle—a symbol widely associated with Hamas—near the residence.
Büttner’s family was inside the home at the time of the attack, which marked the second incident targeting him in the past 16 months. His vehicle was previously vandalized with swastikas.
The inverted red triangle has emerged as a calling card of support for Hamas, particularly since the group’s October 7, 2023 massacre in southern Israel. In Gaza, the symbol has been used to mark Israeli military targets. In Europe and the United States, it has increasingly appeared at anti-Israel demonstrations and on social media, alarming Jewish communities and security officials.
A Likud lawmaker openly urged American conservatives to turn on two of the most influential figures in the U.S. right-wing media ecosystem, warning that their rhetoric represents not just antisemitism, but a direct threat to Western civilization itself.
In a speech at the Knesset, Dan Illouz, a Canadian-born member of Israel’s ruling Likud party, called on American conservatives to reject Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, accusing both of poisoning the conservative movement with ideas he says are indistinguishable from the radical left.
In remarks that were unusually blunt for a sitting Israeli lawmaker speaking about U.S. media figures, Illouz described them as “a new enemy rising from within” the West.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday on his social media site that “Interim Authorities” in Venezuela would be selling 30 million to 50 million barrels of “High Quality” oil to the U.S. at its market price.
“I have asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan, immediately,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “It will be taken by storage ships, and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States.”
Trump said the money would be controlled by him as president but it would be used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States.
Separately, the White House is organizing an Oval Office meeting Friday with oil company executives regarding Venezuela, with representatives of Exxon, Chevron and ConocoPhillips expected to attend, according to a person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss the plans.
Public support in Israel for a state commission of inquiry into the failures surrounding Hamas’s October 7 attack has declined noticeably over the past year, while backing for a politically appointed investigative body has grown, according to new polling released by the Israel Democracy Institute.
The institute’s monthly Israeli Voice Index for December 2025 found that 55% of Israelis still support the establishment of a state commission of inquiry, Israel’s highest and most independent investigative authority. However, that figure represents a drop of 9.5 percentage points since January 2025 and a decline of 12 points compared to July 2024.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar visited Somaliland’s capital, Hargeisa, on Tuesday, meeting with senior leaders of the self-declared state following Israel’s decision to recognize Somaliland as an independent and sovereign country.
Sa’ar met with Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, as well as Foreign Minister Abdirahman Dahir Adam, Presidential Affairs Minister Hader Hussein Abdi, and Chief of Staff Nimsan Yusuf Osman, according to a statement from Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
During joint remarks in Hargeisa, Sa’ar defended Israel’s recognition of Somaliland, drawing a pointed contrast between Somaliland and other disputed entities.
“Unlike ‘Palestine,’ Somaliland is not a virtual state,” Sa’ar said. “It’s a functioning state. Somaliland is a fully functioning country based on the principles of international law.”
A deadly tragedy unfolded Tuesday afternoon in Yerushalayim, when a bus plowed into a group of Chareidi protesters during a large anti-draft demonstration, killing at least one person and injuring several others.
The incident occurred at the intersection of Yirmiyahu and Shamgar streets, where members of the Eida HaChareidis had gathered for a hafganah protesting military conscription.
Emergency medical personnel rushed to the scene and began treating victims immediately. While several demonstrators suffered light to moderate injuries, one 14-year-old bochur, Yosef Eisenthal z”l, became trapped under the bus and was tragically niftar at the scene.
The bus driver was detained by police at the scene. It is believed that the bus driver was trying to escape protestors who were harassing him when the tragedy occurred, and had not intended to hurt anyone.
President Donald Trump told Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough that the key difference between the United States’ intervention in Venezuela and America’s disastrous war in Iraq is simple: this time, the United States plans to keep the oil.
Scarborough revealed the exchange on Tuesday while opening MSNBC’s Morning Joe, describing multiple recent conversations with Donald Trump following the surprise U.S. military operation that led to the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
The U.S. action, carried out by Delta Force early Saturday, capped months of American strikes on vessels the administration said were involved in drug trafficking. Maduro was taken into U.S. custody in an operation Trump officials have described as swift and decisive.
A deadly tragedy unfolded Tuesday afternoon in Yerushalayim, when a bus plowed into a group of Chareidi protesters during a large anti-draft demonstration, killing at least one person and injuring several others.
The incident occurred at the intersection of Yirmiyahu and Shamgar streets, where members of the Eida HaChareidis had gathered for a hafganah protesting military conscription.
Emergency medical personnel rushed to the scene and began treating victims immediately. While several demonstrators suffered light to moderate injuries, one 14-year-old bochur, Yosef Eisenthal z”l, became trapped under the bus and was tragically niftar at the scene.
The bus driver was detained by police at the scene. It is believed that the bus driver was trying to escape protestors who were harassing him when the tragedy occurred, and had not intended to hurt anyone.
Republican Doug LaMalfa, a seven-term U.S. representative from California and a reliable vote on President Donald Trump’s agenda, has died, reducing the GOP’s narrow control of the House. He was 65.
A former state lawmaker and rice farmer, LaMalfa had more than a dozen years in Congress, where he regularly helped GOP leaders open the House floor and frequently gave speeches. His death, confirmed by Majority Whip Tom Emmer and National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Richard Hudson, trims the Republicans’ margin of control of the House to 218 seats to Democrats’ 213.
Trump expressed “tremendous sorrow” over LaMalfa’s death on Tuesday as he addressed a meeting of House Republicans, lamenting the loss of a lawmaker he championed as an ally for his agenda.
Ahmed al-Ahmed, who heroically disarmed a terrorist during the Bondi Massacre, and Rabbi Yehoram Ulman, of Chabad of Bondi, prayed for humanity at the Ohel, the Rebbe’s resting place, in Queens, New York, this morning.
Ahmed al-Ahmed was one of the many heroes during the horrific attack on December 14th. The 43-year-old Syrian- born Muslim was standing near the northern edge of Archer Park, where he came for coffee. When the shooting began, he charged the terrorist from behind. He wrestled the rifle away despite being shot five times.
The trip is an opportunity to share appreciation for Ahmed, whose heroic conduct was a direct expression of his belief that G-d placed him at the scene for a reason, and gave him the strength to save innocent lives.
One of the Islamic Republic’s most powerful economic and political symbols erupted into open confrontation on Tuesday, as protesters clashed with security forces inside the Tehran Grand Bazaar, prompting authorities to fire tear gas and shutter large swaths of the centuries-old marketplace.
Witnesses said demonstrators staged a sit-in inside the bazaar — long regarded as the regime’s economic backbone and a historic engine of revolution — before riot police moved in to forcibly disperse the crowd. By afternoon, the normally bustling market was largely closed, an unmistakable sign of escalating unrest as Iran’s currency plunged to a record low.
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The clash marks a dangerous new phase in weeks of nationwide demonstrations fueled by economic collapse, inflation, and deepening public anger. Activists outside Iran say at least 35 people have been killed in protest-related violence so far, with more than 1,200 detained as security forces struggle to contain unrest spreading across major cities.
HaGaon HaRav Ben Zion Mutzafi visited the residence of HaGaon HaRav Moshe Sternbuch ahead of the protest against the Chareidi draft law to request his bracha and described the fears of Sephardi families regarding the draft decree.
HaRav Mutzafi said, “They want the Rav to give a bracha that everyone should come to the rally.” HaRav Shternbuch replied, “Halevai that everyone comes to the rally and that the Shem Shamayim be sanctified. Compromises don’t succeed. When they see that it didn’t work for them, they continue trying—they don’t rest.”
Rav Mutzafi added, “There are Sephardi families who are somewhat weak, and they have sons who are truly gold and precious gems, and they want to draft their children.”
The stunning fall of Venezuela’s longtime strongman has triggered an unexpected diplomatic subplot: an exiled opposition leader publicly crediting President Donald Trump with a moral victory she says reshapes the meaning of her own Nobel Peace Prize.
Speaking Monday night on Fox News, Venezuela opposition figure María Corina Machado hailed the Trump administration’s capture of Nicolás Maduro as a historic turning point and said she would be willing to personally give Trump her Nobel Peace Prize — an award she argues he has earned through action.
“January 3 will go down in history as the day justice defeated tyranny,” Machado told host Sean Hannity. “It’s a milestone — not only for the Venezuelan people and our future, but for humanity, for freedom and human dignity.”
Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday unveiled a sweeping legislative proposal aimed squarely at Israel’s most volatile political and societal fault line: military service and the government’s push to advance a draft-exemption law for chareidim.
Bennett announced what he termed the “servicemembers’ law,” a comprehensive benefits package for soldiers and reservists that he framed as both a moral corrective and an economic reset. The proposal comes as the current coalition continues efforts to legislate broad exemptions for the chareidi public, a move that has drawn intense backlash amid the ongoing war and unprecedented strain on Israel’s reserve forces.
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Dr. Dan Diker, a Middle East, counterterrorism, and national security analyst and the president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, spoke to Arutz Sheva about Venezuela’s contribution to anti-Israel terror.
“The world paid attention to Venezuela’s significant involvement in global terrorism and global drug trafficking, and now, it is all coming out,” he said. “Hugo Chavez and Maduro were responsible for billions in terror funding from Iran. They represent the Iranian regime. Senior Iranian officials don’t need a visa to enter Venezuela and automatically receive Venezuelan citizenship.”
He stressed that Venezuela is not only an extension of Iran in South America but also serves as a transit point for terror to all of Latin America.
Diker noted the Hezbollah bombings of the Israeli embassy and AMAI in Argentina in 1992 and 1994. “Venezuela inherited and advanced this terrorism through Hugo Chavez and later through Maduro. They continue to support Iranian terrorism through Hezbollah and Iran’s other satellites. They finance terrorism on the Brazil-Argentina-Paraguay border triangle. Venezuela is the agent for transporting terrorism from there and from the north, since Venezuela is the northernmost country in South America.”
Jerusalem Police are preparing for a protest against the Chareidi draft law at the Bar Ilan area in Jerusalem scheduled at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
The protest is being held by the Eidah HaChareidis and some of the smaller Chassidish courts. At least one of the Sephardi Gedolim, HaGaon HaRav Ben Tzion Mutzafi, has also called on his talmidim to attend the protest.
Hundreds of police and Border Guard forces will be deployed to the area to maintain public order and the safety of all participants and city residents, as well as to direct traffic in the area.
The protest, coordinated in advance with the police, will take place in the Bar Ilan Street area and the streets leading to it, and in accordance with the outline set with the protest organizers.
Changes in traffic arrangements:
HaGaon HaRav Dov Landau delivered a shiur at Wolfson Yeshiva in Jerusalem on Monday evening and addressed the judicial system’s distorted and evil motivations for persecuting lomdei Torah.
“There are misguided Jews who followed various ideological forms of idolatry,” the Rosh Yeshiva said. “Many placed their faith in the authorities of the state with all kinds of false beliefs. There were those who thought that the judges of the courts were supposedly guided by truth, along with all kinds of fabrications and false tales about their integrity and trustworthiness.”
“Now even the last of those who believed in them have seen that they are no different than the —lies, jealousy, desire and kavod are their daily bread. Their mouths speak falsehood, and their right hand is a right hand of deceit.”
Firefighters responded to a blaze Monday afternoon at an apartment complex under construction on Cedarview Avenue in Lakewood. The fire occurred at one of the new residential buildings being developed for BMG’s talmidim.
BMG told Lakewood Alerts the fire occurred at approximately 3:00 p.m. and was related to ongoing construction. The damage was limited to a small number of units, and remediation and repair work began shortly after the fire was brought under control.
“Boruch Hashem, there were no injuries,” BMG said in its statement. “The damage was contained to just a few units and crews are already working on the necessary remediation and repairs.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security accused Hilton Hotels on Monday of refusing service to federal law enforcement officers, alleging that the hotel chain abruptly canceled room reservations made by DHS personnel using official government email addresses.
In a statement posted to its official X account, DHS said Hilton had launched what it described as a “coordinated campaign” in Minneapolis to deny accommodations to DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. The department shared screenshots of email correspondence that it said came from Hilton representatives, including one message stating, “We are not allowing any ICE or immigration agents to stay at our property.”
On Motzei Shabbos, I flew to Israel from Newark on an 11:35 p.m. one-way flight. After being expelled from my graduate program in Florida for speaking out against the administration’s lackadaisical response to antisemitism on campus, I made the decision to return to yeshiva.
I spent Shabbos with friends in Washington Heights and left around 8 p.m. to head to Port Authority and catch the Newark Express bus. Since I was going for an extended stay, I was traveling with two large suitcases, a carry-on, and a backpack—not an easy shlep by any measure.
At the 191st Street subway station, a yid stepped into the elevator with me. He asked where I was headed, and when I told him I was going to Israel, he immediately pulled out a dollar to give me as a shliach mitzvah. I then asked if he could help me get one of my bags onto the train. He did so gladly, thanking me for giving him the opportunity to do a mitzvah.
U.S. flu infections surged over the holidays, and health officials are calling it a severe season that is likely to get worse.
New government data posted Monday — for flu activity through the week of the Dec. 25 federal holiday — showed that by some measures this season is already surpassing the flu epidemic of last winter, one of the harshest in recent history.
The data was released the same day that the Trump administration said it will no longer recommend flu shots and some other types of vaccines for all children.
Forty-five states were reporting high or very high flu activity during the week of Christmas, up from 30 states the week before.
The higher numbers appear to be driven by the type of flu that’s been spreading, public health experts say.
Anti-Israel activists are planning a protest Wednesday outside a Nefesh B’Nefesh immigration event in Manhattan, escalating a pattern of confrontations that have often crossed from political protest into harassment and intimidation.
The demonstration is being organized by Palestinian Assembly for Liberation (PAL‑Awda) NY/NJ, which is urging supporters to bring Palestinian flags, keffiyehs, and noisemakers to disrupt Nefesh B’Nefesh’s “NBN on Tour” program—an informational event for North American Jews considering aliyah to Israel.
In a post circulated Sunday on social media, PAL-Awda described the event as a “settler recruitment fair” and framed Jewish immigration to Israel as part of what it called “Zionist colonial expansion.” The group labeled all approximately 80,000 immigrants who have moved to Israel through Nefesh B’Nefesh since 2002 as “settlers” living on “stolen land,” despite the fact that NBN participants settle across a wide range of Israeli cities and communities.
Iran on Monday claimed Israeli intelligence involvement in nationwide unrest after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly voiced support for protesters challenging the Islamic Republic’s leadership.
At a weekly press conference in Tehran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei accused Israel of attempting to fracture Iran from within, warning that the government would not tolerate foreign-backed destabilization.
“The Zionist regime is determined to exploit the slightest opportunity to sow division and undermine our national unity, and we must remain vigilant,” Baqaei said, before accusing Israeli and U.S. leaders of “incitement to violence.”
The comments come amid a week of widespread protests across Iran that have left dozens dead, according to rights groups. Demonstrations have erupted in multiple cities, with violent clashes reported between protesters and security forces. Iranian authorities have not released an official nationwide death toll.
The U.S. took the unprecedented step Monday of dropping the number of vaccines it recommends for every child — leaving other immunizations, such as flu shots, open to families to choose but without clear guidance.
Officials said the overhaul to the federal vaccine schedule won’t result in any families losing access or insurance coverage for vaccines, but medical experts slammed the move, saying it could lead to reduced uptake of important vaccinations and increase disease.
The change came after President Donald Trump in December asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to review how peer nations approach vaccine recommendations and consider revising its guidance to align with theirs.
HHS said its comparison to 20 peer nations found that the U.S. was an “outlier” in both the number of vaccinations and the number of doses it recommended to all children. Officials with the agency framed the change as a way to increase public trust by recommending only the most important vaccinations for children to receive.
Rabbi Chezky Lifshitz, head of Chabad of Nepal, said he did not intend to accuse the owner of the organization’s longtime building of antisemitism after they were evicted from their Kathmandu premises last week.
In an interview with The Times of Israel, Lifshitz sought to clarify remarks made in a recent Facebook post by Chabad of Nepal that appeared to suggest the eviction was motivated by antisemitism. The post, which was widely circulated and cited by multiple media outlets, said that behind the group’s difficult experience leading up to the eviction — including requests to remove Hebrew signage — “was a clear sense of antisemitism.”
Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu Zini has filed a defamation lawsuit seeking 500,000 shekels against Haaretz, accusing the newspaper of orchestrating a coordinated smear campaign aimed at him and his family in the lead-up to the appointment of his nephew, David Zini, as head of Israel’s Shin Bet.
According to the lawsuit, filed through attorneys Yechiel Weinrot, Tal Shachaf, and Yehuda Schwartz, Haaretz published a front-page feature on September 4 in its weekend supplement that deliberately sought to cast a “dramatic and dark atmosphere” around the incoming security chief and his family. The article, written by Hilo Glazer, was headlined, “There Have Been Extremists in Israel’s Leadership, But a Shin Bet Head Like David Zini Has Never Been Seen,” and prominently linked the general’s appointment to the alleged views of his uncle.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro repeatedly tried to speak during his first court appearance in New York City on Monday, insisting “I am innocent.”
Maduro made the remarks during his arraignment in federal court on Monday, but Judge Alvin Hellerstein repeatedly shut down his attempts to speak. Maduro pleaded not guilty to all four counts against him.
“I am innocent. I am a decent man. I am still president of my country,” he argued.
Maduro also attempted to give a detailed description of his capture from Venezuela, but Hellerstein cut him off and said there would be time for him to make his case later.
Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, also pleaded not guilty to the three charges against her.
Good news is good news, whomever the messenger might be. This past week, we saw how a ruthless dictator allegedly involved in illicit drug trade was turned into a prisoner in pajamas in our own backyard. Nicolas Maduro, once the President of Venezuela is now sitting in a cell in New York City. We see how he went from a leader bedecked in royal garments to an inmate housed with common criminals.
Contrast this with the Jewish people who, as we read in Sefer Shemos, remained royal despite being enslaved. When the Jewish people debase our status as G-d’s chosen people by changing our names, dress and customs then we are truly slaves. However, “V’eileh Shemos b’nei Yisroel:” we maintained our holy lifestyle and thus merited to be saved.
One dictator in history, Alexander the Great, could not fathom how the human eye far outweighed all the wealth he had amassed. As Rabbi Doniel Osher Kleinman said in a presentation given by Vayimaen, an organization dedicated to shmiras einayim, the human eye is insatiable. The eye that keeps its desires in and does not act on them is superb; all of Alexander the Great’s wealth paled in comparison to the weight of an eye that controls its natural tendencies. As the Midrash explains, the Rabbis told Alexander that if he would stop attempting to conquer more countries and instead focus on the welfare of his people then he would live a long life. Otherwise, he would die.
The police filed a request on Monday with the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court for authorization to review correspondence on a WhatsApp group on the phone of former Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi.
The group was opened on October 31, 2025—several days before Tomer-Yerushalmi’s arrest—under the name “Yifat, Zamir, Daniel, Attorney-Client Privilege.” It contains correspondence between Tomer-Yerushalmi and two lawyers from the office of Dori Klagsbald, who represents her.
The police also requested permission to review notebooks seized from Tomer-Yerushalmi’s home on November 3, the day after her staged suicide attempt.
Tomer-Yerushalmi’s defense attorney claimed that the notebooks are protected by attorney-client privilege and they were placed in a sealed envelope in accordance with a previous court ruling.
The IDF has been ordered to prepare for the possibility of a simultaneous multi-front war against Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and armed groups in the West Bank, according to a report from Israel’s Channel 12, underscoring how rapidly regional tensions are escalating as Iran is rocked by widespread internal unrest.
The preparations are part of a four-year strategic plan overseen by IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir. One scenario under consideration includes what was described as an “explosive operation” targeting Tehran itself, a striking indication of how seriously Israeli planners are treating the convergence of Iranian instability and regional threats.
According to Channel 12, Israeli security officials believe Iran may seek to launch an attack on Israel to divert attention from the protests and prevent what they fear could become a collapse of the Islamic Republic. Israel has reportedly avoided official public statements about the unrest in Iran to reduce the risk of provoking a direct Iranian response.
In the second such incident in less than a month, an Israeli was arrested after filming outside the home of former prime minister Naftali Bennett in Ra’anana on behalf of Iran, the Shin Bet and the Israel Police announced in a joint statement on Monday.
Lekachao Demsash, a 30-year-old resident of Rishon L’Tzion, was arrested last month for alleged security offenses under the direction of Iranian intelligence elements.
He received payments for the missions, including filming locations in Rishon L’Tzion, Herziliya, Petach Tikvah, Ashdod, and Yavneh and sending the footage to his handlers.
The report follows a previous incident revealed last month when another Israeli resident of Rishon L’Tzion was arrested for filming outside Bennett’s home and other locations for Iran.
Nicolas Maduro, the dethroned Venezuelan dictator indicted on major drug trafficking and weapons charges in the United States, was transferred to federal court in New York Monday for his arraignment, days after American forces captured him in his own presidential palace.
Footage showed federal authorities transferring a handcuffed Maduro from a helicopter to an armored truck ahead of his Monday court appearance.
The hearing, in which Maduro will be formally told the charges against him, is set for noon ET. His wife, Cilia Flores, was arrested in the raid and is also due in court. Like her husband, she was a high-level official in Venezuela’s socialist regime.
Maduro faces four charges: narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota announced on Monday that he’s dropping his bid for a third term as governor, amid stinging criticism of the unsuccessful 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee’s handling of his state’s massive welfare assistance fraud scandal.
“The political gamesmanship we’re seeing from Republicans is only making that fight harder to win,” Walz charged in a statement.
“But as I reflected on this moment with my family and my team over the holidays, I came to the conclusion that I can’t give a political campaign my all,” the governor added. “Every minute I spend defending my own political interests would be a minute I can’t spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity and the cynics who prey on our differences.”
A man who broke windows at Vice President JD Vance’s Ohio home and caused other property damage was detained early Monday, the U.S. Secret Service said.
The man was detained shortly after midnight by Secret Service agents assigned to Vance’s home, east of downtown Cincinnati, agency spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. He has not been named.
The Secret Service heard a loud noise at the home around midnight and found a person who had broken a window with a hammer and was trying to get into the house, according to two law enforcement officials who were not publicly authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The man had also vandalized a Secret Service vehicle on his way up the home’s driveway, one of the officials said.
Germany’s foreign intelligence service secretly spied for years on then–U.S. President Barack Obama, intercepting his phone calls while he was aboard Air Force One, according to an explosive investigation published by Die Zeit.
The surveillance was carried out by the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) and continued until 2014, when Germany’s Chancellery finally ordered it stopped. The operation is politically incendiary because it ran directly counter to public assurances by then–Chancellor Angela Merkel, who in 2013 famously rebuked the United States over NSA spying with the declaration: “Spying among friends — that is simply not done.”
According to Die Zeit, the BND was able to intercept Obama’s calls because the encryption used aboard the presidential aircraft was vulnerable. Insiders said Obama’s communications were transmitted over roughly a dozen known frequencies, which German intelligence monitored regularly, though not continuously. The United States was not among the countries the BND was officially authorized to spy on, making the operation especially sensitive.
It is with deep regret that YWN shares the tragic petirah of Mrs. Tema Rochel Jacobowitz a”h. She was just 53 years old.
On December 9, Mrs. Jacobowitz a”h was struck by a dump truck at Wythe Avenue and Williamsburg Street West, and suffered critical injuries.
Williamsburg Hatzolah responded immediately and transported her to Bellevue Hospital, where she was listed in critical condition. Despite the tireless efforts of medical staff and the tefillos of many, her injuries proved too severe.
Friends and neighbors describe Mrs. Jacobowitz a”h as a quiet, warm presence whose effusive kindness was felt by everyone around her.
Iran, together with other hostile actors, is actively working to assassinate Syria’s president, Ahmed al‑Sharaa, according to IDF assessments cited by Walla on Monday.
The warning was issued recently amid renewed negotiations between Israel and Syria and rising regional tensions. Intelligence evaluations indicate that al‑Sharaa is facing real threats, forcing him to allocate significant resources to his personal security and to stabilizing his regime.
In recent months, Defense Minister Yisrael Katz and senior security officials have held multiple high‑level discussions emphasizing the need for the IDF to maintain its presence in Syria and in the Har Chermon buffer zone—particularly in light of lessons drawn from the October 7 attack. This presence is described as a “primary shield” for Israeli communities along the Syrian frontier.
HaGaon HaRav Dov Landau, HaGaon HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, and other Gedolei Yisrael, Roshei Yeshivos, and Rabbanim attended a reception in Bnei Brak on Sunday evening celebrating the release of two yeshiva bochurim from military prison—Yitzchak Revivo of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Ozer and Yair Saada of Yeshivas Kisei Rachamim.
HaGaon HaRav Hirsch delivered an unusual and dramatic address at the event: “It’s a simcha that bochurim who were arrested for learning Torah—and one can say it’s a zechus to be arrested for this, but ultimately, the arrest itself is difficult—have now been released,” the Rosh Yeshivah began. “On the one hand it’s a day of simcha, and on the other hand it’s a day of tza’ar that Acheinu Beis Yisrael don’t understand this simple matter.”
HaGaon HaRav Dov Landau, HaGaon HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, and other Gedolei Yisrael, Roshei Yeshivos, and Rabbanim attended a reception in Bnei Brak on Sunday evening celebrating the release of two yeshiva bochurim from military prison—Yitzchak Revivo of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Ozer and Yair Saada of Yeshivas Kisei Rachamim.
HaRav Landau said at the event, “How fortunate you are that you were arrested because of words of Torah…we are filled with appreciation for the steadfast stand, on the one hand against temptations and on the other against hardships, and we express our admiration for their declaration: ‘Many waters cannot extinguish the love with which we love the Torah.’
“When HaRav Amram Blau was imprisoned (for protesting Chillul Shabbos), the Chazon Ish came to visit him and told him, ‘It is not Rav Amram who is in prison—the Shabbos itself is in prison!’”
President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened Venezuela’s newly appointed leader, Delcy Rodríguez, saying she would face consequences “probably bigger than Maduro” if she defies U.S. demands for political and economic reform.
Trump’s remarks, made in an interview with The Atlantic, came hours after Rodríguez condemned the U.S. military operation that led to the capture and transfer of former president Nicolás Maduro to a New York jail. The warning marked a sharp reversal from Trump’s comments a day earlier, when he praised Rodríguez as someone “necessary to make Venezuela great again.”
Rodríguez, a longtime Maduro ally, rejected cooperation with Washington, declaring Maduro the country’s “only” legitimate leader and vowing to defend Venezuela’s oil reserves from what she described as U.S. aggression. “The masks have fallen,” she said, accusing the United States of pursuing regime change under false pretenses.
A heavy police deployment was triggered Sunday morning in Vienna after a hand grenade was discovered directly across from two shuls in the city’s Leopoldstadt district.
The device was found in a building entrance on Tempelgasse, wrapped in a white cloth, by an employee of one of the shuls. Police were immediately notified, and bomb disposal units rushed to the scene. Given the initial uncertainty over whether the grenade was live, authorities imposed a wide security cordon, temporarily sealing off the area until specialists could safely remove the object.
Investigators later confirmed that the device was an F1 hand grenade dating back to the 1970s. According to police, it contained no explosive material and its ignition mechanism was no longer functional. Nevertheless, the discovery of a military-grade object in such a sensitive location raised immediate alarm.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has prepared a contingency plan to flee the country if nationwide protests spiral beyond the control of his security forces, revealing the depth of concern inside the Islamic Republic’s highest ranks as unrest grips the country.
An intelligence report says the 86-year-old cleric would evacuate Tehran with a tightly controlled group of up to 20 aides and family members, including his son and presumed successor Mojtaba Khamenei, if signs emerge that the army, police, or paramilitary forces are deserting, defecting, or refusing orders.
A day after the audacious U.S. military operation in Venezuela, President Donald Trump on Sunday renewed his calls for an American takeover of the Danish territory of Greenland for the sake of U.S. security interests, while his top diplomat declared the communist government in Cuba is “in a lot of trouble.”
The comments from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the ouster of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro underscore that the U.S. administration is serious about taking a more expansive role in the Western Hemisphere.
With thinly veiled threats, Trump is rattling hemispheric friends and foes alike, spurring a pointed question around the globe: Who’s next?
“We do need Greenland, absolutely,” Trump said in an interview with The Atlantic in which he described the strategically located Arctic island as “surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships.”
One of the most consequential international criminal prosecutions to land in New York in years is now in the hands of Alvin K. Hellerstein, a 92-year-old senior U.S. district judge, Orthodox Jew, and one of the longest-serving active jurists in the federal judiciary.
Hellerstein has been assigned to preside over the criminal case against Nicolás Maduro, the former Venezuelan leader who was captured by U.S. special forces and brought to Manhattan on Saturday. Prosecutors have charged Maduro with a sweeping array of offenses, including narcotics trafficking, corruption, and crimes tied to terrorism.
The assignment puts a prosecution with major geopolitical reverberations before a judge whose courtroom résumé is unusually deep — and whose personal background has drawn attention in legal and Jewish communal circles for decades.
Chani Lifshitz, who, together with her husband, Rabbi Chezky, runs the Chabad House in Kathmandu, where they’ve hosted tens of thousands of Israeli backpackers over the years, published a Facebook post stating that their landlord ordered them to evacuate the premises of the home they’ve been renting for 20 years after months of harassment.
“The past few days have not been easy for Chezky and me,” she wrote. “You know what? Forget the polished wording—really difficult days. We’re in the midst of a crisis—but we’re not leaving the shlichus. After many years in which this specific house was our life’s work—a place of Shabbatos, Chagim, tears, hugs, and conversations until the wee hours of the morning—we find ourselves packing everything into boxes and looking for a new place. How much we invested in this house… yours and ours.”
The BBC has quietly admitted to a grave ethical breach in southern Israel—entering the private home of a terror-survivor family days after the October 7 massacre without permission to film, then broadcasting the footage.
The BBC has now apologized and paid NIS 120,000 in compensation to the Horenstein family of Netiv HaAsara, a community devastated by Hamas’s attack. The broadcaster later confirmed the incident.
“Not only did terrorists break into our home and try to murder us,” Tzeela Horenstein said, “but then the BBC crew entered again—this time with a camera as a weapon—without permission or consent.”
The family survived only because their front door jammed after Hamas terrorists detonated an explosive device against it. Days later, while the trauma was still raw, a BBC crew entered their home anyway. The family discovered the broadcast by chance.
A U.S. Defense Department watchdog has found that Washington lost full accountability over large portions of sensitive American-supplied weapons in Israel during the first year of the Gaza war, as the intensity of the fighting overwhelmed standard oversight systems meant to track some of the Pentagon’s most advanced arms.
A report from the U.S. Department of Defense Inspector General concluded that the Pentagon only partially complied with its own rules for monitoring high-risk weapons sent to Israel after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack triggered a prolonged, high-intensity conflict.
The audit examined Enhanced End-Use Monitoring (EEUM)—the strictest oversight regime applied to sensitive U.S. weapons, including advanced munitions, night-vision systems, and specialized platforms. While U.S. officials had largely met monitoring requirements before the war, the report found that once fighting escalated, the system began to break down.
President Donald Trump has been “unequivocal” that Hamas must fully disarm before his proposed peace framework can move forward, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday, demonstrating a hard U.S.-Israeli stance that leaves little room for compromise with the Iran-backed terrorist group.
Speaking to reporters ahead of Israel’s weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said Trump has made Hamas’ demilitarization a nonnegotiable condition of his 20-point peace plan.
“This is a necessary and fundamental condition for the implementation of his 20-point plan,” Netanyahu said. “He made no concessions on this and showed no flexibility on this matter.”
The Tel Aviv District Court on Sunday sentenced Ibrahim Shalhoub, 29, of Tulkarm, to life imprisonment for the murder of Ludmila Lipovsky hy”d, an 83-year-old woman who was stabbed to death in Herzliya in December 2024.
Shalhoub pleaded guilty and was convicted of murder under aggravated circumstances as an act of terrorism, as well as unlawful possession of a knife. The court also ordered him to pay the maximum compensation allowed by law—NIS 258,000—to Lipovsky’s family.
The attack occurred on December 27, 2024, near a commercial area adjacent to an assisted-living complex in Herzliya. Shalhoub armed himself with a knife and attacked Lipovsky at close range, stabbing her approximately 11 times. She later died of her wounds. Security personnel shot and apprehended Shalhoub at the scene.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday accused officials working for Doctors Without Borders in the Gaza Strip of simultaneously serving in Palestinian terrorist organizations, presenting the allegations as further evidence that humanitarian frameworks are being exploited by armed groups operating in the enclave.
In a statement posted on X, the ministry said Fadi al-Wadiya was employed by the Geneva-based aid organization while also serving as a senior operative in Palestinian Islamic Jihad, where he was responsible for advancing the group’s rocket capabilities. The post included an image of al-Wadiya wearing military fatigues.
The ministry also alleged that Nasser Hamdi Abdelatif al-Shalfouh worked for Doctors Without Borders while simultaneously serving as a sniper for Hamas, taking part in what it described as terrorist “combat and operational activity.”
Anti-Israel protest groups and far-left activist organizations that have dominated street demonstrations since the October 7 Hamas massacre have erupted in fury over the U.S. military operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, rapidly folding the episode into their broader anti-Israel, anti-U.S. protest ecosystem.
Groups including Palestinian Youth Movement, National Students for Justice in Palestine, the ANSWER Coalition, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation organized or promoted rallies Saturday condemning the operation that removed Nicolás Maduro and first lady Celia Flores.
In Los Angeles, PYM urged supporters to join the “Palestine contingent” of a “Hands Off Venezuela” protest, while accusing President Donald Trump of using narcoterrorism as a pretext to steal Venezuela’s oil. NSJP echoed the message, calling on activists to “take action” against what it described as the “United States of Terror,” linking the Venezuela operation to Israel, Iran, and China in a single anti-Western narrative.
During the two years he was held captive in Gaza, Segev Kalfon had a recurring dream: slowly walking through a supermarket, browsing each aisle for his favorite foods, taking in the brightly colored packages and smells.
Since being released on Oct. 13, his dreams have flipped: Most nights when he closes his eyes, he is back on a dirty piece of foam mattress in the 2-square-meter (22-square-foot) room in a Hamas tunnel where he was kept with five other hostages, counting each tile and crack in the cement to distract himself from severe hunger and near-daily physical torture.
“I was in the lowest place a person can be before death, the lowest. I had no control over anything, when to eat, when to shower, how much I want to eat,” said Kalfon, 27. During the worst parts of captivity, he was so skinny he could count the individual vertebrae jutting from his spine.
Israel quietly pressed Qatar to expand financial support to Gaza just weeks before the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, massacre, according to a new report that adds a new layer to questions about the policies that preceded the deadliest attack in the country’s history.
Yediot Acharonot reported Friday that in September 2023, senior Israeli officials met in a Jerusalem hotel with Mohammed al-Emadi, Doha’s longtime envoy to Gaza, and asked him to increase Qatari-funded fuel purchases intended for the Hamas-run enclave. The request came roughly one month before Hamas terrorists stormed southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and abducting 251 others.
At the center of the meeting was a familiar but controversial arrangement. Since 2021, Qatar had been buying fuel from Egypt and transferring it to Gaza, where Hamas sold it to local gas stations, providing the group with revenue to pay officials and commanders. Israel, while not funding Hamas directly, was a tacit partner in the mechanism, viewing it as a way to stabilize Gaza and avoid another round of fighting.
The Jewish community in Lausanne announced on Sunday that Jewish sisters Alicia and Diana Gunst, a’h, 15 and 14, were killed in the fire at the Crans-Montana ski resort.
The sisters are of Italian Jewish origin.
“It is with great sorrow that we announce the death of Alicia and Diana, who perished tragically in the fire,” the Jewish Community of Lausanne stated. “The community shares in the family’s grief and will stand by its side in whatever is required.”
Charlotte Niddam, a 15-year-old French and British citizen who also holds Israeli citizenship, is still unaccounted for. She was working at the resort as a babysitter.
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that representatives of the embassy are monitoring developments and are in contact with local authorities and with the family.
The legal adviser to the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Miri Frenkel-Shor, is demanding harsher sanctions on Chareidi “draft dodgers” as part of the new conscription law being advanced by committee chairman MK Boaz Bismuth.
In a letter she sent to members of the committee on Sunday morning, she demanded that the committee include new and stricter sanctions and that economic sanctions, such as the revocation of daycare subsidies, should not be lifted at the age of 26.
She wants the committee to consider adding a sanction that would revoke municipal tax discounts for “draft dodgers” and also revoke driver’s licenses even from Chareidim who obtained them before the law’s enactment.
She is also demanding that sanctions be implemented in the first year after enactment, and not only after a year and a half, as the current law stipulates.
A newly unsealed U.S. Justice Department indictment accuses captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of running a “corrupt, illegitimate government” fueled by an extensive drug-trafficking operation that flooded the U.S. with thousands of tons of cocaine.
The arrest of Maduro and his wife in a stunning military operation early Saturday in Venezuela sets the stage for a major test for U.S. prosecutors as they seek to secure a conviction in a Manhattan courtroom against the longtime leader of the oil-rich South American nation.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on X that Maduro and his wife “will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”
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Here’s a look at the accusations against Maduro and the charges he faces.
Delcy Rodríguez, the vice president of Venezuela who is now serving as acting president, accused Israel of orchestrating the U.S. operation that led to the capture of former leader Nicolás Maduro.
Speaking in a televised address alongside senior figures from Maduro’s inner circle, Rodríguez blamed “the Zionists” for the events surrounding his arrest, echoing familiar rhetoric long used by Venezuela’s Chavista leadership to fault Israel and its allies for international pressure on the regime.
“The attack on Venezuela has an undoubtedly Zionist character,” Rodríguez declared, offering no evidence to support the claim. She reiterated that Nicolás Maduro “is the only president of Venezuela,” despite his transfer to U.S. custody and a ruling by Venezuela’s constitutional court appointing her interim president during his absence.
Independent journalist Nick Shirley says he has been hit with a wave of death threats and harassment — including phone calls to members of his family — after releasing a viral video exposing large-scale fraud at publicly funded daycare centers in Minnesota.
Shirley described the threats during a Dec. 31 appearance on the PBD Podcast, saying he was explicitly warned that he would be “Kirked,” a reference to the September assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. According to Shirley, the threats escalated rapidly after his investigation gained national attention online.
“They are saying, like, ‘Kirked — you’re going to be Kirked,’” Shirley told host Patrick Bet-David. “That’s what they’re saying — like, you’re next.”
Iran’s supreme leader insisted Saturday that “rioters must be put in their place” after a week of protests that have shaken the Islamic Republic, likely giving security forces a green light to aggressively put down the demonstrations.
The first comments by 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei come as violence surrounding the demonstrations sparked by Iran’s ailing economy has killed at least 10 people. The protests show no sign of stopping and follow U.S. President Donald Trump warning Iran on Friday that if Tehran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States “will come to their rescue.”
While it remains unclear how and if Trump will intervene, his comments sparked an immediate, angry response, with officials within the theocracy threatening to target American troops in the Mideast. They also take on new importance after Trump said Saturday that the U.S. military captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a longtime ally of Tehran.
Hours after an audacious military operation that plucked leader Nicolás Maduro from power and removed him from the country, President Donald Trump said Saturday that the United States would run Venezuela at least temporarily and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations.
The dramatic action capped an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign on the South American nation and its autocratic leader and months of secret planning resulting in the most assertive American action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Legal experts immediately raised questions about whether the operation was lawful, and Venezuela’s vice president demanded in a speech that the U.S. free Maduro and called him the country’s rightful leader.
Speaking to reporters hours after Maduro’s capture, Trump revealed his plans to exploit the leadership void to “fix” the country’s oil infrastructure and sell “large amounts” of oil to other countries.
The Jewish community in Switzerland reported that three women are still missing in the aftermath of the deadly fire that broke out in the country.
At this stage, no official information has been released regarding the whereabouts of the missing women, and it remains unclear whether they were at the site of the fire when it broke out or in a nearby area.
Swiss authorities have opened a criminal investigation into the managers of the bar where a fire at a New Year’s party left 40 people dead, authorities said Saturday.
The two are suspected of involuntary homicide, involuntary bodily harm and involuntarily causing a fire, the Valais region’s chief prosecutor, Beatrice Pilloud, told reporters. She said the investigation was opened on Friday night and that it would help “explore all the leads.” The announcement of the investigation did not name the managers.
After months of growing military pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump ordered an operation into the South American country to capture its leader and whisk him to the United States, where his administration planned to put him on trial.
In a Saturday morning interview on “Fox and Friends Weekend,” Trump laid out the details of the overnight strike, after which he said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were flown by helicopter to a U.S. warship.
Trump described Maduro as being “highly guarded” in a presidential palace that was “like a fortress,” although the Venezuelan leader was not able to get to a safe room.
American forces were armed with “massive blowtorches,” which they would have used to cut through steel walls had Maduro locked himself in the room, Trump said.
“It had what they call a safety space, where it’s solid steel all around,” Trump said. “He didn’t get that space closed. He was trying to get into it, but he got bum-rushed right so fast that he didn’t get into that. We were prepared.”
US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who has ruled the country since 2013, was captured following a large-scale US strike on Caracas.
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Elite US forces stormed Maduro’s home on a military base during the operation, dragging him and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their bedroom before flying them out of the country.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. planned to run Venezuela until a transition of power can take place. He claimed the American presence was already in place.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said at a Mar-a-Lago news conference, adding that this “extremely successful operation should serve as warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives.”
US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who has ruled the country since 2013, was captured following a large-scale US strike on Caracas.
Your browser does not support the video tag.
Elite US forces stormed Maduro’s home on a military base during the operation, dragging him and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their bedroom before flying them out of the country.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. planned to run Venezuela until a transition of power can take place. He claimed the American presence was already in place.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said at a Mar-a-Lago news conference, adding that this “extremely successful operation should serve as warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives.”
Somaliland is pushing back against claims that its newly announced diplomatic opening with Israel came with strings attached — rejecting assertions that it agreed to resettle Palestinians from Gaza or host Israeli military bases as part of the deal.
In a statement posted Thursday on X, the foreign ministry of Republic of Somaliland said it “firmly rejects false claims” made by Somalia’s president, who alleged that Israel demanded such concessions in exchange for recognizing Somaliland’s independence.
Those accusations were aired Wednesday during an interview on Al Jazeera, where Somalia’s leader said Israel had conditioned recognition on accepting Gazan refugees and permitting Israeli military facilities on Somaliland territory. Somaliland, which broke away from Somalia in 1991 but remains unrecognized by most of the world, called the allegations “baseless” and accused Mogadishu of trying to undermine its diplomatic progress.
With the 2026 midterm elections still nearly months away, early maneuvering for the 2028 presidential race is already beginning to surface, as potential contenders from both parties make high-profile appearances, test messages, and build relationships in key political circles ahead of the contest to succeed term-limited President Donald Trump.
While party leaders emphasize that the immediate focus remains on next year’s battle for control of Congress, recent developments suggest that the groundwork for the next White House race is quietly being laid.
Republicans: Vance Emerges as Early Front-Runner
On the Republican side, Vice President JD Vance is widely viewed as the early favorite should he choose to run. That perception was reinforced last month when he received a high-profile endorsement at the annual summit of Turning Point USA, a politically influential conservative organization with a strong grassroots network, particularly among younger voters.
The Yeshiva World
The suspects, illegal residents from Chevron in their 20s, were transferred to the investigations unit of the Yaffo police for questioning.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Mashriki asked Katz to intervene immediately, including conducting a thorough investigation into the claims raised during the visit; ensuring full compliance with procedures at the detention facility regarding the provision of strictly Mehadrin food and adherence to hilchos kashrus; and receiving a detailed report on the findings of the inquiry and the corrective measures that will be taken as a result.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Albanese said that he asked former High Court judge Virginia Bell to lead the inquiry, a decision that is opposed by the Jewish community due to her political left-wing views. Former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg slammed Albanese’s pick, saying it was “unthinkable” to appoint a commissioner who is not trusted by the Jewish community.
“This was an antisemitic terrorist attack, aimed at Jewish Australians, inspired by ISIS, the deadliest that has ever occurred on Australian soil,” Albanese said during the press conference.
Referring to the pressure he faced, Albanese added, “I have listened,” he said. “In a democracy that’s a good thing.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
The death comes amid a season of elevated influenza activity. In response, the Health Ministry said it has begun recommending that the public consider wearing face masks in enclosed spaces and at large gatherings. Medical staff and visitors to nursing homes and geriatric institutions have also been advised to wear masks as a precaution.
Officials did not provide additional details about the infant’s medical history or circumstances surrounding the illness, citing patient privacy.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
It was not immediately clear whether the planned protest would have taken place at a shul or whether Pal-Awda was able to determine the event’s location. In a statement, the group claimed that the planned protest had disrupted the event’s outreach, saying that “extreme vetting of attendees has hampered their outreach and vastly limited their ability to recruit settlers.”
The cancelation has many wondering if Mayor mamdani had a hand in the cancelation, as this protest would potentially cause issues for him.
The announcement followed a November demonstration led by Pal-Awda outside Park East Synagogue in Manhattan, where Nefesh B’Nefesh was hosting an event. During that protest, attendees reported harassment and threats directed at those entering the shul, prompting widespread backlash from Jewish leaders and elected officials.
The episode has taken on added significance amid rising concerns about antisemitism in New York City. According to data released Tuesday by the New York City Police Department, Jewish New Yorkers were targeted in 330 reported hate crimes last year—more than all other groups combined. While antisemitic incidents declined slightly from a record high in 2024, they still accounted for 57% of all hate crimes reported to police.
“These numbers remain far too high and antisemitism continues to be the most persistent hate threat that we face,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a joint press conference with Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Hochul said she plans to announce a proposal during her Jan. 13 State of the State address to establish “safety zones” around houses of worship, allowing people to attend religious services “without threats of violence or protest.” Jewish leaders and lawmakers have pushed for similar measures since the November demonstration outside Park East Synagogue.
Pal-Awda has separately announced plans for a protest Thursday against an Israel real estate event in Queens, though the group has again declined to disclose the location.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
At the instruction of the Belzer Rebbe, Rav Pinchas Friedman arrived and appeared before the Moetzes to clearly present the position of his Rebbe regarding the issue at hand.
In his letter, the Slonimer Rebbe stated unequivocally:
> “We oppose any law that imposes punishments and sanctions on those who learn Torah. We will not abandon the halls of the yeshivos under any circumstances.”
Observers noted that the atmosphere surrounding the meeting recalled earlier eras, when the decisions of the Chassidic Moetzes were seen as decisive moments that could determine whether an Israeli government would survive or fall.
Behind the scenes, it emerged that just one day prior to the Moetzes’ convening, messages were conveyed from Degel HaTorah to Agudas Yisrael urging them to avoid issuing a decision opposing the draft law at this stage.
On Tuesday, HaRav Aharon Hirsch, son of HaGaon HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch, held a conversation with Agudas Yisrael Moetzes Secretary Yaakov Woltzer. The message was clear: do not make a decision against the draft law at this time.
Following that discussion, Woltzer met with the Gerrer Rebbe and relayed Degel HaTorah’s position. The Gerrer Rebbe did not dismiss the idea and even proposed a far-reaching alternative: cancel Wednesday’s Moetzes meeting and instead convene a joint Moetzes of Chassidic and Litvish leadership in the coming days to determine a unified stance on the law.
However, the proposal stalled when Rav Hirsch’s son declined to commit to such a joint gathering and reiterated the original request to refrain from making a decision against the law for now.
Ultimately, the Moetzes meeting proceeded as scheduled, but it remains unclear whether a definitive ruling opposing the draft law will be issued, or whether Degel HaTorah’s pressure will succeed in delaying or softening any such decision. Political alertness within the coalition remains high.
Present at the gathering were Knesset members Yitzchak Goldknopf, Meir Porush, and Yisrael Eichler, as well as Bnei Brak Mayor Chanoch Zeibert. MK Yaakov Tessler did not attend, as he is currently abroad for a family simcha.
PHOTOS FOR YWN VIA SHUKI LERER
The move was striking not only because Ahmed has worked closely with Jewish institutions—including the Anti-Defamation League and Jewish Federations of North America—but because he is no longer on a visa at all. Ahmed received an EB-1 “extraordinary ability” visa in January 2021 and is now a U.S. green-card holder.
“I was confused—and alarmed,” Ahmed told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, speaking from Washington. “There was no formal notice. Just a tweet.”
Ahmed’s research has been cited across the political spectrum. He has appeared alongside Republican leaders, including at a conference attended by Benjamin Netanyahu and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and has advocated with conservatives to repeal Section 230, the law shielding social media companies from liability. JFNA has credited Ahmed’s work as foundational to its policy proposals on online antisemitism.
Yet amid an aggressive immigration crackdown that has swept up tens of thousands of migrants—including some green-card holders—Ahmed sought and received a court order barring his detention without due process. A federal judge this week extended the protection through March.
Civil liberties advocates say the case raises red flags. “Absolutely fascist—and dangerous,” wrote Amy Spitalnick, head of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, calling the targeting of Ahmed part of a broader effort to silence critics of powerful interests.
Ahmed believes those interests are Silicon Valley’s tech giants. His organization has published a series of reports detailing how social media algorithms amplify and monetize antisemitic content. In 2023, Elon Musk sued CCDH after a report criticized X, then Twitter, for promoting hate; the case was dismissed. Musk later reacted to news of the visa action with fire emojis.
State Department officials declined to answer questions about Ahmed’s legal status, issuing only a broad statement asserting that the United States has no obligation to allow foreign nationals to reside in the country.
The episode has unsettled Jewish communal partners. While JFNA praised Ahmed’s contributions, one leader said the group would reassess the relationship if new information emerged. The ADL declined to comment.
The irony, Ahmed and his supporters argue, is that the action clashes with the administration’s own anti-antisemitism agenda. Even the newly appointed U.S. antisemitism envoy, Yehuda Kaploun, has called for tougher oversight of tech platforms.
“This is about silencing the messenger when they can’t defeat the message,” Ahmed said. “My work asks how ancient lies about Jews are spreading faster than ever—and who profits from that.”
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
He later made history as the first Chareidi representative elected to serve as mayor of Jerusalem, where he worked tirelessly for the city’s development and the welfare of all its residents.
The levayah will take place tomorrow, Thursday, the 19th of Teves, at 11:00 a.m., departing from his home in the Sanhedria Murchevet neighborhood of Yerushalyim and proceeding to Har HaMenuchos.
Yehi Zichro Baruch.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Following her conversion, the woman married Salah al-Din Mahamid, a young Arab teacher from Kafr Qara. In 2014, shortly after the wedding and while his wife was pregnant, Mahamid was arrested on suspicion of involvement with ISIS. His lawyer argued at the time that Mahamid was a normative individual from a respectable family who had just begun teaching at a high school in Jisr az-Zarqa. He was released after several days in custody.
The story did not end there.
Sometime after his release, Mahamid and his Jewish wife left Israel, traveling through Turkey and crossing into Syria. According to the investigation, Mahamid joined ISIS forces and sent back photos and videos showing himself armed and in uniform. Among the most disturbing materials were images of his very Jewish infant son wrapped in an ISIS flag and surrounded by weapons and ammunition.
“During the investigation, we located the woman’s conversion certificate, which was issued by the inciting mufti Akrima Sabri,” said Elhanan Groner, a reporter for The Jewish Voice, on whose investigation the series is based. “According to rumors in Wadi Ara, Mahamid was killed. Our attempts to determine the fate of the woman and the child were unsuccessful. This is one of the most shocking cases we’ve seen, showing how far a young Jewish woman can spiral—partly through the conversion process linked to the Dar al-Salam center.”
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(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
“No matter the issue, if the House puts forward relatively strong, bipartisan support, it makes it easier for the senators to get there,” Lawler said.
In the end, nine Republicans joined Democrats to advance the measure.
If ultimately successful in the House this week, the voting would show there is bipartisan support for a proposed three-year extension of the tax credits that are available for those who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The action of forcing a vote has been an affront to Johnson and GOP leaders, who essentially lost control of their House majority as the renegade lawmakers joined Democrats for the workaround.
But the Senate is under no requirement to take up the bill.
Instead, a small group of members from both parties is working on an alternative plan that could find support in both chambers and become law. One proposal would be to shorten the extension of the subsidy to two years and make changes to the program.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said any plan passing muster in the Senate will need to have income limits to ensure that it’s focused on those who most need the help and that beneficiaries would have to at least pay a nominal amount for their coverage.
That way, he said, “insurance companies can’t game the system and auto-enroll people.” Finally, Thune said there would need to be some expansion of health savings accounts, which allow people to save money and withdraw it tax-free as long as the money is spent on qualified medical expenses.
It’s unclear whether the negotiations will yield a bill that the Senate will take up. Democrats are making clear that the higher health insurance costs many Americans are facing will be a political centerpiece of their efforts to retake the majority in the House and Senate in the fall elections.
Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who led his party’s effort to push the health care issue forward, particularly challenged Republicans in competitive congressional districts to join if they really wanted to prevent steep premium increases for their constituents. Before Wednesday’s vote, he called on colleagues to “address the health care crisis in this country and make sure that tens of millions of people have the ability to go see a doctor when they need one.”
Republican Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Robert Bresnahan and Ryan Mackenzie, all from Pennsylvania, and Lawler signed the Democrats’ petition, pushing it to the magic number of 218 needed to force a House vote. All four represent key swing districts whose races will help determine which party takes charge of the House next year.
Johnson, R-La., had discussed allowing more politically vulnerable GOP lawmakers a chance to vote on bills that would temporarily extend the subsidies while also adding changes such as income caps for beneficiaries. But after days of discussions, the leadership sided with the more conservative wing of the party’s conference, which has assailed the subsidies as propping up a failed program.
Lawmakers turn to discharge petitions to show support for an action and potentially force a vote on the House floor, but they are rarely successful. This session of Congress has proven an exception.
A vote requiring the Department of Justice to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, for instance, occurred after Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., introduced a petition on the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The signature effort was backed by all House Democrats and four Republicans.
(AP)
The case comes amid heightened concern among public health officials over measles outbreaks in pockets of Israel, particularly in communities with low vaccination coverage. Measles is one of the most contagious viral diseases known and can lead to pneumonia, brain inflammation, and death, especially in infants who are too young to be fully vaccinated.
The Israel Ministry of Health has repeatedly warned that lapses in routine childhood immunizations are fueling the resurgence of preventable diseases and placing vulnerable children at grave risk.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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The threat comes as widespread protests continue to sweep the Islamic Republic, driven by economic hardship, high inflation and public anger over political repression. Rights groups report that at least 34 protesters have been killed and thousands arrested as demonstrators have taken to the streets in multiple cities.
Trump has in recent days threatened unspecified U.S. action if Iranian security forces kill demonstrators. Tehran has denounced such statements as interference in internal affairs. Iranian officials have previously indicated that threats of foreign intervention are seen as attempts to stoke unrest and weaken the government.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Detainees held under the Illegal Combatants Law are arrested inside Gaza during military operations but are not charged with any criminal offense. Human rights groups say many are detained for months without access to legal counsel or contact with their families. The law, originally enacted as a temporary emergency measure, has been repeatedly extended and is currently set to remain in force through the end of March.
In a statement responding to the disclosure, PCATI accused Israel of perpetuating wartime practices despite the ceasefire. “The war has ended on paper only,” the group said. “In practice, Israel continues to imprison detainees under a temporary order that was supposed to expire, and to hold them in inhumane conditions that amount to torture and cruel treatment.”
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Rav Zafrani stressed that the very essence of the existence of Am Yisrael emerges here. “Our nation is a nation only through its Torah. The Torah is not just ‘bread for ’life’—the Torah is life itself. And when you stop life, there’s a danger of death. That’s the meaning of Rebi Akiva’s words in the mashal of the fox and the fish.”
Addressing Bnei Torah directly, he said, “Dear bochurim, precious avreichim, you are not just partners in the burden—you’re the ones who uphold the entire burden. ‘And you shall meditate on it day and night’—this is what sustains Am Yisrael, both in times of war and in times of decrees.”
“They want to secularize us. Pharaoh decreed openly—an enemy from outside. But Lavan the Arami spoke nicely, with a smile, and sought ‘to uproot everything’—that’s much more dangerous. This is the Galus of Greece—a Galus among Jews.”
At the same time, the Rav clarified that there are differing approaches among Gedolei Yisrael: “There are Gedolim who say not to conduct a dialogue, and there are Gedolim who say yes, to conduct a dialogue. This is not a dispute; it is a difference of perspectives. Like Rebbi Yossi ben Kisma versus Rebbi Chananya ben Teradyon—a natural view versus a supernatural view. Who am I to decide? Gedolei Yisrael will decide.”
The Rav emphasized that the current reality is not random: “The hearts of kings and ministers are in Hashem’s hand. A decree—by nature—is destined to be annulled. The Borei Olam is orchestrating events in order to demand more mesirus nefesh from us, more toil in Torah, and more effort.”
“We’re not surrendering, not raising our hands. Everything that happens is from Hashem Yisbarach. And with His help, through the steadfastness of Bnei Torah, Malchus Shamayim will be revealed and the yeshuah will come to Israel speedily—Amen.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
“More than a week of protests in Iran reflects not only worsening economic conditions, but longstanding anger at government repression and regime policies that have led to Iran’s global isolation,” the New York-based Soufan Center think tank said.
Hatami spoke to military academy students. He took over as commander in chief of Iran’s army, known by the Farsi word “Artesh,” after Israel killed a number of the country’s top military commanders in June’s 12-day war. He is the first regular military officer in decades to hold a position long controlled by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
“The Islamic Republic considers the intensification of such rhetoric against the Iranian nation as a threat and will not leave its continuation without a response,” Hatami said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
He added, “I can say with confidence that today the readiness of Iran’s armed forces is far greater than before the war. If the enemy commits an error, it will face a more decisive response, and we will cut off the hand of any aggressor.”
Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have been responding to Trump’s comments, which took on more significance after the U.S. military raid that seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a longtime ally of Tehran, over the weekend. But there’s been no immediate public sign of Iran preparing for an attack in the region.
Iranian state television reported on the start of a new subsidy of the equivalent of $7, put into the bank accounts of heads of households across the country. More than 71 million people will receive the benefit, which is 10 million Iranian rials, it reported. The rial now trades at over 1.4 million to $1 and continues to depreciate.
The subsidy is more than double than the 4.5 million rial people previously received. But already, Iranian media report sharp rises in the cost of basic goods, including cooking oil, poultry and cheese, placing additional strain on households already burdened by international sanctions targeting the country and inflation.
Iran’s vice president in charge of executive affairs, Mohammad Jafar Ghaempanah, told reporters on Wednesday that the country was in a “full-fledged economic war.” He called for “economic surgery” to eliminate rentier policies and corruption within the country.
Iran has faced rounds of nationwide protests in recent years. As sanctions tightened and Iran struggled after the June war with Israel, its rial currency sharply fell in December. Protests began soon after on Dec. 28. They reached their 11th day on Wednesday and didn’t appear to be stopping.
Social media videos purported to show new cities like Bojnourd, Kerman, Rasht, Shiraz and Tabriz, as well some smaller towns, joining the demonstrations on Wednesday.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency offered the latest death toll of 36 for the demonstrations. It said 30 protesters, four children and two members of Iran’s security forces have been killed. Demonstrations have reached over 310 locations in 28 of Iran’s 31 provinces. More than 2,100 people have been arrested, it said.
The group, which relies on an activist network inside of Iran for its reporting, has been accurate in past unrest.
(AP)
“And since then, you have ruled. Since then, you have tried to determine who will head the Shin Bet, freezing the dismissal of the failed Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, even though this is the exclusive authority of the elected government. Since then, you have dictated to the IDF what to do with terrorists’ bodies and prohibited the army from holding them for negotiations over our hostages. Since then, you have decided how many square meters the murderers of Am Yisrael will receive in their prison cells—a minimum of 4.5 square meters for each terrorist, more than the average combat soldier receives during active service.
“Of course, along the way you also made sure to ensure ‘basic and proper food’ and ‘humane conditions’ for the murderers of October 7—those Nukhba terrorists who slaughtered, raped, burned, and abducted our sons and daughters. All this during wartime, while our hostages are being raped and starved in Gaza and returned as walking skeletons. Everything was permissible in your eyes as part of your personal war against the policies of National Security Minister Ben Gvir.
“With astonishing chutzpah, you even nullified Basic Laws and struck down 24 laws that the Knesset democratically enacted. You determined what is legal and what is illegal, what is ‘reasonable’ and what is ‘unreasonable,’ using that marvelous invention of yours—the ‘reasonableness doctrine’—an ambiguous term lacking any clear legal definition, whose sole purpose is to allow you and your colleagues to overturn any decision you dislike.
“With brazen arrogance, you ordered the Speaker of the Knesset in 2020, MK Edelstein, when to convene the plenum, and you also determined who is fit to serve as a minister and who is not. Not because you are above the law, but because you are the law—the ultimate arbiters, the supreme rulers.
“But the most outrageous point of all is the expansion of the right to petition the court. Until the 1980s, in order to petition the Supreme Court, one had to prove personal, direct, real and concrete harm. In simple terms: if something didn’t affect you personally, you had no business in court. Then you arrived, Mr. Barak. In ruling after ruling, you decided that this requirement lacked philosophical foundation, was not anchored in the separation of powers, and harmed the rule of law—in your words. Thus, you turned the Supreme Court into the private court of left‑wing NGOs and assorted professional petitioners.
“Suddenly anyone could petition about anything. As a result, the Association for Civil Rights petitions against every government decision it dislikes. Yesh Din petitions against every necessary security action. Adalah petitions on behalf of an invented people. B’Tselem petitions against the demolition of terrorists’ homes. The Center for the Defense of the Individual petitions against prison conditions, and the Committee Against Torture petitions against interrogation methods for terrorists. And you, Mr. Barak, opened the gates wide for them.
The ‘perimeter petition’ to the Supreme Court—in which left‑wing organizations such as Adalah, Yesh Din, and the Association for Civil Rights petitioned against the IDF’s open fire regulations in the perimeter zone along the Gaza border—led to the creation of a military protocol that tied our soldiers’ hands and enabled Hamas terrorists to approach the fence almost unhindered and prepare the infrastructure to blow up the security barrier on the day of the massacre.
“Thanks to your nefarious decision to expand the right to petition the court, there is no escaping the conclusion that you’re fully complicit in the failures that enabled the massacre. You are the one who turned the Supreme Court into the court of appeals for the enemy.
“Because of you—and because of your actions—the State of Israel is no longer a true democracy, for you did everything in your power to trample that democracy in which the people choose and the elected officials govern. You turned the separation of powers into a fusion of powers. You turned yourselves into legislators, enforcers, judges, and executioners—without checks, without balances, and without any accountability.
“So yes, Mr. Barak—absolutely—you’re completely right. This is not a liberal democracy—it’s an elitocracy, a dictatorship of robes. And you are its spiritual father and the chief architect of this democratic destruction.
“‘Amar Rebbi Yochanan: What is the meaning of ‘And it came to pass in the days when the judges judged?’ It was a generation that judged its judges (for the judges themselves were corrupt). He says to him: ‘Remove the splinter from between your teeth.’ He replies, ‘Remove the beam from between your eyes!'”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Participants warned that these platforms can lead to dependency and addiction, foster artificial and emotionally deceptive “relationships,” and undermine authentic human connection. The Gedolim further emphasized that such technologies create serious openings for grave Torah transgressions and pose a major threat to the most vulnerable segments of Klal Yisroel—especially children, bochurim, and Bais Yaakov girls—who may lack the maturity or safeguards to navigate these dangers.
Following extensive deliberation, the gathering reached a series of concrete resolutions. It was agreed to designate a communal yom tefillah and taanis. Those able to do so while maintaining their daily responsibilities are encouraged to observe a full fast day, while others are to observe a half-day fast. Krias HaTorah of Vayechal will be read at Mincha. On this designated day, roshei yeshivos, roshei kehillos, chadarim, and Bais Yaakov mosdos are instructed to directly address the dangers of open AI and to actively establish firm boundaries to eliminate its use—particularly through calling or texting AI services. This will include the introduction and promotion of phones and phone lines that block access to AI platforms.
The Gedolim expressed the hope that, with siyata d’Shmaya, these coordinated steps will establish a clear and unified communal standard that such use of open AI is unacceptable within the homes, yeshivos, and schools of our kehillos.
Among those in attendance were Rav Elya Ber Wachtfogel, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Gedolah Zichron Moshe of South Fallsburg; Rav Elya Kanarek, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Ohr Hameir of Peekskill; Rav Yitzchok Sorotzkin, Rosh Yeshiva of Telz Yeshiva and the Mesivta of Lakewood; Rav Shlomo Feivel Schustal, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Tiferes Yerachmiel; Rav Yaakov Horowitz, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Bais Meir; and Rav Yosef Mermelstein, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Novominsk.
Also present were the roshei yeshiva of Bais Medrash Govoah in Lakewood—Rav Malkiel Kotler, Rav Yeruchem Olshin, Rav Dovid Schustal, and Rav Yisroel Neuman—as well as Rav Avrohom Bromberg, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Shaar HaTalmud; Rav Yisroel Ehrlich, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Mishkan HaTorah; Rav Shmuel Abba Olshin, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Gedolah of Hillside; Rav Simcha Bunim Paler, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Mekor Chaim; Rav Dovid Breslauer, Rosh Kollel of Yeshiva Gedolah Zichron Moshe of South Fallsburg; Rav Eliyahu Yagid, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Keren HaTorah; Rav Yitzchok Lichtenstein, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Torah Vodaas; Rav Uri Meir Kanarek, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Noam HaTalmud; Rav Yaakov Dovid Wasserman, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Gedolah of Monmouth County; Rav Moshe Pruzansky, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Chemdas HaTorah; and Rav Moshe Mayerfeld of Monsey.
Chassidic leadership in attendance included the Skulener Rebbe, the Novominsker Rebbe, and the Rachmistrivker Rebbe, alongside prominent rabbonim and dayanim such as Rav Mechel Steinmetz, senior posek and dayan of Boro Park; Rav Unger, son of the Bobover Rebbe (Bobov-45); Rav Shlaff of Bobov; Rav Stroile, dayan of Vien; and Rav Unger, dayan of Skver, among other distinguished rabbonim.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
The announcement places Mamdani in a political bind. A permissive response by city authorities—particularly if protests again take place outside synagogues—would likely inflame mainstream Jewish organizations, many of which already have strained relations with the mayor. A more forceful law-enforcement response, however, risks backlash from Mamdani’s far-left supporters, some of whom have defended aggressive anti-Israel demonstrations as protected speech.
Adding to the tension, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said earlier Tuesday that the state will move to establish “safety zones” around houses of worship to prevent harassment and intimidation. That policy, however, will not be in effect in time for this week’s protests.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
A large throng of protesters gathered at the scene after the shooting, where they vented their anger at the local and federal officers who were there, including Gregory Bovino, a senior U.S. Customs and Border Patrol official who has been the face of crackdowns in Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere.
In a scene that hearkened back to the Los Angeles and Chicago crackdowns, bystanders heckled the officers and blew whistles that have become ubiquitous during the operations.
“Shame! Shame! Shame!” and “ICE out of Minnesota!” they loudly chanted from behind the police tape.
After the shooting, Mayor Jacob Frey said immigration agents were “causing chaos in our city.”
“We are demanding ICE leave the city and state immediately. We stand rock solid with our immigrant and refugee communities,” Frey said on social media.
The area where the shooting occurred is a modest neighborhood south of downtown Minneapolis, just a few blocks from some of the oldest immigrant markets in the area and a mile (1.6 kilometers) from where George Floyd was killed by police in 2020.
“We’ve been trying to live life as fully as possible in light of the fear and anxiety that we feel,” said the Rev. Hierald Osorto, pastor at St. Paul’s-San Pablo Lutheran Church, which has a predominantly Latino congregation in the area.
The Immigration Defense Network, a coalition of groups serving immigrants in Minnesota, held a training session Tuesday night for about 100 people who are willing to hit the streets to monitor the federal enforcement.
“I feel like I’m an ordinary person, and I have the ability do something so I need to do it,” Mary Moran told KMSP-TV.
(AP)
Public shelters in Ashkelon, Givatayim, Holon, Gilboa, and elsewhere were found to be unusable. Inspectors found shelters that had been severely neglected—with no lighting, rusted doors, blocked escape routes, leaks, and other issues.
The report also criticized delays in a government program to help residents of Ashkelon build reinforced safe rooms. Although the cabinet approved the initiative in early 2022, the Housing Ministry did not publish procedures for accessing grants and loans until June 2023.
As a result, budgets totaling 106 million shekels for 2022 and 2023 went largely unused. Between July 2023 and September 2024, only one eligible applicant received assistance—a grant of 158,000 shekels—out of 50 million shekels allocated for that year.
“When the government, the Home Front Command, and local authorities fail to prepare in routine times, Israeli citizens pay the price when a crisis erupts,” Englman wrote.
Schools
The report also identified major shortcomings in adequate protection for Israeli schoolchildren. Education Ministry data show that as of March 2024, roughly 25% of students in 94% of Israeli schools—more than 466,000 children—studied in classrooms without standard protective spaces. At the time of the audit in August 2024, the ministry lacked shelter data for about 51% of kindergarten classrooms, and 46% of daycare centers had no standard protection during the 2023–24 school year.
Hospitals
The report devoted a major section to the protection of hospitals, warning that gaps pose a serious threat to the health system’s ability to function during prolonged conflict. Englman cited findings from inspections conducted shortly after the Oct. 7 attack, which revealed urgent shelter inadequacies, particularly in life-saving treatment areas.
Over half of hospital beds in high-risk areas near Israel’s borders lack adequate protection for critical facilities, including 67% of imaging machines, 48% of general inpatient beds, 25% of intensive care beds, 22% of operating rooms, 18% of dialysis stations, and 17% of neonatal cribs.
Nationwide, 71% of hospital beds remain unprotected, along with 56% of operating rooms. The most alarming gaps were found in major medical centers far from the border: 64% of ICU beds lack protection, roughly 56% of catheterization rooms are unprotected, and 69% of imaging machines are not protected.
Long-term care, psychiatric and rehabilitation hospitals were found to be especially vulnerable. In Israel’s south, fewer than one-third of beds are protected, and in the Tel Aviv area, only about 7% are.
Lack of accountability
The report concludes that no senior officials have been held personally accountable, and no significant corrective measures have been taken. Even issues repeatedly flagged in earlier reports were left unaddressed, with no systemic reforms implemented.
The Health Ministry estimates that closing shelter gaps in hospitals would cost approximately 4.8 billion shekels, but most long-term projects remain unfunded. Englman called for a national, multi-year plan coordinated with the Finance Ministry to prioritize and fund hospital protection.
In its written response, the Health Ministry said strengthening protection has long been a priority but acknowledged severe resource constraints. It added that since the war began, it has accelerated efforts, adding more than 3,600 protected hospital beds at a cost exceeding 670 million shekels, including during the recent war with Iran. Additional funding for hospital protection projects, including at Soroka Medical Center, is expected to be included in the 2026 state budget.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
The Marinera is part of what analysts refer to as a “shadow fleet” of vessels used to transport oil for countries under sanctions, including Venezuela and Iran, despite mounting enforcement actions by the United States and allied partners. The ship has been under U.S. sanctions since 2024 for alleged involvement in carrying cargo linked to the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.
Ship-tracking data showed the tanker approaching the waters near Iceland before its seizure. Russia reportedly deployed a submarine and other naval vessels to escort the tanker across the Atlantic. Moscow’s foreign ministry had earlier urged Washington to halt its pursuit, asserting that the vessel was operating under international maritime law.
Later Wednesday morning, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) announced the separate seizure of another oil tanker, the M/T Sophia, in the Caribbean.
“In a pre-dawn action this morning, the Department of War, in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, apprehended a stateless, sanctioned dark fleet motor tanker without incident,” SOUTHCOM said.
It added that the interdicted vessel was conducting “illicit activities” in the Caribbean and is being escorted by the U.S. Coast Guard to the United States for “final disposition.”
“Through Operation Southern Spear, the Department of War is unwavering in its mission to crush illicit activity in the Western Hemisphere. We will defend our Homeland and restore security and strength across the Americas,” said SOUTHCOM.
The interceptions follow a period of intensified U.S. pressure on Venezuela’s oil sector, including the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro last week during a U.S. raid in Caracas. Venezuelan officials have condemned the tanker pursuit, framing it as an attempt to seize the country’s oil resources, while U.S. authorities maintain that enforcement of sanctions and maritime law is the primary objective.
The situation could further strain U.S.–Russia relations as Washington continues to clamp down on sanctioned oil flows at sea.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Arabic media outlets have previously cited PIJ sources claiming that Gvili’s body was transferred to Hamas custody during the course of the war and has since been held in eastern Gaza City.
Israeli officials have made clear that Israel will not agree to advance to the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire arrangement until Gvili’s body is returned, underscoring the national and moral imperative to bring the last remaining hostage home for proper burial.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Five states — California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York — are targeted, and the HHS said they had been notified.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said earlier in the day that New York is prepared to take the administration to court, as Democratic-led states have done scores of times now.
“We’ll fight this with every fiber of our being, because our kids should not be political pawns in a fight that Donald Trump seems to have with blue state governors,” she said.
The plan to withhold the funds was first reported by the New York Post.
The targeted programs provide lifelines to some of the neediest Americans:
— The Child Care and Development Fund subsidizes day care for low-income households, enabling parents to work or go to school.
— Temporary Assistance for Needy Families provides cash assistance and job training so parents in poverty can afford diapers and clothes and earn paychecks.
— The Social Services Block Grant, a much smaller fund, supports several different social service programs.
“These resources support families in need and help them access food and much more. If true, it would be awful to see the federal government targeting the most needy families and children this way,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’ office said in a statement.
Trump himself has not spoken on the specifics, but he proclaimed on social media Tuesday: “The Fraud Investigation of California has begun.”
Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, said via email that “Donald Trump is a deranged, habitual liar whose relationship with reality ended years ago.” She also defended California’s record on stamping out fraud in government programs.
New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said Trump’s move to halt funding aims to score political points, not to stop fraud.
“It’s our job to serve the people most in need and most at risk — no matter what state they live in or what political party their family or elected representatives belong to,” she said in a statement. “To use the power of the government to harm the neediest Americans is immoral and indefensible.”
For months the has claimed that federally funded programs are being defrauded and used that assertion as a rationale to hold up money.
Federal child care funding has been on hold in Minnesota since late last month amid investigations into a series of alleged fraud schemes at day care centers run by people with family roots in Somalia.
In the fallout, HHS officials said no state will receive child care funds without providing more verification. Several states have told The Associated Press that they have not received any guidance on that decision.
The administration also raised fraud claims involving SNAP, the country’s main food aid program, saying it would halt administrative money to states — most Democratic-run ones — unless they provide requested details on recipients. That process could take months.
The administration has said the information provided by most GOP-controlled states shows fraud may be worse than previously believed, though it has not provided the data or detailed reports.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told Fox News on Tuesday that his agency also plans to audit Minnesota’s Medicaid bills in search of potential fraud. He did not provide any evidence of fraud that had been found.
(AP)
Now, as he himself needs Rachamei Shamayim, his family is calling on the public to daven fervently for a refuah sheleimah for Uri ben Malka b’toch sha’ar cholei Yisrael.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Addressing the charged atmosphere surrounding recent events, Netanyahu called for restraint, stressing the need to prevent further loss of life. “At the same time, I call for restraint to prevent the mood from becoming further inflamed, so that, Heaven forbid, we do not have additional tragedies,” he said. “The value of the sanctity of life is engraved in our heritage, and we must safeguard it above all else.”
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Witness Yaakov Zimberg told Channel 12 News, “The bus arrived, and bochurim blocked it. He called the police for help. They touched his windshield wipers, blocked him, and hit the windshield. Suddenly, he hit the gas full throttle.”
Another eyewitness told Ynet, “They stopped the driver and spat at him. He then plowed into the Chareidim and ran them over. I was thrown aside. He turned into another street, ran over three more people there, and now there’s a kid who was crushed by the bus.”
Moshe, who was at the scene, told Ynet, “The driver was going 70–80 km per hour He reached the intersection, turned, saw a child approaching, and didn’t stop—we all saw what happened next.”
The police announced on Wednesday morning that the driver, Fakhri Khatib, will be charged with the offenses of murder under aggravated circumstances and reckless driving.
However, the police later decided to change the charges to negligent homicide, causing severe injury to a minor, and reckless driving. At a hearing at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday afternoon, a police representative said, “We removed the murder charge after review.”
Khatib, a 49-year-old resident of East Jerusalem, was brought before the court, and police initially requested to extend his detention by 15 days.
During the hearing, the driver’s defense attorney said that he “was attacked, spat upon, and felt in danger.” He added that the driver did not see the boy at the front of the bus: “He acted to save his life without intending to harm people.” He also claimed that it was a political investigation and asked why no Chareidi protesters had been arrested. Judge Sharon Lary-Babli responded sharply, referring to police video footage.
“He doesn’t see them?” she said. “He doesn’t see 20 children are standing in front of him?” Babli raised her voice at the lawyer: “How is the driver the victim when there is a dead child? At least say that he’s also the victim.”
The judge ruled that he will remain in custody for nine days. She said, “Another video shows the bus charging toward the protesters. The defense claims the driver feared for his life, called the police and could not reverse because protesters were behind him. I believe the driver felt danger, and the phone call supports that claim. I also believe that being spat at and attacked is a stressful situation.”
“However,” she added, “I do not believe that driving rapidly into a crowd was the correct option. The victim is the deceased, not the driver. I do not accept the claim that this is a political case.”
A police representative told the court that senior Israel Prison Service and police officials were present at the hearing due to the severity of the case. She said the high level of danger posed by the suspect stemmed from “the audacity of driving at speed into a crowd of teenagers.”
The incident was initially designated as a hit-and-run during a disturbance of public order, but in the wake of developments in the investigation, the charge was changed to murder—a decision that was reversed hours later.
An initial police investigation indicated that after the ramming, the bus driver continued driving for about 500 meters with the youth trapped beneath the bus. The driver was arrested for questioning and claimed he was trying to “escape” after protesters blocked his path. The head of the “Extra” Bus company was summoned for a hearing at the Ministry of Transportation.
The company stated, “We are shocked by the incident and wish to share in the grief of the family and the community. The incident is under police investigation, and the company is fully cooperating and will provide any information required.”
Jerusalem District Commander, Deputy Commissioner Avshalom Peled, addressed the incident on Wednesday afternoon, saying, “Last night a serious ramming incident occurred during a public order disturbance that developed at one of the city’s junctions.
“At the outset of my remarks, Israel Police shares in the heavy grief of the deceased’s family, and I send them my condolences.”
“The serious incident occurred at a central intersection, which was not part of the protest area, as we designated it as a critical route that remained open to vehicle traffic to enable routine life in the area.
“The bus driver suspected of involvement in the incident was immediately arrested and transferred for questioning. During his investigation, he claimed he felt distress and tried to leave the area. I want to emphasize here that this claim does not detract from the severity of the incident, and the investigation continues with full severity while examining all investigative directions and collecting findings and evidence.”
“Israel Police respects the Chareidi public, and my door as district commander is always open to any dialogue. The protest rally that took place with police approval on Bar Ilan Street took place in an orderly manner.”
“As Israel Police and Jerusalem District Police, we will continue to act and enable freedom of protest while maintaining public order and the safety of all citizens.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Witness Yaakov Zimberg told Channel 12 News, “The bus arrived, and bochurim blocked it. He called the police for help. They touched his windshield wipers, blocked him, and hit the windshield. Suddenly, he hit the gas full throttle.”
Another eyewitness told Ynet, “They stopped the driver and spat at him. He then plowed into the Chareidim and ran them over. I was thrown aside. He turned into another street, ran over three more people there, and now there’s a kid who was crushed by the bus.”
Moshe, who was at the scene, told Ynet, “The driver was going 70–80 km per hour He reached the intersection, turned, saw a child approaching, and didn’t stop—we all saw what happened next.”
The police announced on Wednesday morning that the driver, Fakhri Khatib, will be charged with the offenses of murder under aggravated circumstances and reckless driving.
However, the police later decided to change the charges to negligent homicide, causing severe injury to a minor, and reckless driving. At a hearing at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday afternoon, a police representative said, “We removed the murder charge after review.”
Khatib, a 49-year-old resident of East Jerusalem, was brought before the court, and police initially requested to extend his detention by 15 days.
During the hearing, the driver’s defense attorney said that he “was attacked, spat upon, and felt in danger.” He added that the driver did not see the boy at the front of the bus: “He acted to save his life without intending to harm people.” He also claimed that it was a political investigation and asked why no Chareidi protesters had been arrested. Judge Sharon Lary-Babli responded sharply, referring to police video footage.
“He doesn’t see them?” she said. “He doesn’t see 20 children are standing in front of him?” Babli raised her voice at the lawyer: “How is the driver the victim when there is a dead child? At least say that he’s also the victim.”
The judge ruled that he will remain in custody for nine days. She said, “Another video shows the bus charging toward the protesters. The defense claims the driver feared for his life, called the police and could not reverse because protesters were behind him. I believe the driver felt danger, and the phone call supports that claim. I also believe that being spat at and attacked is a stressful situation.”
“However,” she added, “I do not believe that driving rapidly into a crowd was the correct option. The victim is the deceased, not the driver. I do not accept the claim that this is a political case.”
A police representative told the court that senior Israel Prison Service and police officials were present at the hearing due to the severity of the case. She said the high level of danger posed by the suspect stemmed from “the audacity of driving at speed into a crowd of teenagers.”
The incident was initially designated as a hit-and-run during a disturbance of public order, but in the wake of developments in the investigation, the charge was changed to murder—a decision that was reversed hours later.
An initial police investigation indicated that after the ramming, the bus driver continued driving for about 500 meters with the youth trapped beneath the bus. The driver was arrested for questioning and claimed he was trying to “escape” after protesters blocked his path. The head of the “Extra” Bus company was summoned for a hearing at the Ministry of Transportation.
The company stated, “We are shocked by the incident and wish to share in the grief of the family and the community. The incident is under police investigation, and the company is fully cooperating and will provide any information required.”
Jerusalem District Commander, Deputy Commissioner Avshalom Peled, addressed the incident on Wednesday afternoon, saying, “Last night a serious ramming incident occurred during a public order disturbance that developed at one of the city’s junctions.
“At the outset of my remarks, Israel Police shares in the heavy grief of the deceased’s family, and I send them my condolences.”
“The serious incident occurred at a central intersection, which was not part of the protest area, as we designated it as a critical route that remained open to vehicle traffic to enable routine life in the area.
“The bus driver suspected of involvement in the incident was immediately arrested and transferred for questioning. During his investigation, he claimed he felt distress and tried to leave the area. I want to emphasize here that this claim does not detract from the severity of the incident, and the investigation continues with full severity while examining all investigative directions and collecting findings and evidence.”
“Israel Police respects the Chareidi public, and my door as district commander is always open to any dialogue. The protest rally that took place with police approval on Bar Ilan Street took place in an orderly manner.”
“As Israel Police and Jerusalem District Police, we will continue to act and enable freedom of protest while maintaining public order and the safety of all citizens.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said, “Those who demanded the conscription of Chareidim in one fell swoop received the image they wanted this evening. This is a time for cheshbon hanefesh and repentance. An attempt to ignite a civil war endangers the future of the state. It is tearing the nation apart from within and bringing about severe hatred toward the Chareidi public that will take many years to repair.”
UTJ MK Yisrael Eichler contacted the chairman of the Knesset’s National Security Committee and demanded that an urgent meeting be held to probe the circumstances of the case.
In his letter, Eichler wrote that “the shocking case of a boy being run over by a rampaging bus driver during the Chareidi demonstration in Jerusalem cannot be swept under the rug under any circumstances. I request that you schedule an urgent discussion in the National Security Committee to examine how this happened and how the bus was not stopped before it plowed into the crowd.”
“I request that all relevant authorities from the police, the Ministry of Transportation, and the transportation company be summoned for this purpose. In addition, I request to determine whether the police response against road blockers was similar to road-blocking incidents during the Kaplan protests in Tel Aviv.”
Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion said, “I am deeply shaken by the terrible disaster that occurred this evening in Jerusalem, in which a 13-year-old boy lost his life in such a tragic manner during a demonstration. There is no ideological dispute—no matter how difficult—that justifies violence or harm to human life. This is a dangerous escalation and a severe deterioration that we must not pass over in silence. I send my heartfelt condolences to the family.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said, “My heart bleeds following the killing of the boy Yosef Eisenthal, z’l, this evening, as a result of being run over by a bus driver in Jerusalem. I share in the deep sorrow of his family at this difficult time.”
“This is a serious incident that must be investigated thoroughly and comprehensively. The police informed me that all investigative directions regarding the incident are being examined and that it is being treated with the utmost severity.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
He was the grandson of HaRav Uriel Eisenthal, the Rav of the Ramot Gimmel neighborhood of Jerusalem.
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The niftar’s Bar Mitzvah invitation.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
He was the grandson of HaRav Uriel Eisenthal, the Rav of the Ramot Gimmel neighborhood of Jerusalem.
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The niftar’s Bar Mitzvah invitation.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
But Yudkin’s criticism goes far beyond prison conditions. He attacked the very premise that the IDF needs Chareidi recruits, saying that the IDF leadership is waging an inciteful and divisive political campaign.
“The whole Chareidi draft story is nonsense—purely political and inciteful. The army is not short on manpower—it’s lying.” He cited data showing that thousands of Chareidim who arrived for second‑stage induction were immediately sent home with exemptions and that tens of thousands of reservists from disbanded units have not been called up even once since October 7.
It should be noted that this data has been confirmed by other sources.
Yudkin also highlighted the total lack of even minimal accommodations for integrating Chareidim into the IDF. While the military has detailed directives for integrating women, he noted, there is not a single order safeguarding the needs of Chareidi soldiers regarding kashrus or gender separation.
“It’s absurd that the commanders of a married Chareidi soldier in prison are female soldiers. There isn’t even a gender‑appropriate facility,” he said.
Yudkin slammed the fact that the system is dragging Israel back to the divisive discourse of October 6 instead of fostering unity. “We must stop IDF senior officials who have blood on their hands—they’re continuing to incite us from within.”
Yudkin also mentioned an interesting proposal: using the “conscientious objector” pathway, similar to the method employed by radical left‑wing groups. He mentioned New Profile, an organization that helps thousands of leftists secure IDF exemptions on ideological grounds.
“If the Chareidim declare themselves conscientious objectors, it will expose the political nature of the entire issue,” he asserted.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Clashes between protesters and security forces continued nationwide, with smoke filling major thoroughfares in Tehran and other cities as police deployed tear gas to disperse crowds. According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, at least 36 people have been killed since the unrest began—34 protesters and two members of the security forces—while more than 1,200 people have been detained and at least 60 injured.
The protests, which began Dec. 28, have been fueled by a rapidly deteriorating economy. Iran’s currency, the rial, fell to a record low of roughly 1.46 million to the dollar on Tuesday, compared with about 430,000 to the dollar in 2002. Inflation has surged to at least 42.2% year over year, while prices for food and other essentials have skyrocketed beyond the reach of much of the population.
The government’s new subsidy plan would redirect an estimated $10 billion previously spent on import subsidies in an effort to stabilize food prices, according to reporting by The New York Times. Economists, however, say the measure barely scratches the surface.
“It’s a small amount for the middle class and will not meaningfully improve their standard of living,” said Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, founder of the U.K.-based Bourse & Bazaar Foundation. “It may help the poorest households slightly, but what the government can afford is nowhere near enough to alleviate the pressures most Iranians are facing.”
The unrest has drawn heavy participation from traders, shopkeepers, and university students, particularly in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, where businesses have shuttered amid rolling strikes. Protesters have increasingly chanted slogans calling for the removal of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, escalating the political stakes of what began as an economic uprising.
Security forces have responded aggressively, at times firing tear gas and plastic bullets into crowds. The scale and intensity of the protests mark the most serious challenge to the Islamic Republic since the death of Mahsa Jina Amini in 2022, which sparked months of nationwide demonstrations after she died in police custody.
International pressure on Iran has mounted as well. New United Nations sanctions imposed in September have further strained the economy, compounding the effects of long-standing U.S. restrictions and limiting access to foreign currency and trade.
U.S. President Donald Trump weighed in last Friday with a stern warning, saying the United States was “locked and loaded” to support Iranian protesters if the government continues to use lethal force.
“If Iran violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue,” Trump said, without elaborating on what such support would entail.
Despite the mounting death toll and mass arrests, there were no signs Tuesday that the protests were slowing. For many demonstrators, the government’s $7-a-month promise has become a symbol of how far removed Iran’s leadership is from the daily reality facing its people—and why they are refusing to leave the streets.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Israeli Ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor condemned the attack, warning that it reflects a broader ideological threat. “The radical part of the ‘Palestine solidarity’ movement is not only antisemitic, but terrorist,” Prosor wrote, adding that the hatred directed at Israel “goes hand in hand with hatred of our democracy.”
Büttner said the vandalism was not political expression but an explicit act of intimidation. “The red Hamas triangle is an internationally known sign of jihadist violence and antisemitic incitement,” he said. “This is not a protest, it is a threat.”
In a public statement, Büttner called the attack a “massive escalation” and said it would not weaken his resolve. “Such acts do not lead to me becoming quieter,” he wrote. “They strengthen me in what I do.”
Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke also denounced the attack, stating that violence “against people or things is and remains absolutely unacceptable,” and confirmed that a police investigation is underway.
Jewish leaders warned that the incident reflects a broader climate of intimidation aimed at silencing those who confront antisemitism. Jochen Feilcke, chairman of the German-Israeli Society Berlin and Brandenburg, described the attack as “Hamas’s terrorism applied on a small scale,” arguing that it was intended to frighten anyone pushing back against rising antisemitism.
Speaking to Tagesspiegel, Feilcke criticized segments of the political left for tolerating or amplifying rhetoric that can spill into violence.
The symbolism itself carries a dark historical resonance. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, the red triangle was originally used by the Nazis to label political prisoners in concentration camps. While survivors later reclaimed it as a symbol of resistance, Holocaust scholars note that its recent adoption by Hamas and extremist activists represents a stark and troubling inversion—one that fuses modern jihadist violence with imagery rooted in Europe’s genocidal past.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
“They sell poison as patriotism,” he said. “If the West allows these voices to rewrite history and erase the line between good and evil, it is committing civilizational suicide.”
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The comments land squarely in the middle of an intensifying ideological rift inside the American right, particularly within the MAGA movement, where Carlson and Owens have emerged as leading voices pushing a more isolationist, conspiratorial and openly antisemitic worldview.
Carlson, who was fired from Fox News in 2023 following the network’s massive defamation settlement, has increasingly turned his fire inward on fellow conservatives. In recent months, he has accused conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, an Orthodox Jew, of being more loyal to Israel than to the United States and of promoting “usury,” a classic antisemitic trope.
Owens, who first rose to prominence after being promoted by Shapiro on the Daily Wire, has gone even further. She has derided Shapiro as a “Talmudic Jew,” encouraged her audience to purchase a long-discredited 19th-century antisemitic pamphlet, and promoted conspiracy theories claiming Jews orchestrated the transatlantic slave trade and believe they have “a right to own us.”
Illouz said he is unconcerned about accusations that he is meddling in American domestic politics.
“Defending the alliance between America and Israel is not interfering,” he said. “I am in touch with many pro-Israel conservatives who know that Candace and Tucker are a threat to America as much as to Israel.”
Shapiro himself publicly confronted the issue in December during a speech at the Heritage Foundation, where he warned that tolerating antisemitism on the right would destroy conservatism from within.
“If conservatives do not stand up and draw lines,” Shapiro said at the time, “conservatism and the dream of America itself will cease to exist.”
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At least 24 Venezuelan security officers were killed in the dead-of-night U.S. military operation to capture Nicolás Maduro and spirit him to the United States to face drug charges, officials said Tuesday.
Venezuelan officials announced the death count as the country’s acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, pushed back on President Donald Trump, who earlier this week warned she’d face an outcome worse than Maduro’s if she does not “do what’s right” and overhaul Venezuela into a country that aligns with U.S. interests. Trump has said his administration will now “run” Venezuela policy and is pressing the country’s leaders to open its vast oil reserves to American energy companies.
“Personally, to those who threaten me,” Rodriguez said in an address before government agricultural and industrial sector officials. “My destiny is not determined by them, but by God.”
Venezuela’s Attorney General Tarek William Saab said overall “dozens” of officers and civilians were killed in the weekend strike in Caracas and that prosecutors would investigate the deaths in what he described as a “war crime.” He didn’t specify if the estimate was specifically referring to Venezuelans.
In addition to the Venezuelan security officials, Cuba’s government had previously confirmed that 32 Cuban military and police officers working in Venezuela were killed in the raid. The Cuban government says the personnel killed belonged to the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior, the country’s two main security agencies.
Seven U.S. service members were also injured in the raid, according to the Pentagon. Five have already returned to duty, while two are still recovering from their injuries. The injuries included gunshot wounds and shrapnel injuries, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment on the matter publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
A video tribute to the slain Venezuelan security officials posted to the military’s Instagram features faces of the fallen over black-and-white videos of soldiers, American aircraft flying over Caracas and armored vehicles destroyed by the blasts. Meanwhile, the streets of Caracas, deserted for days following Maduro’s capture, briefly filled with masses of people waving Venezuelan flags and bouncing to patriotic music at a state-organized display of support for the government.
“Their spilled blood does not cry out for vengeance, but for justice and strength,” the military wrote in an Instagram post. “It reaffirms our unwavering oath not to rest until we rescue our legitimate President, completely dismantle the terrorist groups operating from abroad, and ensure that events such as these never again sully our sovereign soil.”
Trump on Tuesday pushed back against Democratic criticism of this weekend’s military operation, noting that his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden had also called for the arrest of the Venezuelan leader on drug trafficking charges.
Trump in remarks before a House Republican retreat in Washington grumbled that Democrats were not giving him credit for a successful military operation, even though there was bipartisan agreement that Maduro was not the rightful president of Venezuela.
In 2020, Maduro was indicted in the United States, accused in a decades-long narco-terrorism and international cocaine trafficking conspiracy. White House officials have noted that Biden’s administration in his final days in office last year raised the award for information leading to Maduro’s arrest after he assumed a third term in office despite evidence suggesting that he lost Venezuela’s most recent election. The Trump administration doubled the award to $50 million in August.
“You know, at some point, they should say, ‘You know, you did a great job. Thank you. Congratulations.’ Wouldn’t it be good?” Trump said. “I would say that if they did a good job, their philosophies are so different. But if they did a good job, I’d be happy for the country. They’ve been after this guy for years and years and years.”
Trump’s latest comments came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top officials briefed leaders in Congress late Monday on the Venezuela operation amid mounting concerns that the Republican administration is embarking on a new era of U.S. expansionism without consultation with lawmakers or a clear vision for running the South American country.
Democratic leaders said the session lacked clarity about the Trump administration’s plans for Venezuela. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., an Iraq War veteran, said there is no dispute with Trump that Maduro was a “brutal dictator.”
“But the problem we have is the fact that yet again we have now entered into a war where there is no known off-ramp,” Duckworth said.
Americans are split about the capture of Maduro — with many still forming opinions — according to a poll conducted by The Washington Post and SSRS using text messages over the weekend. About 4 in 10 approved of the U.S. military being sent to capture Maduro, while roughly the same share were opposed. About 2 in 10 were unsure.
Nearly half of Americans, 45%, were opposed to the U.S. taking control of Venezuela and choosing a new government for the country. About 9 in 10 Americans said the Venezuelan people should be the ones to decide the future leadership of their country.
Maduro pleaded not guilty to federal drug trafficking charges in a U.S. courtroom on Monday. U.S. forces captured Maduro and his wife early Saturday in a raid on a compound where they were surrounded by Cuban guards.
In the days since Maduro’s ouster, Trump and top administration officials have raised anxiety around the globe that the operation could mark the beginning of a more expansionist U.S. foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere. The president in recent days has renewed his calls for an American takeover of the Danish territory of Greenland for the sake of U.S. security interests and threatened military action on Colombia for facilitating the global sale of cocaine, while his top diplomat declared the communist government in Cuba is “in a lot of trouble.”
Colombia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Rosa Villavicencio said Tuesday she’ll meet with the U.S. Embassy’s charge d’affaires in Bogota to present him with a formal complaint over the recent threats issued by the United States.
On Sunday, Trump said he wasn’t ruling out an attack on Colombia and described its president, who’s been an outspoken critic of the U.S. pressure campaign on Venezuela, as a “sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.”
Villavicencio said she’s hoping to strengthen relations with the United States and improve cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking.
“It is necessary for the Trump administration to know in more detail about all that we are doing in the fight against drug trafficking,” she said.
Meanwhile, the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom on Tuesday joined Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in defending Greenland’s sovereignty. The island is a self-governing territory of the kingdom of Denmark and thus part of the NATO military alliance.
“Greenland belongs to its people,” the statement said. “It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
(AP)
According to the institute, the shift is largely driven by changing attitudes among Jewish Israelis on the political right. Support for a state commission among right-wing Jewish respondents fell by more than 20 percentage points, from 57% in January 2025 to 36% in the most recent survey.
By contrast, support for a state commission remains overwhelming on the left, at 100%, and strong among centrists, at 84%, the poll found.
As backing for a state commission notably declined, support for alternative forms of investigation increased. The survey found that 22% of Israelis now favor an investigative panel appointed by the government, an increase of 5.5 percentage points since January 2025 and 8.5 points since July 2024. An additional 8% said they support a review conducted by the state comptroller, the defense establishment, and relevant government agencies.
Among supporters of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, opinion is divided. According to the poll, 36.5% of Likud voters support a state commission of inquiry, while 36% favor a government-appointed investigative body.
Netanyahu has consistently opposed the formation of a state commission, arguing that because such commissions are appointed by the judiciary — whose authority his government has sought to limit — they would be inherently biased against the coalition.
Last month, Netanyahu’s coalition advanced legislation aimed at establishing an alternative investigative framework. The bill, sponsored by Likud MK Ariel Kallner, passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset. The proposal would require a supermajority of 80 out of 120 lawmakers to appoint a six-member investigative committee and its chair. If agreement is not reached within two weeks, the coalition and opposition would each select three members, with four additional supervisory members representing bereaved families.
Under the proposal, if either side refuses to participate or cannot agree on candidates, the Knesset speaker would make the appointments. Opposition parties have said they would boycott such a commission, a move that critics argue would effectively leave control of the body in the hands of the governing coalition.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
He said Somaliland has demonstrated political stability and democratic governance for decades, noting that it has held regular elections and experienced peaceful transfers of power since declaring independence from Somalia in 1991.
“Somaliland is, and has been, a stable democracy for nearly 35 years,” Sa’ar said. “It has democratic elections, most recently in November 2024, and peaceful transitions of power. It’s pro-Western and friendly to Israel.”
Sa’ar said Israel was “truly honored” to be the first country to formally recognize Somaliland’s independence, a move that breaks with the longstanding international consensus that treats the territory as part of Somalia.
“This is the moral thing to do and this is what we did,” Sa’ar said. “We hear the attacks, the criticism, the condemnations. Nobody will determine for Israel whom we recognize and whom we maintain diplomatic relations with.”
The foreign minister added that Israel hopes other countries will follow its lead, amid speculation that additional states may be considering recognition of Somaliland in the near future.
Somaliland has operated as a de facto independent state since the early 1990s, with its own government, military, currency, and electoral system, but has lacked formal international recognition. Israel’s decision marks the first such recognition by a United Nations member state and could have broader diplomatic implications in the Horn of Africa.
Neither the Israeli Foreign Ministry nor Somaliland officials commented on whether the visit would lead to the establishment of full diplomatic missions or formal bilateral agreements, though Sa’ar described the recognition as a step toward deepening ties between the two sides.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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Scarborough said he called the president on Monday hoping to gain insight into what the administration planned to do next in Venezuela. Instead, much of their roughly 20-minute conversation focused on Trump recounting the military operation itself.
“He talked an awful lot about the courage shown by those who raided Maduro’s fortress,” Scarborough said, adding that Trump praised the speed with which U.S. forces overwhelmed Cuban troops guarding the Venezuelan leader. According to Scarborough, the president framed the operation as a broader signal of American strength to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and Iran.
Trump has publicly said that the United States intends to play a central role in rebuilding Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, with U.S. energy companies moving in to restore production and get “the oil flowing the way it should be.” Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One late Sunday, Trump said the country’s vast energy resources would be critical to Venezuela’s recovery.
“But when I pressed comparisons with America’s failed occupation of Iraq, the president’s response was very different,” Scarborough said.
Scarborough recounted asking Trump whether his statements about “running everything” in Venezuela raised concerns given the outcome in Iraq.
“The president’s response,” Scarborough said, “was: ‘Joe, the difference between Iraq and this is that Bush didn’t keep the oil. We’re going to keep the oil.’”
Scarborough said Trump emphasized that his comments were no longer off the record, explicitly tying his current policy to remarks he made nearly a decade ago.
“In 2016, I said we should have kept the oil. It caused a lot of controversy,” Scarborough quoted Trump as saying. “Well, we should have kept the oil, and we’re going to rebuild their broken down oil facilities, and this time we’re going to keep the oil.”
“Saying the United States is entering a new era of geopolitical engagement seems to be an understatement,” Scarborough concluded.
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(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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“I was really saddened by his passing,” Trump said.
The president said he considered not giving the speech to honor LaMalfa but decided to go ahead with it “because he would have wanted it that way.”
Trump said the late congressman “wasn’t a 3 o’clock in the morning person” like other lawmakers he would call in the wee hours to lobby for their votes.
“He voted with me 100% of the time,” Trump said. “With Doug, I never had to call.”
Meanwhile, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York called for a moment of silence in honor of LaMalfa at the start of a panel at the Capitol commemorating the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.
Details surrounding LaMalfa’s death were unclear.
David Reade, a former chief of staff of LaMalfa’s from the state legislature, became emotional remembering LaMalfa, who he said was committed to his district and proud of his family and Christian faith.
“One of my great memories of Doug is that, you know, he would show up at the smallest events that were important in people’s lives in this district,” Reade said in a phone interview. “Whether it was a birthday, it was, you, know, a family gathering, it was the smallest organization in his district, and he would drive literally hundreds and hundreds of miles to be there.”
LaMalfa represented Northern California’s 1st District, along the Oregon border, including Redding and reaching just north of Sacramento. He had planned to run for reelection despite his district being dramatically redrawn under a ballot measure passed by California voters in November. The measure, backed by Democrats, was designed to make it harder for LaMalfa and four other Republicans to win reelection.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, must call a special election to replace LaMalfa, his office said. The election could happen as late as June, when California will hold its primary for the 2026 midterm.
Hudson, the NRCC chairman, called LaMalfa “a principled conservative and a tireless advocate for the people of Northern California.”
“He was never afraid to fight for rural communities, farmers, and working families,” Hudson said. “Doug brought grit, authenticity, and conviction to everything he did in public service.”
First elected to Congress in 2012, he was a regular presence on the House floor, helping GOP leadership open the chamber and offer his view local and national affairs.
C-SPAN in a recent compilation said he gave at least one set of remarks for the record on 81 days in 2025. Only two other lawmakers spoke on the House floor more frequently.
(AP)
“G-d gave me courage,” stated ahmed, who was shot as a result of his actions, as he recovered.
Among those murdered at the Hanukkah event at Bondi was Rabbi Eli Schlanger, son-in-law of Chabad of Bondi’s founder, Rabbi Ulman.
Most of the victims were members of Rabbi Ulman’s congregation. He presided over the funerals, including that of his son-in-law, who served alongside him. Rabbi Ulman has emerged as the voice of the victims and Sydney’s Jewish community.
Economic pressures are intensifying by the day. Iran’s Central Bank of Iran has sharply reduced the subsidized dollar exchange rates offered to importers and producers — a move expected to trigger immediate price hikes on basic goods. Merchants warn that consumers, already battered by years of international sanctions, are nearing a breaking point as savings evaporate and purchasing power collapses.
In a rare public admission of weakness, President Masoud Pezeshkian acknowledged that the crisis is slipping beyond the state’s control. Speaking in a televised address, Pezeshkian ordered an investigation into one protest incident but conceded that the government is overwhelmed.
“We should not expect the government to handle all of this alone,” Pezeshkian said. “The government simply does not have that capacity.”
The statement — unusually blunt by Iranian leadership standards — underscores the severity of the moment. The Grand Bazaar has historically functioned as a bellwether for regime stability; when merchants close their shops, it has often preceded major political upheaval, including the 1979 revolution.
For now, Tehran is attempting to project authority through force, but Tuesday’s scenes suggest the unrest is hardening rather than fading. With the rial in free fall, prices poised to spike, and the president openly warning of institutional limits, Iran’s leadership faces a convergence of economic and political pressures that security crackdowns alone may no longer be able to contain.
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Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch responded, “We need a lot of rachamim. They don’t rest. If it doesn’t work for them in one way, they look for another way.”
HaRav Shternbuch ended by saying, “Their downfall will be very great indeed.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Machado, who spent years in hiding under Maduro’s rule and continues to operate largely from exile, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her leadership against what the Norwegian Nobel Committee described as Venezuela’s dictatorship. She said she immediately dedicated the prize to Donald Trump, insisting that his decisive intervention proved skeptics wrong.
“Let me be very clear,” Machado said. “As soon as I learned that we had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, I dedicated it to Trump because I knew at that point he deserved it. Most people said it was impossible to achieve what he has just done.”
Pressed on whether she had formally offered Trump the award, Machado said the moment had not yet come — but made clear the gesture was more than rhetorical.
“I would certainly love to be able to personally tell him that we, the Venezuelan people — because this is a prize of the Venezuelan people — want to give it to him and share it with him,” she said.
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The gushing praise comes as the Trump administration signals caution about Machado’s political viability inside Venezuela. Trump told the New York Post over the weekend that he was uncertain Machado had “the support of the people that she has to have,” even as Washington opted not to immediately install her or another opposition figure in power.
Instead, Maduro’s longtime vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, was sworn in Monday as interim president, a move that reflects U.S. intelligence assessments prioritizing short-term stability over a rapid political handoff. According to the Wall Street Journal, the CIA concluded Rodríguez was better positioned to maintain order in the fragile post-Maduro environment, while Machado could face fierce resistance from security forces and paramilitary groups loyal to the old regime.
That judgment has frustrated segments of the Venezuelan opposition, even as Machado frames Maduro’s capture as an irreversible moral defeat.
Maduro himself struck a defiant tone during his first appearance in Manhattan federal court on Monday, where he appeared in chains and claimed he had been “kidnapped,” declaring, “I am a decent man,” as prosecutors advanced sweeping charges tied to narcotics trafficking and terrorism.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
“From today, those who serve are at the top, and those who choose to evade service are at the bottom,” Bennett declared, immediately placing his initiative on a collision course with the chareidi community and the Torah world.
Bennett, who formally reentered politics last year after registering a new party, is widely viewed as the most formidable potential challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the next national election. He made clear that the proposed law would be nonnegotiable. “This will be the flagship law of the next government,” Bennett said, adding that any party seeking to join a coalition under his leadership would be required to support it.
According to Bennett, the legislation is designed to fundamentally reorder national priorities: expanding benefits for those who serve in the IDF, cutting off state support for those who do not, and creating financial incentives meant, in his words, to drive chareidim into military service.
“This law will cause massive numbers of chareidi youths to join the IDF,” Bennett asserted, a claim met with deep skepticism across the yeshivah world, where limud haTorah is viewed as a national and spiritual obligation that cannot be measured in economic terms.
Bennett stressed that IDF soldiers and reservists do not serve for financial gain. “We serve in the IDF out of a sense of mission and love for our country, and we will continue to serve under any circumstances regardless of economic conditions,” he said. Nonetheless, he argued that the proposed benefits are “essential economically, morally, and for uniting the nation.”
Under the plan, active reservists would receive government grants toward the purchase of a first home, subsidized childcare, and ongoing assistance with utility bills for as long as they continue reserve service. Soldiers who complete mandatory service would be eligible for fully funded undergraduate degrees—an entitlement currently limited largely to combat soldiers—while combat troops would also receive full funding for master’s degrees. Additional benefits would include childcare assistance and subsidized public transportation.
Those who do not serve, Bennett said bluntly, “won’t receive anything.”
The former prime minister claimed the initiative would be financed by reallocating approximately NIS 25 billion (about $7.9 billion) that he alleges is currently directed toward “draft dodgers and coalition handouts.” He insisted the funding sources are concrete and identifiable. “This money exists,” Bennett said. “I built the servicemembers’ bill with people who were in the Budget Department and the Housing Ministry and know exactly where these billions are now.”
Bennett further claimed that the legislation would ultimately inject more than NIS 100 billion into the Israeli economy—funds he argued are currently “being wasted because of draft evasion.”
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“There is a full partnership between Venezuela and Hezbollah,” he asserted. “People are unaware of the danger that Venezuela poses to the US. It is responsible for billions in terror funding and the transfer of terror elements. President Trump understood this. It isn’t just a matter of drug trafficking—it’s a terror machine at the US’s back door. Trump wants to send a clear message to the Iranian regime, and I think he was successful in that.”
Dr. Diker rebuffed the claims of those claiming that Trump’s decision was spurred by US interest in taking control of Venezuela’s oil resources. “I heard such criticism over the past few days. There is a war here between the axis of evil and Venezuela, Russia, China, and Iran, which are taking control of the economic axis of evil through oil. What is preferable—that they control it, or that the United States, Saudi Arabia, and the Emiratis, who represent a stabilizing force in the global energy landscape—control it? That’s the choice.”
“In 1983, President Reagan invaded Grenada and captured Cuban military agents. In 1986, the US attacked Libya, and in 1989, captured Manuel Noriega, the dictator of Panama, for the same things—trafficking drugs and supporting terror—and he sat in an American prison for 17 years. So why are they criticizing Trump, who is doing the same thing as his two predecessors? It is subjective criticism like that against Netanyahu.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
▪️ From approximately 12:00 noon until the end of the protest, the streets adjacent to Bar Ilan and Tzefania streets will be closed to vehicular traffic.
▪️ Golda Meir Street will be closed from the Shefa intersection towards the Bar Ilan junction.
▪️ Additional closures may occur on nearby streets and roads leading to the gathering points.
▪️As a result, significant traffic jams are expected at the entrances and exits to Jerusalem.
Guidelines for Protest Participants:
▪️ Arrival to the area must be legal, quick, and adapted to road conditions.
▪️ Any attempt to disrupt or block traffic on main roads is a violation of the law.
▪️ The protest rally will be permitted only according to the approved outline.
▪️ During the protest rally, it is strictly forbidden to set fire to objects, a dangerous and illegal act that will be met with strict enforcement.
▪️ Police will not permit blocking routes that were not coordinated in advance, nor harm to the freedom of movement of other road users on alternative routes designated in advance.
▪️ Obey the instructions of the police officers in the field, and avoid violence, vandalism or property damage. Such actions will be treated with zero tolerance.
▪️ Flying drones in the area without prior approval and coordination with the police is prohibited.
Recommendations for drivers and road users:
▪️ Due to expected traffic jams, avoid driving to the Bar Ilan and Tzefania streets area from noon and use navigation apps. In light of expected congestion, drivers are requested to drive responsibly, patiently, and cautiously, and obey police officers who will direct traffic according to the situation.
▪️In case of emergency—call the police hotline 100 immediately.
For more information, you can contact the Israel Police Information Center—110.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
“We, the lomdei Torah, are not surprised, for it has always been this way—all false and deceptive beliefs disappear like a dissipating cloud, like a dream that flies away. But one thing is incumbent upon us—to strengthen and be strengthened. We will strengthen the truth, and the falsehood will fade and disappear.”
“The Torah is truth. ‘The judgments of Hashem are truth; altogether just.’ He gave us a Torah of truth We must strengthen ourselves in the Torah of truth—its limud and iyan—and strengthen ourselves limud Torah in its authenticity, as we were guided by our Rabbanim. We will cleave to the Toras of our Rabbanim. ‘A truthful tongue is established forever,’ and ‘the mouths of those who speak lies will be sealed.'”
“We will strengthen ourselves in limud Torah—this is our existence, this is our faith. A king is not saved by a multitude of troops; a horse is a false hope for salvation; he will not escape with his power—for in Him our hearts rejoice, for in His holy Name we trust.”
“We are engaged in the Toras Hashem. We rejoice in it as at the moment it was given. The Torah fills the entire being of one who studies it; it grants him sublime spiritual fulfillment, without pause or end, and even when he grows old, it won’t depart from him. Bnei Torah are the people of the highest stature in the world. Beyond its inherent kedushah, the Torah educates a person to proper and refined midos, seichal yashar, and the building of a purified personality in a way that has no parallel. An outsider cannot understand this.”
“They persecute us, restrict our steps, and place all kinds of strange and difficult obstacles before us. But we all know and believe—we will never abandon the Torah. The Torah is our spiritual possession, and no one in the world can sever us from the Torah HaKedosha. The Torah has stood firm against raging winds and against many harsh and evil decrees in every era and in every place.”
“Hakadosh Baruch Hu promised us that the Torah will not depart from our mouths or from the mouths of our descendants. And always, always, Hakadosh Baruch Hu has ensured that the Torah would not be torn from Lomdei Torah.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
The apartment complex is part of a large-scale housing development being built by BMG on property purchased in 2022 from Georgian Court University. When completed, the project is expected to include approximately 600 apartments across six residential buildings, intended to help address housing needs for bnei yeshiva.
In addition to residential construction, the project includes significant infrastructure improvements designed to improve traffic flow and accessibility in the area. Plans call for new through streets connecting 14th Street to the BMG campus, as well as additional roadways linking Forest Avenue to 14th Street and Private Way.
BMG indicated that the fire is expected to delay the first move-ins by several weeks, but leasing will continue as planned. With many leases already signed, the yeshiva said it anticipates move-ins to begin taking place before Pesach.
BMG expressed appreciation to the responding agencies, including the Lakewood Fire Department, Lakewood EMS, Lakewood First Aid, and Chaveirim of Central Jersey, citing their professionalism and rapid response.
Anyone interested in being added to the Cedarview Terrace waiting list are advised by BMG to contact the leasing office at (732) 344-4740.
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“NO ROOM AT THE INN!” the department wrote in the post, accusing Hilton Hotels of “maliciously” canceling reservations after officers attempted to book rooms using government rates and official email accounts. The post further alleged that the cancellations were intended to “undermine and impede DHS law enforcement from their mission to enforce our nation’s immigration laws.”
The accusation comes amid an increase in immigration enforcement activity in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which operates under the umbrella of U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The stepped-up operations in the Twin Cities followed a viral online investigation by YouTuber Nick Shirley into alleged daycare fraud, which was later amplified by officials within the Trump administration.
DHS framed the hotel cancellations as part of a broader political dispute surrounding immigration enforcement, sharply criticizing Hilton’s alleged actions and questioning why the company would deny lodging to federal officers carrying out their duties.
The alleged refusals were reported to have occurred in Minneapolis, where DHS says multiple officers encountered canceled reservations after booking accommodations.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
As we traveled, he shared that he was on his way to a Siyum HaShas on 72nd Street. He said he would arrive late because he wanted to stay with me and help me manage my bags. I was deeply moved. I had been anxious about the logistics of carrying everything on my own, and it felt as though Hashem was guiding me from the very first step of my journey back home to Eretz Yisrael. Adding to the moment, it was also my English birthday—a detail that made it feel even more meaningful.
We had a wonderful conversation on the train. It turned out he is considering a move to Jacksonville, Florida, where I’m from. I shared what I could about the community and took his number so I could help connect him further.
We got off at 42nd Street, shlepped my bags another ten minutes to the bus stop, and said goodbye as my ride pulled in.
I am incredibly warmed by this entire experience.
Signed,
Jake Gould
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.
One type of flu virus, called A H3N2, historically has caused the most hospitalizations and deaths in older people. So far this season, that’s the type most frequently reported. Even more concerning, more than 90% of the H3N2 infections analyzed were a new version — known as the subclade K variant — that differs from the strain in this year’s flu shots.
Flu seasons often don’t peak until January or February, so it’s too early to know how big a problem that mismatch will be.
“The fact that we’ve seen steady increases over the last several weeks without much of a decline or even a flattening would suggest to me that we’ve got the peak ahead of us,” said Dr. Robert Hopkins, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
Last flu season was bad, with the overall flu hospitalization rate the highest since the H1N1 flu pandemic 15 years ago. Child flu deaths reached 288, the worst recorded for regular U.S. flu season.
Nine pediatric flu deaths have been reported so far this season. For children, the percentage of emergency department visits due to flu has already surpassed the highest mark seen during the 2024-2025 season.
Hopkins said H3N2 typically hits older adults hardest, and rising rates among children and young adults suggest a severe flu season across all age groups.
Another ominous sign: The percentage of doctor’s office and medical clinic visits that were due to flu-like illness also was higher late last month than at any point during the previous flu season.
Deaths and hospitalizations have not reached last year’s levels, but those are lagging indicators, Hopkins noted.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates at least 11 million illnesses, 120,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths from flu have already occurred this season.
Public health experts recommend that everyone 6 months and older get an annual influenza vaccine.
But federal health officials on Monday announced they will no longer recommend flu vaccinations for U.S. children, saying it’s a decision parents and patients should make in consultation with their doctors.
However, flu vaccine will continue to be fully covered by private insurers and federal programs, including Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Vaccines for Children program, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said.
COVID-19 infections also have been rising, other federal data show, though so far this winter they remain less common than flu. The Trump administration stopped recommending COVID-19 shots for healthy children last year.
Hopkins voiced concern about a federal notice posted last week that said government Medicaid programs, which pay for medical services for low-income families, will no longer have to report on immunization rates.
CDC survey data suggests that U.S. flu vaccination rates are about the same as last year. But the Medicaid data — for flu as well as measles and other bugs — is a more comprehensive look at children who are at higher risk for many diseases, he said.
Federal health officials framed the move as part of an effort to distance how Medicaid doctors are rated and paid from how often they provided childhood vaccinations.
“Government bureaucracies should never coerce doctors or families into accepting vaccines or penalize physicians for respecting patient choice,” wrote Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was a leading voice in the anti-vaccine community before President Donald Trump put him in charge of federal health agencies.
“That practice ends now,” Kennedy wrote on social media last week.
But Hopkins said the move will “eliminate a major source of data” that allows communities to assess efforts to protect children from vaccine-preventable diseases.
“This is a disastrous plan,” he added.
(AP)
“It is our duty to confront the pipeline of settlement and Zionist colonial expansion that is taking place in our own neighborhoods,” the group wrote.
Nefesh B’Nefesh stresses that the organization facilitates lawful immigration to Israel and provides practical guidance on housing, employment, education, and integration. A representative said the group is committed to ensuring a safe and welcoming environment for all participants and is prioritizing security and wellbeing ahead of Wednesday’s event.
The planned protest follows a similar demonstration led by PAL-Awda outside a Nefesh B’Nefesh event at Park East Synagogue in November, where attendees were heckled and harassed as they entered the building. Video and social media posts from that protest showed demonstrators chanting slogans including “Settler, settler, go back home, Palestine is ours alone,” and “Death to the IDF.”
Law enforcement preparations for Wednesday’s protest were not publicly detailed, but organizers on both sides said they expect a visible police presence.
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Iranian state-linked media reported what they claimed was a concrete example of Israeli interference. The semi-official Tasnim News Agency said that Iranian security forces arrested an individual described as “an affiliate of the Zionist regime’s espionage service,” referring to Mossad.
According to Tasnim, the suspect was “identified and detained while acting covertly among rioters in Tehran.” The agency claimed the individual confessed to being recruited and trained by Mossad and to maintaining ongoing communications with Israeli intelligence. The report did not provide independent evidence for the claims, and Israel did not immediately comment.
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Netanyahu’s remarks a day earlier appeared to intensify Tehran’s response. In a public statement, the Israeli prime minister said Israelis “identify with the struggle” of Iranians protesting against their government.
“The government of Israel, the State of Israel, and my own policies — we identify with the struggle of the Iranian people, with their aspirations for freedom, liberty and justice,” Netanyahu said. “It is quite possible that we are at a moment when the Iranian people are taking their fate into their own hands.”
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“This decision protects children, respects families, and rebuilds trust in public health,” Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement Monday.
Medical experts disagreed, saying the change without public discussion or a transparent review of the data would put children at risk.
“Abandoning recommendations for vaccines that prevent influenza, hepatitis and rotavirus, and changing the recommendation for HPV without a public process to weigh the risks and benefits, will lead to more hospitalizations and preventable deaths among American children,” said Michael Osterholm of the Vaccine Integrity Project, based at the University of Minnesota.
(AP)
“People didn’t understand the post,” Lifshitz said. “The owner had asked us to take down signs written in Hebrew because he was worried the building would be targeted by antisemites. The landlord himself is not anti-Israeli.”
Multiple sources familiar with the situation told The Times of Israel that the eviction stemmed from a long-running financial dispute, not discrimination. According to those sources, Chabad of Nepal had failed to pay rent for several years and owed more than $100,000 in back payments.
Sources also emphasized that the landlord is supportive of Jews and Israel and has a Jewish brother-in-law. The building, located in one of Kathmandu’s most expensive neighborhoods, has hosted the Chabad House for years, including events that drew international attention, such as the world’s largest Pesach Seder, attended by more than 2,000 people annually. One source noted that the property owners forwent substantial rental income by allowing Chabad to remain in the space for so long.
The suggestion that antisemitism played a role in the eviction drew criticism from some members of Nepal’s Israeli and Jewish-connected community. Rina Lamsal, a former Israeli who has operated a travel agency in Nepal for 13 years, said claims of antisemitism were misplaced.
“Blaming this on antisemitism in Nepal is shameful,” Lamsal said. “This is the most accepting place in the world.”
Rabbi Lifshitz said the eviction has been disruptive but stressed that efforts are underway to reestablish operations. The Chabad House’s extensive equipment and supplies have been placed in storage, and he said he is working to secure a new location by the end of February.
“That’s when the next tourist season for Israelis starts,” Lifshitz said.
Chabad of Nepal serves as a central hub for thousands of Israeli backpackers who pass through Kathmandu each year, providing religious services, meals, and community support. While the search for a new home continues, Lifshitz said the organization remains committed to resuming full operations as soon as possible.
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Central to the lawsuit is Haaretz’s claim that Rabbi Zini authored an article in which he purportedly praised the 1994 massacre of Arabs at Me’aras Hamachpeila and asserted that the biblical prohibition of “Do not kill” does not apply when a Jew kills a non-Jew. Rabbi Zini categorically denies the allegation, calling it a complete fabrication.
Rather than correcting the record, Rabbi Zini alleges, Haaretz escalated the claims. On September 22, a second article by Doron Koren repeated the accusations, this time with what the lawsuit describes as heightened sensationalism. The same claims were later echoed in additional Haaretz content, including an editorial titled “Zini’s Test” and another article by Yossi Klein.
The suit argues that the repetition was not incidental but deliberate, describing the coverage as “a coordinated and timed campaign of intimidation” intended to damage the reputation of Rabbi Zini and, by extension, undermine public confidence in his nephew ahead of his Shin Bet appointment. By repeatedly attributing extremist views to Rabbi Zini, the lawsuit contends, Haaretz created the false impression that the incoming intelligence chief was connected to radical ideology through his family.
Rabbi Zini says the alleged defamation has caused severe harm to his personal and professional standing, as well as to his family. The average reader, the lawsuit claims, would reasonably conclude from the coverage that he had praised mass murder—an assertion he insists is wholly untrue.
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Maduro requested that he be able to keep the copious notes he took during his first court appearance in New York City on Monday.
Maduro could be seen writing on a note pad constantly during the Monday morning hearing. As the proceedings concluded, Judge Alvin Hellerstein asked Maduro if he understood what had taken place.
“Yes, I understood it and have taken notes. I would like to make a request. I would like to ask that my notes be respected, and that I am allowed to keep them,” Maduro responded through an interpreter.
Judge Hellerstein said he had no issue with Maduro keeping the notes.
Maduro responded to a Spanish-speaking heckler as he was led out of a New York City courtroom on Monday.
The heckler, 33-year-old Pedro Rojas, said that “in the name of the people of Venezuela, Maduro will pay,” according to a translation.
Maduro responded, saying in Spanish, “I am a kidnapped president. I am a prisoner of war.”
Rojas told reporters after the interaction that he was a prisoner in Venezuela for four months.
Meanwhile, Delcy Rodriguez, Venezuela’s vice president and oil minister, was formally sworn in Monday as the country’s interim president.
Rodriguez, 56, a close confidant to former leader Nicolas Maduro, was sworn in by her brother Jorge, who is the head of the National Assembly, Reuters reported.
Also sworn in Monday were were 283 Venezuelan lawmakers elected last May.
Rodriguez took over the role as interim president as Maduro made his court appearance in New York on federal narco-terrorism charges.
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Maduro claimed to be one of the people, yet he amassed great oil wealth as his people starved. Venezuelans believed in national pride yet they were made to be “meshubad” to Iranian interests through cooperation with that country. People throughout the world were made to be slaves to drug addiction thanks to the prolific drug trade operating out of Venezuela. Today, Venezuela’s Pharoh, whose insatiable eye filled his bottom line but hurt his people, has been dethroned.
Jews in Caracas can breathe easier this week. Israel’s archenemy, Iran, lost an ally on the western hemisphere. Victims of drug addiction have won a battle against drug distribution. Whatever one might think about Trump or his operation to extradite the Venezuelan dictator to the United States, the world is a better place for it. Of course, we must thank Hashem for this. And if we appreciate Hashem, then we can better appreciate the need to remain holy. Kavod Shamayim is paramount.
I myself, driven by elation, passed by the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn this past Sunday where Maduro was being held. As pro-Palestinian protestors (funded by foreign interests) cried over American money being used to extradite a foreign dictator to the U.S. I sang shira to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Ironically, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s NYPD is guarding the prison to ward off friend and foe alike. (I believe President Trump chose New York as Maduro’s prison destination to send a message to the Mayor: foreign affairs are not your concern; don’t welcome enemies or eject friends). We ourselves can internalize this message: be careful who you associate with; be the guardians of your own eyes.
In these six weeks of Shovavim, it is important to maintain Jewish purity. Learn the halachos, guard your eyes and don’t fall to outside influences. Don’t give in to your desires; use your G-d given talents to improve your life and the lives of those around you. Hashem also wants us to have kavod habriyos. Be happy with what you have and think of those who have not. This is royalty. And this is how will we merit to be redeemed not through a messenger, but by G-d alone.
Chaim Yehuda Meyer
Brooklyn, New York
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.
Last week, the head of the investigations division claimed that the investigation in the case was complete. However, several days ago, Police Commissioner Dani Levi ordered additional investigative steps in the case.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
At the same time, Israel’s intelligence posture has been anything but discreet. The Mossad has openly expressed support for Iranian protesters on social media and has claimed that Israeli operatives are active within the demonstrations—an extraordinary acknowledgment that highlights how closely Israel is tracking events inside Iran.
The protests have erupted amid hyperinflation, economic collapse, and renewed international sanctions, quickly spreading across multiple cities. Clashes with Iranian security forces have reportedly turned deadly, with some demonstrators openly calling for the return of the monarchy overthrown in 1979.
The crisis has drawn in Washington. President Donald Trump warned that the United States is “locked and loaded” to intervene if Iran’s government kills protesters. During Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent visit to Florida, Trump also signaled support for new airstrikes should Iran accelerate its ballistic missile program.
The stakes are already high. In June, the U.S. and Israel carried out joint strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities during an open confrontation, which Trump said was meant to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons—claims Tehran rejected as a pretext for aggression.
Now, with Iran destabilized at home and Israel preparing for war on multiple fronts, the region appears closer than at any point in years to a conflict that could rapidly spiral far beyond its borders.
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Shin Bet officials assess that the Iranian attempts to gather intelligence on Bennett are part of a plot to assassinate him.
An indictment was filed against Demsash on Monday at the Central District Court in Lod.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
“For over 25 years, leaders of Venezuela have abused their positions of public trust and corrupted once-legitimate institutions to import tons of cocaine into the United States,” federal prosecutors wrote in a superseding indictment unveiled over the weekend.
Flores faces three: cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
Similar proceedings are usually short. There won’t be any witness testimony, the defendants will have a chance to enter their pleas, and the judge will set the next court date and address the subject of pretrial release.
Bail is highly unlikely, according to legal experts.
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“So I’ve decided to step out of the race and let others worry about the election while I focus on the work,” the governor announced.
Walz launched his bid for a third four-year term as Minnesota governor in September, but in recent weeks has been facing a barrage of incoming political fire from President Donald Trump and Republicans, and some Democrats, over the large scale theft in a state that has long prided itself on good governance.
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More than 90 people — most from Minnesota’s large Somali community — have been charged since 2022 in what has been described as the nation’s largest COVID-era scheme. How much money has been stolen through alleged money laundering operations involving fraudulent meal and housing programs, daycare centers, and Medicaid services is still being tabulated. But the U.S. attorney in Minnesota said the scope of the fraud could exceed $1 billion and rise to as high as $9 billion.
Prosecutors said that some of the dozens that have already plead guilty in the case used the money to buy luxury cars, real estate, jewelry and international vacations, with some of the funds also sent overseas and potentially into the hands of Islamic terrorists.
“This is on my watch, I am accountable for this and, more importantly I am the one that will fix it,” Walz told reporters last month, as he took responsibility for the scandal.
The governor took actions to stop some of the suspected fraudulent payments, and ordered an outside audit of Medicaid billing in the state.
But Trump repeatedly blasted Walz as “incompetent” and during Thanksgiving used a slur for developmentally disabled people to describe the governor.
The scandal, which grabbed plenty of national attention over the past two months, went viral the past few weeks following the release of a video by 23-year-old You Tube content creator Nick Shirley, who alleged widespread fraud at Somali-run daycare centers. Days later, the Trump administration froze federal child-care funding to Minnesota.
Reactions quickly began to pour in following the Walz announcement.
“Good riddance,” Republican House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who represents Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, said in a statement.
Minnesota Republican State Rep. Kristin Robbins, a candidate for governor, released a statement saying, “Tim Walz and his staggering fraud could not outrun our investigations and the momentum we have in this race.”
“He knows he will lose in November, and would rather give up than take responsibility.”Anyone Walz handpicks to run for governor will own the fraud and failures of this administration.”Our campaign is building the coalition necessary to stop the fraud, protect our kids, and make Minnesota prosper. As Governor, I will dismantle the years of fraud Democrats allowed and ensure our tax dollars work for Minnesotans.”
Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, another leading Republican gubernatorial candidate, took to social media to argue, “If Democrats think they can sweep Minnesota’s fraud scandal away by swapping out Tim Walz, they are wrong.”
“We need transformational change across state government that only comes with a Republican governor. I will deliver that no matter who the Democrats decide to run,” Demuth emphasized.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
The home, in the Walnut Hills neighborhood, was unoccupied at the time, and Vance and his family were not in Ohio, Guglielmi said.
The Secret Service is coordinating with the Cincinnati Police Department and the U.S. attorney’s office as charging decisions are reviewed, he said.
Vance’s office directed questions to the Secret Service and said his family was already back in Washington.
Walnut Hills is one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods and is home to historic sites, including the Harriet Beecher Stowe House.
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(AP)
Aware of the political risk, BND leadership reportedly restricted access to the transcripts. Intercepts of Obama’s conversations were placed in a single, specially marked folder circulated only among a small inner circle at the top of the agency, including the BND president and his deputies. After review, the transcripts were to be destroyed. Intelligence gleaned from the calls was folded into broader assessments of U.S. policy that were forwarded to the Chancellery without explicitly citing their source.
The scope of the operation remained hidden even after Germany halted similar practices in 2014, following reports that the BND had monitored then–U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. At the time, then–Chancellery chief Peter Altmaier ordered such surveillance stopped — apparently unaware that the U.S. president himself had also been targeted.
It remains unclear when the spying on Obama began, whether it extended to his predecessor George W. Bush, or which officials inside the Chancellery knew of the operation. Die Zeit reported that the surveillance was never formally authorized and that Merkel herself was not informed — and would likely have rejected it outright.
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Besuros Tovos.
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IDF sources say the government’s policy divides Israeli activity in Syria into three operational zones. The first is the security zone along the contact line, where IDF forces operate on the international Israeli‑Syrian border to directly defend nearby communities and Israel’s strategic depth.
The second is the security‑depth zone, covering Syrian territory up to roughly 15 kilometers from the border. This area includes villages, towns, and key transit routes, and the IDF operates there to block the entry or entrenchment of armed groups and terrorist infrastructure.
The third is the broader zone of influence, stretching from southern Suwayda to the outskirts of Damascus. This area is treated as a demilitarized zone that Israel monitors closely to prevent the infiltration of hostile elements, the smuggling of advanced weapons, or the establishment of military bases.
During these discussions, security officials commended former minister Ron Dermer for consistently insisting—both in talks with the United States and with other mediators—that Israel must not withdraw from Syria.
According to Walla, a senior U.S. administration official recently expressed surprise to Israeli counterparts, questioning why the IDF had not seized additional territory in Syria.
An Israeli official responded that Israel has no interest in governing the local population. Its objective, he said, is to maintain a security buffer that protects Israel’s home front and allows for more effective support to the Druze communities in the Mount Druze region.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
“The simple matter is that it’s chutzpah to demand someone enter the army, where his ruchniyus could be diminished, chas v’shalom—not ‘could be’ but definitely will. It’s chutzpah to ask such a thing!. Everyone is forbidden from entering the army. There’s no such thing as demanding that a person lower his ruchniyus!”
“I have heard those among the general public who say: why shouldn’t they lower [their level]? We also make sacrifices. Let them sacrifice their ruchniyus! Whoever says this does not understand what ruchniyus is, what the purpose of creation is, or who the Ribbono shel Olam is—it’s the greatest foolishness ever uttered. It’s chutzpah to ask a person to lower his ruchniyus, and kal v’chomer—many times over—to do so to the Olam HaYeshivos, rachmanah litzlan.”
“As it is written: ‘So that the land not vomit you out’—a parable to a king’s son who was fed something repulsive that his body could not tolerate, and he vomited it out; so too Eretz Yisrael does not tolerate transgressors.”
“The question is asked: then why is there a state at all? And there is only one answer: because of lomdei Torah! Lomdei Torah are on the ones who sustain this entire state. It’s chutzpah and foolishness to demand such a thing! And it’s a simple matter—all the Gedolei Yisrael in the past and present forbid—definitely forbid—entering the army.”
“And I want to say one more point that the secular world needs to think about. Why were they willing in 1948 to give Eretz Yisrael to the Jews? For one reason: because Jews were there continuously, in every generation.”
“In the year 500, according to their counting, there was the Churban. The Churban was hundreds of years earlier, but the Churban of Yerushalayim—of the whole kehilla of Yerushalayim—was then, when the Catholics captured it and caused another Churban, and therefore all the yeshivos were then abolished.”
“And what happened in all the hundreds of years since—more than a thousand years—in Eretz Yisrael? It was only people of the Torah who came to Eretz Yisrael to weep over the Churban and to learn Torah. They left everything they had in Chutz L’Eretz and came to Eretz Yisrael to learn Torah, and as a result there were always Jews in Eretz Yisrael. Only we were there. For hundreds of years, more than a thousand years—only we were there.”
“The Torah is the reason there is a state at all, because of which the nations gave the state. And this is another aspect of the chutzpah of failing to recognize the exalted status of the Torah.”
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“May Hakadosh Baruch Hu grant that they understand this and recognize Talmud Torah, and that every ben yeshivah and every Chareidi person is forbidden to enter any place that will decrease ruchniyus. May Hashem Yisbarch grant that we succeed in this and that there be only Kavod Shamayim. And from this koach—that we’re fighting against them—will cause a great Kavod Shamayim. And that Kavod Shamayim will bring Hakadosh Baruch Hu to have mercy upon us and merit us with the Geulah Sheleimah speedily in our days, Amen.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
“When a ben yeshivah is placed in prison solely because he desires to learn Torah, it is not he who is in prison! The Torah itself, rachmanah litzlan, is in prison!”
“Let everyone who is a partner to this crime—casting the Torah HaKedoshah, the Toras Hashem, behind bars—know this: you’re not fighting against flesh and blood; you’re fighting against the Torah and against the One who gave it, Yisbarach Shemo, rachmanah litzlan.”
“Sadly, we are in Galus among Jews, and we all daven that Hashem will help us and soon redeem us from this Galus so that we may study Torah in peace and security,” HaRav Landau concluded.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
The defiance prompted an immediate response from Marco Rubio, who said Rodríguez cannot serve as Venezuela’s interim leader and pledged that the United States would not recognize or support her administration. Rubio reiterated Washington’s call for free and internationally supervised elections, noting that the U.S. and several allies never recognized Maduro’s 2024 reelection.
Trump also suggested that further U.S. military action remains on the table if Venezuela’s leadership resists American pressure.
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At this stage, police say they have found no evidence linking the placement of the grenade to the shuls or indicating an antisemitic motive.
No threatening note or message was left, and authorities emphasized that there is currently no indication that either synagogue was a direct target. Even so, due to the proximity to Jewish institutions, Austria’s constitutional protection and counterterrorism authorities were brought into the investigation.
Tempelgasse was once home to the Leopoldstädter Tempel, the largest shul in Vienna before it was destroyed during Kristallnacht. Today, the street houses two active shuls as well as a center providing counseling and support to Holocaust survivors and their descendants.
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Israeli intelligence veteran Beni Sabti, who fled Iran years after the 1979 revolution, said Khamenei’s likely destination would be Russia, describing Moscow as “the only place” that would guarantee him safety. The model for the escape, the report says, is the flight of deposed Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, who escaped to Moscow in late 2024 as his regime collapsed.
The intelligence assessment indicates that preparations include moving cash, securing foreign properties, and coordinating exit routes, supported by Khamenei’s vast financial empire. His holdings are largely concealed within Setad, a powerful network of semi-state foundations estimated in a 2013 Reuters investigation to control assets worth up to $95 billion.
The revelations come as protests driven by economic collapse and soaring inflation spread across Iran, including in religious strongholds such as Qom. Demonstrators accuse the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Basij militias, and police—forces directly loyal to Khamenei—of using live fire, tear gas, and water cannons to suppress dissent.
While large-scale defections remain rare, the assessment describes Khamenei as “weaker, both mentally and physically” since last year’s 12-day war with Israel, during which he reportedly hid in a bunker. He has been notably absent from public view during the current wave of protests, reinforcing perceptions of a leadership under strain.
Khamenei’s long-standing fixation on survival, shaped by a 1981 assassination attempt that left him permanently injured, now appears to include an exit strategy—one that underscores a growing fear inside Tehran that the regime’s grip may no longer be absolute.
As chants echo through Iran’s streets rejecting foreign entanglements—“No Gaza, no Lebanon, my life for Iran”—the supreme leader’s contingency plan suggests that even at the pinnacle of power, the prospect of collapse is no longer unthinkable.
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Asked what the U.S.-military action in Venezuela could portend for Greenland, Trump replied: “They are going to have to view it themselves. I really don’t know.” The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump, in his administration’s National Security Strategy published last month, laid out restoring “American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere” as a central guidepost for his second go-around in the White House.
Trump has also pointed to the 19th century Monroe Doctrine, which rejects European colonialism, as well as the Roosevelt Corollary — a justification invoked by the U.S. in supporting Panama’s secession from Colombia, which helped secure the Panama Canal Zone for the U.S. — as he’s made his case for an assertive approach to American neighbors and beyond.
Trump has even quipped that some now refer to the fifth U.S. president’s foundational document as the “Don-roe Doctrine.”
Saturday’s dead-of-night operation by U.S. forces in Caracas and Trump’s Atlantic interview heightened concerns in Denmark, which has jurisdiction over the vast mineral-rich island of Greenland.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a statement following Trump’s latest comments on Greenland said he has “no right to annex” the territory. She also reminded Trump that Denmark already provides the United States, a fellow member of NATO, broad access to Greenland through existing security agreements.
“I would therefore strongly urge the U.S. to stop threatening a historically close ally and another country and people who have made it very clear that they are not for sale,” Frederiksen said.
Denmark on Sunday also signed onto a European Union statement underscoring that “the right of the Venezuelan people to determine their future must be respected” as Trump has vowed to “run” Venezuela and pressed the acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, to get in line.
Greenlanders and Danes were further rankled by a social media post following the raid by a former Trump administration official turned podcaster, Katie Miller. The post shows an illustrated map of Greenland in the colors of the Stars and Stripes accompanied by the caption: “SOON.”
“And yes, we expect full respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” Amb. Jesper Møller Sørensen, Denmark’s chief envoy to Washington, said in a post responding to Miller, who is married to Trump’s influential deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.
During his presidential transition and in the early months of his return to the White House, Trump repeatedly called for U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland, and has pointedly not ruled out military force to take control of the mineral-rich, strategically located Arctic island that belongs to an ally.
The issue had largely drifted out of the headlines in recent months. Then Trump put the spotlight back on Greenland less than two weeks ago when he said he would appoint Republican Gov. Jeff Landry as his special envoy to Greenland.
The Louisiana governor said in his volunteer position he would help Trump “make Greenland a part of the U.S.”
Meanwhile, concern simmered in Cuba, one of Venezuela’s most important allies and trading partners, as Rubio issued a new stern warning to the Cuban government. U.S.-Cuba relations have been hostile since the 1959 Cuban revolution.
Rubio, in an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said Cuban officials were with Maduro in Venezuela ahead of his capture.
“It was Cubans that guarded Maduro,” Rubio said. “He was not guarded by Venezuelan bodyguards. He had Cuban bodyguards.” The secretary of state added that Cuban bodyguards were also in charge of “internal intelligence” in Maduro’s government, including “who spies on who inside to make sure there are no traitors.”
Trump on Saturday told reporters that he viewed the Cuban government as “very similar” to Venezuela.
“I think Cuba is going to be something we’ll end up talking about, because Cuba is a failing nation right now, a very badly failing nation, and we want to help the people,” Trump said.
Cuban authorities called a rally in support of Venezuela’s government and railed against the U.S. military operation, writing in a statement: “All the nations of the region must remain alert, because the threat hangs over all of us.”
Rubio, a former Florida senator and son of Cuban immigrants, has long maintained Cuba is a dictatorship repressing its people.
“This is the Western Hemisphere. This is where we live — and we’re not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries, competitors, and rivals of the United States,” Rubio said.
Cubans like 55-year-old biochemical laboratory worker Bárbara Rodríguez were following developments in Venezuela. She said she worried about what she described as an “aggression against a sovereign state.”
“It can happen in any country, it can happen right here. We have always been in the crosshairs,” Rodríguez said.
(AP)
Hellerstein, appointed to the bench in 1998 and elevated to senior status in 2011, has spent more than a quarter-century on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, widely viewed as the most powerful federal trial court in the country. Despite his age, he continues to preside over major criminal matters, including terrorism-related and national security cases, maintaining a workload that many younger judges would avoid.
Maduro’s prosecution is among the highest-profile international criminal cases to reach the court in recent memory. Beyond the criminal allegations, the case carries diplomatic and symbolic weight, particularly given Maduro’s long-standing alliance with Iran and his government’s repeated attacks on Israel and “Zionism.”
Hellerstein has overseen complex financial prosecutions, high-stakes commercial disputes, and sprawling civil litigation arising from the September 11 attacks. He is known for lengthy, detail-heavy rulings, tight control of courtroom proceedings, and an insistence on meticulous adherence to federal rules of evidence and procedure.
Born in New York City in 1933, Hellerstein earned both his undergraduate degree and law degree from Columbia University. He served in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps before entering private practice, where he spent decades litigating complex matters before joining the federal bench. Since then, he has remained a central figure in the Southern District’s most demanding cases.
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“In recent months, we really felt how the noose was tightening around us. Another request from the landlord, another demand, another restriction, another decree… nightmarish months. At first, we were asked to remove all Hebrew signs—so no one would realize that there’s a Jewish presence here… so he wouldn’t be suspected by Iran of being a spy.”
“At the same time, the financial demands kept rising, again and again, to the point where it was no longer possible to meet them. Slowly, it became clear to us that we were being led to one conclusion: that Jews were not wanted here. That our presence here is a disturbance. And that hurt. Because behind all of this was a clear feeling of antisemitism—one that could no longer be ignored.”
“Then came the moment when we were told explicitly: To leave. Now.”
“Just like that, almost without time to breathe, we packed everything into a large storage space we managed to find in a flash in a neighborhood called Balaju, and we keep checking nonstop for options for a new place. We’re standing now in front of empty walls, and I quietly say to myself: how do you leave a home that is really, entirely a neshama?” Ugh. Chezky says that e-v-e-r-y-thing is for the best (surprised, anyone?), and I just have tears in my eyes.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
In a Hebrew apology signed by BBC Middle East bureau chief Joaquin Floto, the corporation called the intrusion a “good-faith mistake,” claiming it believed consent had been given. The apology rings hollow. Consent was not given, and the BBC filmed inside a terror-targeted home at a moment of acute vulnerability.
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From November 2024 onward, the Pentagon maintained tracking records for just 44% of EEUM-controlled platforms in Israel, down sharply from 69% before the war. Much of the equipment could not be inspected because it had already been deployed by the IDF, according to the report.
The watchdog cited a combination of factors behind the lapse: U.S. travel restrictions, a rapidly changing security environment, and staffing shortages at the Office of Defense Cooperation-Israel, the embassy unit responsible for tracking U.S. weapons. Together, those constraints made it impossible to conduct annual physical inspections and serial-number inventories required under Pentagon rules.
Although U.S. officials continued some monitoring—such as recording Israeli notifications of weapons used in combat—the Inspector General found that large sections of the tracking database contained outdated or incomplete information. Many items lacked updated records showing whether they were deployed, stored, or unavailable for inspection.
The report also faulted U.S. Central Command and the Defense Security Cooperation Agency for failing to detect the growing gaps or intervene to restore compliance.
“Without effective accountability, these EEUM defense articles could be acquired by adversaries in the region,” the report warned, saying such a scenario could expose sensitive U.S. weapons technology and undermine America’s military edge.
The Inspector General stressed that incomplete monitoring does not mean Israel misused U.S. weapons. Instead, it highlights the risks that emerge when documentation and inspections lag behind battlefield realities in a fast-moving war.
The findings come as U.S. military aid to Israel has surged. Between October 2023 and April 2024, Washington transferred more than four million munitions from U.S. stockpiles in Israel, and from 2023 to 2025 notified Congress of over $20 billion in additional arms sales.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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Netanyahu’s comments followed his visit last week to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, which he described as strengthening both the strategic alliance between Israel and the United States and the personal relationship between the two leaders. During that visit, Trump warned publicly that Hamas would be given only a “very short period of time” to demilitarize, adding that if it failed to do so “there will be hell to pay.”
While Trump said he wants to advance to the next phase of the plan “as quickly as we can,” he offered no timetable, leaving the pressure squarely on Hamas to comply or face escalation.
Netanyahu reinforced that message in a separate interview with Fox News, calling Hamas’ refusal to give up its weapons the single greatest obstacle to stabilizing Gaza in 2026. He said a different future for the territory remains possible, but only if Hamas is stripped of its military capabilities.
“If we disarm Hamas, whether with an international force or by any other means,” Netanyahu said, “then there’s a chance for a different future. If it can be done the easy way, fine. And if not, it’ll be done another way.”
According to Netanyahu, Hamas still fields roughly 20,000 operatives and controls an estimated 60,000 rifles, along with a vast underground tunnel network stretching hundreds of kilometers beneath Gaza.
“That’s what disarmament means,” he said. “You’ve got to take all these rifles away from them and break up those terror tunnels.”
Hamas leaders have flatly rejected such demands. On Dec. 6, senior Hamas figure Khaled Mashaal reiterated calls for Israel’s destruction and dismissed U.S.- and U.N.-backed efforts to demilitarize the Gaza Strip.
“The resistance and its weapons are the honor and pride of the ummah,” Mashaal said at an anti-Israel summit in Turkey. “A thousand statements are not worth a single projectile of iron.”
Events on the ground have further strained the fragile ceasefire. The IDF said it carried out a targeted strike over the weekend on a Hamas tunnel shaft in northern Gaza that contained a rocket launcher “loaded and ready” to fire at the Israeli city of Sderot, calling the activity a “blatant” violation of the truce.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Sunday that Hamas is violating the ceasefire “every day” by refusing to return the remains of Israel Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last Israeli hostage whose body is still being held by the group after the Oct. 7 massacre. Under the ceasefire agreement, Hamas was required to return the remains of all 28 deceased hostages by Oct. 13, a deadline Israeli officials say the terrorist group has deliberately ignored.
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The court noted that Shalhoub had been living lawfully inside Israel at the time of the attack, after being relocated from the West Bank due to the exposure of his past cooperation with Israeli security authorities.
Senior Judge Yaron Levy described the killing as an “exceptionally brutal” act of terror carried out against a defenseless elderly woman. The ruling said the murder gravely violated protected social values and was intended to terrorize the civilian population, emphasizing that it took place during wartime, when Israel’s home front was under sustained threat.
Beyond the killing itself, the court said, the attack conveyed a broader message that no civilian or public space is safe, amplifying its social harm.
Prosecutors pressed for a life sentence, stressing the timing and severity of the attack. Prosecutor Hadas Forer Gafni told the court that the murder occurred amid heightened national anxiety, as Israel faced attacks on multiple fronts. “A terror attack of this kind in the heart of Herzliya is all the more severe,” she said.
The judges rejected defense arguments for leniency, finding no mitigating circumstances, and underscored the need for deterrence by imposing the harshest penalty available under Israeli law.
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“This is why strict vetting and real accountability of humanitarian staff is essential,” the Foreign Ministry said. “Aid must never be a cover for terror.”
The accusations build on findings released last week by NGO Monitor, which identified four Doctors Without Borders staffers in Gaza as members of terrorist organizations. Alongside al-Wadiya, the watchdog named Mahmoud Abu Nujaila, whom it described as a senior figure in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; Mazab Bashir, who was previously indicted for an assassination plot targeting former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert; and Hani Majdalawi, a Gazan nurse alleged to have opened fire on Israeli troops.
Israeli officials say the cases underscore longstanding concerns that terrorist groups embed operatives within international NGOs to gain legitimacy, freedom of movement, and access to resources.
Doctors Without Borders has previously acknowledged working with Hamas-run institutions in Gaza. In February 2024, responding to questions about its interactions with terrorist organizations, the group said it continued to coordinate with Gaza’s Ministry of Health, which it described as “the governing authority responsible for health care” in the territory.
Jerusalem moved this month to impose tighter controls on NGOs operating in Gaza, Judea and Samaria. On Jan. 1, Israel began enforcing a new regulatory framework allowing the suspension or revocation of licenses for organizations that fail to meet heightened security and transparency requirements.
The move followed an interministerial review led by the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, which concluded that employees of several NGOs working primarily with the Palestinian population had been involved in terrorist activity.
“Security reviews revealed that employees of certain organizations were involved in terrorist activity,” the ministry said in a statement. “In particular, investigations determined that individuals affiliated with Doctors Without Borders were linked to terrorist organizations, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas, with one identified as a Hamas sniper.”
Under the revised framework, NGOs must provide full transparency regarding personnel, funding sources, and operational structures. Activities such as delegitimization of Israel, legal action against Israel Defense Forces soldiers, Holocaust denial, or denial of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas atrocities are listed as grounds for license revocation.
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli said the measures are aimed at protecting legitimate aid efforts from abuse.
“Humanitarian assistance is welcome,” Chikli said. “The exploitation of humanitarian frameworks for terrorist purposes is not.”
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Demonstrators carried Venezuelan flags alongside hammer-and-sickle symbols, while activists from Awda NY/NJ marched with banners featuring the red inverted triangle commonly used in Hamas propaganda to designate targets.
In New York City, ANSWER said it mobilized hundreds of demonstrators, while its allies claimed actions in 75 cities nationwide. Calla Walsh, founder of Palestine Action US, went further, publicly urging supporters to sabotage weapons factories rather than attend what she dismissed as “police-coordinated NGO parades.”
At a Times Square rally, Manolo De Los Santos declared that the United States had “no right” to try Maduro or dictate outcomes abroad. Outside the White House, the Party for Socialism and Liberation accused Washington of trading “blood for oil,” while Code Pink called for mass disruption to stop what it labeled “Monroe Doctrine 2.0.”
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Now that he’s back home in Dimona in southern Israel, Kalfon is trying to piece together a post-captivity life. He spends much of his time juggling appointments with an array of doctors and psychologists.
One of the strangest aspects of his release, Kalfon said, is that for two years, his entire life revolved around trying to please his captors, so they might share more food or spare a beating. Now that he’s out, “everyone is trying to please me,” he said.
Before being taken hostage at the Nova music festival, Kalfon worked at his family’s bakery in the town of Arad and was studying finance and investments.
When rockets started flying at the start of the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, Kalfon said he and his closest friend tried to help others at the festival escape. Kalfon remembers pleading with a group of people who had taken cover in a yellow dumpster, telling them to come with him, that they were in a death trap. For two years, Kalfon wondered what happened to them. After his release, he learned they were all killed.
While in captivity, every moment “felt like an eternity,” Kalfon said. The only thing that broke up the monotony was a meager portion of food and water once a day.
There were so many times he felt close to death: during frequent bombardment by the Israeli military, going through COVID and other illnesses with no medicine, and enduring starvation and frequent physical torture. He said his captors used bicycle chains as whips and pummeled the hostages while wearing large rings to leave painful welts.
“We didn’t even have energy to yell out, because no one hears you,” he said. “You’re in a tunnel 30 meters underground; no one knows what’s going on.”
The worst part was the last three months of his captivity, Kalfon said, when he was kept in isolation and felt like he was losing his sanity.
Both Kalfon and his family, advocating in Israel for his release, further turned to their Jewish faith to get through the dark times. Kalfon’s family filled their homes with additional Jewish books, ritual objects and prayers from senior rabbis.
Kalfon and the other five hostages made a tradition of marking the start of Jewish holidays or the Sabbath by saying prayers over a bit of water and moldy pita.
The hostages used a square of precious toilet paper, where one roll had to last six people for two months, for the ritual skullcap that Jewish men traditionally wear during prayers.
A radio the captors had given to the hostages in hopes of converting them to Islam through recordings of the Quran sometimes allowed them to capture signals from Israeli news.
Once, when Kalfon was at his lowest and considering an escape attempt, which likely would have led to his death, he turned on the radio and heard his mother’s voice. He said it felt like a divine message to hold on for a little longer.
“I was living in the body of a dead person, living in a grave,” Kalfon said. “To get out of this grave, it’s nothing else if not a miracle.”
Kalfon was released along with 19 other living hostages as part of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire. He considers U.S. President Donald Trump a “messenger from G-d,” sure that no one else could have halted the fighting. His family has hung nearly a dozen American flags around the house in recognition of the U.S. contribution to his return.
Since his return, Kalfon is getting used to a new life, one where he is famous after his name and face were broadcast across Israel during the fight to release the hostages.
“Everyone wants to support me and say, ‘You’re such a hero,’” Kalfon said. “I don’t feel like a hero. Every person would want to survive.”
Kalfon knows he has a long journey to recovery after his years in captivity and a post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis from before he was taken hostage.
“Although the war in Gaza is over, now my war is starting with my soul, to try to deal with thoughts that are very difficult,” he said.
“But every night when I’m alone, it comes up,” Kalfon said. Even a small noise can startle him awake and thrust him into a terrifying flashback, so he barely sleeps.
For the immediate future, he wants to share his story more widely. He said he has been shocked by the rise in global antisemitism and anti-Israel fervor since he was captured and wants to make sure people hear his story, especially those who tore down posters of the hostages or accuse Israel of lying.
“I’m proof that it happened,” he said. “I felt it with my body. I saw it with my own eyes.”
(AP)
The report says Israel’s request mirrored an earlier demand made by Hamas itself. About a month before the Jerusalem meeting, al-Emadi traveled to Gaza and met with then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who urged Qatar to more than double monthly fuel purchases, from roughly $3 million to $7 million. Al-Emadi refused. Weeks later, Israeli officials would make the same ask.
According to the newspaper, the Israeli request was part of a developing understanding with Hamas aimed at halting a renewed wave of “March of Return” protests along the Gaza border. Israeli security officials viewed those demonstrations—echoes of the violent weekly riots of 2018–2019—as pressure tactics designed to extract economic concessions in exchange for quiet.
Behind the scenes, Gaza was under growing strain. Deepening poverty had driven rare, spontaneous protests by Gazans against Hamas during the summer of 2023—an outbreak of dissent that the terror group swiftly crushed. In retrospect, Israeli officials now believe Hamas was simultaneously working to suppress internal unrest and project restraint toward Israel, lulling decision-makers into a false sense of stability ahead of its planned onslaught.
Al-Emadi told Israeli officials at the Jerusalem meeting that he could not immediately commit Qatar to increasing fuel purchases, the report said. Still, Qatari funding continued.
Some time after that meeting—and before October 7—Mossad chief David Barnea traveled to Doha, where he urged Qatari officials to maintain financial assistance to Gaza, according to a December 2023 report by The New York Times. From 2018 until the day of the attack, Qatar transferred tens of millions of dollars in cash to Gaza each month.
The policy was publicly championed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who argued the payments were necessary to avert a humanitarian collapse. Netanyahu has since denied that Qatari funds—sent with Israel’s approval—played any role in financing Hamas’s October 7 operation.
That denial has been challenged by reports that Netanyahu was warned at least twice before the attack that Hamas’s military chief, Muhammad Deif, was diverting funds with the government’s knowledge.
Since the massacre and the war that followed, Qatar’s long-standing role in propping up Hamas has come under intense scrutiny inside Israel. The controversy has deepened amid an ongoing criminal investigation into alleged illicit ties between Doha and several of Netanyahu’s close aides, who are suspected of running a pro-Qatari public relations effort during the war.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
The BBC reported that Charlotte previously studied at Immanuel College in Hertfordshire and the Jewish Free School in northwest London.
Immanuel College, a private Jewish school in Hertfordshire, UK, issued a statement: “Charlotte was a student at Immanuel College, and her family has now moved back to France. The families have asked that we all keep them in our thoughts and prayers during this extremely difficult time. We are all praying for a miracle for Charlotte and the others and want the families to feel the full strength of the Immanuel College community’s support.”
The Jewish Free School also called for “love and prayers,” saying that Charlotte studied there for two years before her family returned to France. “She is loved by many within JFS and is a friend to many in our community,” they added.
Authorities have identified 24 of the 40 victims killed in the blaze.
Swiss authorities have opened a criminal investigation against the bar’s owners—a French couple in their 40s—suspected of negligent manslaughter, causing injury through negligence, and negligent arson. The two were released at the end of their questioning.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
A senior Charedi figure told Kikar HaShabbat on Sunday morning, “As time passes, it is clear to everyone that the Knesset’s legal adviser is not supporting us, opposes all the central clauses in the draft law, and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara won’t defend the law to the Supreme Court. The law won’t withstand the Supreme Court’s review. We’re at a dead end. That’s the truth.”
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Maduro is charged alongside his wife, his son and three others. Maduro is indicted on four counts: narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
Maduro is facing the same charges as in an earlier indictment brought against him in Manhattan federal court in 2020, during the first Trump presidency. The new indictment unsealed on Saturday, which adds charges against Maduro’s wife, was filed under seal in the Southern District of New York just before Christmas.
It was not immediately clear when Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, would make their first appearance at the courthouse in Manhattan. A video posted Saturday night on social media by a White House account showed Maduro, smiling, as he was escorted through a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration office in New York by two federal agents grasping his arms. He was expected to be detained while awaiting trial at a federal jail in Brooklyn.
The indictment accuses Maduro of partnering with “some of the most violent and prolific drug traffickers and narco-terrorists in the world” to allow for the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. Authorities allege powerful and violent drug-trafficking organizations, such as the Sinaloa Cartel and Tren de Aragua gang, worked directly with the Venezuelan government and then sent profits to high-ranking officials who helped and protected them in exchange.
Maduro allowed “cocaine-fueled corruption to flourish for his own benefit, for the benefit of members of his ruling regime, and for the benefit of his family members,” the indictment alleges.
U.S. authorities allege that Maduro and his family “provided law enforcement cover and logistical support” to cartels moving drugs throughout the region, resulting in as much as 250 tons of cocaine trafficked through Venezuela annually by 2020, according to the indictment. Drugs were moved on go-fast vessels, fishing boats and container ships or on planes from clandestine airstrips, the indictment says.
“This cycle of narcotics-based corruption lines the pockets of Venezuelan officials and their families while also benefiting violent narco-terrorists who operate with impunity on Venezuelan soil and who help produce, protect, and transport tons of cocaine to the United States,” the indictment says.
The U.S. accuses Maduro and his wife of ordering kidnappings, beatings and murders “against those who owed them drug money or otherwise undermined their drug trafficking operation.” That includes the killing of a local drug boss in Caracas, according to the indictment.
Maduro’s wife is also accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in 2007 to arrange a meeting between “a large-scale drug trafficker” and the director of Venezuela’s National Anti-Drug Office. In a corrupt deal, the drug trafficker then agreed to pay a monthly bribe to the director of the anti-drug office as well as about $100,000 for each cocaine-carrying flight “to ensure the flight’s safe passage.” Some of that money then went to Maduro’s wife, the indictment says.
Nephews of Maduro’s wife were heard during recorded meetings with confidential U.S. government sources in 2015 agreeing to send “multi-hundred-kilogram cocaine shipments” from Maduro’s “presidential hanger” at a Venezuelan airport. The nephews during the recorded meetings explained “that they were at ‘war’ with the United States,” the indictment alleges. They were both sentenced in 2017 to 18 years in prison for conspiring to send tons of cocaine into the U.S. before being released in 2022 as part of a prisoner swap in exchange for seven imprisoned Americans.
During a news conference, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, cast the military raid that captured Maduro and his wife as an action carried out on behalf of the Department of Justice. Caine said the operation was made “at the request of the Justice Department.”
Rubio, as he responded to a question about whether Congress had been notified, said the U.S. raid to get the couple was “basically a law enforcement function,” adding that it was an instance in which the “Department of War supported the Department of Justice.” He called Maduro “a fugitive of American justice with a $50 million reward” over his head.
(AP)
Venezuela’s leadership has repeatedly invoked Israel and “Zionism” during past crises.
Rodríguez’s comments underscored the ongoing uncertainty over who wields power in Venezuela. Although she has assumed the role of acting president under the constitution, she appeared publicly alongside National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López, signaling cohesion within the ruling elite.
Israeli officials did not immediately respond to Rodriguez’s statements.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Shirley said the intimidation has not been limited to online harassment. He claimed that callers have contacted members of his family directly, including his younger sister, a development that visibly rattled him during the interview.
“I honestly feel bad for my family,” Shirley said. “We didn’t do anything wrong, and yet you guys are coming after me like I’m some sort of villain.”
The backlash follows Shirley’s investigation into several Minnesota daycare centers that receive public funding. In his video, Shirley alleged that multiple locations appeared largely empty during operating hours despite collecting substantial taxpayer dollars. One site, he claimed, received roughly $4 million in public funds.
Shirley has repeatedly stressed that his reporting was not politically motivated.
“I didn’t make this a right-or-left issue,” he said. “I just showed you guys that fraud was happening.”
Minnesota officials have pushed back on the claims. During a Dec. 29 news conference, Department of Children, Youth and Families Commissioner Tikki Brown said state inspections had not uncovered evidence of fraud at the facilities highlighted in the video.
“We are aware of a video that’s being circulated that has gained local and national attention about childcare centers in Minnesota,” Brown said. “While we have questions about some of the methods that were used in the video, we do take the concerns that the video raises about fraud very seriously.”
Despite the state’s denial of wrongdoing, the controversy appears to have prompted federal action. On Dec. 30, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced it would halt childcare payments to Minnesota, a move that came days after Shirley’s video spread widely online.
The decision to suspend payments underscores the gravity of the allegations, even as officials dispute Shirley’s conclusions. It also raises questions about oversight of publicly funded childcare programs and how alleged whistleblowers are treated when they bring uncomfortable claims to light.
For Shirley, the threats have cast a dark shadow over what he says was an effort to expose financial misconduct.
“My little sister is getting phone calls,” he said. “I’m like, why are you guys doing this?”
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
The protests, have become the biggest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations. However, the protests have yet to be as widespread and intense as those surrounding the death of Amini, who was detained over not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities.
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State television aired remarks by Khamenei to an audience in Tehran that sought to separate the concerns of protesting Iranians upset about the rial’s collapse from “rioters.”
“We talk to protesters, the officials must talk to them,” Khamenei said. “But there is no benefit to talking to rioters. Rioters must be put in their place.”
He also reiterated a claim constantly made by officials in Iran that foreign powers like Israel or the United States were pushing the protests, without offering any evidence. He also blamed “the enemy” for Iran’s collapsing rial.
“A bunch of people incited or hired by the enemy are getting behind the tradesmen and shopkeepers and chanting slogans against Islam, Iran and the Islamic Republic,” he said. “This is what matters most.”
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard ranks include the all-volunteer Basij force, whose motorcycling-riding members have violently put down protests like the 2009 Green Movement and the 2022 demonstrations. The Guard answers only to Khamenei.
Hard-line officials within the country are believed to have been pushing for a more-aggressive response to the demonstrations as President Masoud Pezeshkian has sought talks to address protesters’ demands.
But bloody security crackdowns often follow such protests. Protests over a gasoline price hike in 2019 reportedly saw over 300 people killed. A crackdown on the Amini protests of 2022, which lasted for months, killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000 detained.
“Iran has no organized domestic opposition; protesters are likely acting spontaneously,” the Eurasia Group said in an analysis Friday. “While protests could continue or grow larger (particularly as Iran’s economic outlook remains dire), the regime retains a large security apparatus and would likely suppress such dissent without losing control of the country.”
Two deaths overnight into Saturday involved a new level of violence. In Qom, home to the country’s major Shiite seminaries, a grenade exploded, killing a man there, the state-owned IRAN newspaper reported. It quoted security officials alleging the man was carrying the grenade to attack people in the city, some 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of the capital, Tehran.
Online videos from Qom purportedly showed fires in the street overnight.
The second death happened in the town of Harsin, some 370 kilometers (230 miles) southwest of Tehran. There, the newspaper said, a member of the Basij, the all-volunteer arm of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, died in a gun and knife attack in the town in Kermanshah province.
Demonstrations have reached over 100 locations in 22 of Iran’s 31 provinces, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported.
The protests, taking root in economic issues, have heard demonstrators chant against Iran’s theocracy as well. Tehran has had little luck in propping up its economy in the months since its June war with Israel in which the U.S. also bombed Iranian nuclear sites in Iran.
Iran recently said it was no longer enriching uranium at any site in the country, trying to signal to the West that it remains open to potential negotiations over its atomic program to ease sanctions. However, those talks have yet to happen as Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have warned Tehran against reconstituting its atomic program.
Maduro and his wife, seized overnight from their home on a military base, were first taken aboard a U.S. warship on their way to face prosecution for a Justice Department indictment accusing them of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy. A plane believed to be carrying the deposed leader landed Saturday evening in New York.
A person in custody was escorted off the jet, gingerly making his way down a stairway before being led across the tarmac surrounded by federal agents. Several agents appeared to film the person on their phones.
The legal authority for the incursion, done without congressional approval, was not immediately clear, but the Trump administration promoted the ouster as a step toward reducing the flow of dangerous drugs into the U.S. The president touted what he saw as other potential benefits, including a leadership stake in the country and greater control of oil.
Trump claimed the U.S. government would help run the country and was already doing so, though there were no immediate signs of that. Venezuelan state TV continued to air pro-Maduro propaganda, broadcasting live images of supporters taking to the streets in Caracas in protest.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said at a Mar-a-Lago news conference where he boasted that this “extremely successful operation should serve as warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives.”
Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on “narco-terrorism” conspiracy charges, but the Justice Department released a new indictment Saturday of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, that painted the regime as a “corrupt, illegitimate government” fueled by a drug trafficking operation that flooded the U.S with cocaine. The U.S. government does not recognize Maduro as the country’s leader.
Trump posted a photo on social media showing Maduro wearing a sweatsuit and a blindfold on board the USS Iwo Jima.
(AP)
More than 100 other people were injured in the blaze that broke out around 1:30 a.m. on Thursday at Le Constellation bar in the Alpine resort town of Crans-Montana. Police have said many were in their teens to mid-20s.
The process of identifying the dead and injured continued on Saturday, leading to an agonizing wait for relatives.
Investigators said Friday they believe sparkling candles atop Champagne bottles ignited the fire when they came too close to the ceiling of the crowded bar.
Authorities planned to look into whether sound-dampening material on the ceiling conformed with regulations and whether the candles were permitted for use in the bar. Officials said they also would look at other safety measures on the premises, including fire extinguishers and escape routes.
The Valais region’s top security official, Stéphane Ganzer, told SRF public radio Saturday that “such a huge accident with a fire in Switzerland means that something didn’t work — maybe the material, maybe the organization on the spot.” He added: “Something didn’t work and someone made a mistake, I am sure of that.”
Nicolas Féraud, who heads the Crans-Montana municipality, told RTS radio he was “convinced” checks on the bar hadn’t been lax, the broadcaster reported.
Asked whether the tragedy could have been avoided, Swiss Justice Minister Beat Jans replied that officials could not yet answer and “we know that the world needs an answer on this question.”
The severity of burns has made it difficult to identify the dead and injured, requiring families to supply authorities with DNA samples. In some cases, wallets and any identification documents inside were turned to ash.
On Saturday, regional police said the bodies of four victims — a boy and a girl, both 16, an 18-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman, all of them Swiss — had been identified and handed over to their families.
Laetitia Brodard, whose 16-year-old son, Arthur, went to Le Constellation to celebrate the New Year, held out hope that he might be one of them.
“I’m looking everywhere. The body of my son is somewhere,” Brodard told reporters Friday evening. “I want to know where my child is and be by his side. Wherever that may be, be it in the intensive care unit or the morgue.”
On Saturday, she told French broadcaster BFM TV that “we, parents, are starting to get tired … and anger is starting to rise.”
“It’s a wait that destroys people’s stability,” said Elvira Venturella, an Italian psychologist working with the families. “And the more time passes, the more difficult it becomes to accept the uncertainty, not having information.”
Swiss officials said Friday that 119 people were injured and 113 had been formally identified.
On Saturday, Italy’s ambassador to Switzerland, Gian Lorenzo Cornado, told reporters he had just been briefed by local authorities that the number of injured stood at 121, with five not yet identified. He said 14 Italians were being treated in hospitals.
Cornado acknowledged “a lot of stress,” but said it was right for authorities to share information only when it is “accurate and 100% sure.”
Ganzer, visiting the site along with Jans, called the families’ wait “unbearable,” and said officials’ top priority was providing them the “legitimate answers they are waiting for.”
Swiss police have said the injured included more than 70 Swiss nationals and over 10 each from France and Italy, along with citizens of Serbia, Bosnia, Luxembourg, Belgium, Portugal and Poland.
Mourners and well-wishers bearing flowers flowed to makeshift memorials outside Le Constellation, some consoling one another with hugs as they shed tears. “RIP you are all our children” one handwritten note said.
(YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem & AP)
Part of that preparation, Trump said, included practicing maneuvers on a replica building.
“They actually built a house which was identical to the one they went into with all the same, all that steel all over the place,” Trump said.
Trump said that the U.S. operation took place in darkness, although he did not detail how that had happened. He said the U.S. turned off “almost all of the lights in Caracas,” the capital of Venezuela.
“This thing was so organized,” he said. “And they go into a dark space with machine guns facing them all over the place.”
Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, detailed a “meticulously planned” operation that he said had been months in the making, crafted to minimize harm both to Maduro and his wife, as well as civilians. Through the holiday weeks of Christmas and New Year’s, Caine said service members watched and “sat ready” for the order, which the general said could come only once weather conditions improved Friday night.
“Last night the weather broke just enough, clearing a path that only the most skilled aviators in the world could move through,” Caine said, noting that helicopters flew low to the water to enter Venezuela, covered above by protective U.S. aircraft.
Caine said that more than 150 aircraft from 20 different bases were involved in the surprise, overnight attack on Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro.
Caine said the aircraft included F-22, F-35, and F-18 fighter jets as well as B1 bombers and other support aircraft “as well as numerous remotely piloted drones.”
Caine said that the mission of the aircraft was to provide cover for the helicopters that acted as the “extraction force” with the goal of capturing Maduro and his wife.
“There were multiple self-defense engagements as the force began to withdraw out of Venezuela,” Caine said. He also said that the military chose “the right day to minimize the potential for civilian harm and maximize the element of surprise.”
(YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)
(AP)
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Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on “narco-terrorism” conspiracy charges, but the Justice Department released a new indictment Saturday of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, accusing them of a role in narco-terrorism conspiracy.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi vowed in a social media post that the couple would “soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.” Trump said the couple were aboard the U.S. warship Iwo Jima and headed to New York.
Early Saturday, multiple explosions rang out and low-flying aircraft swept through the Venezuelan capital. Maduro’s government accused the United States of attacking civilian and military installations, calling it an “imperialist attack” and urging citizens to take to the streets.
The attack lasted less than 30 minutes and the explosions — at least seven blasts — sent people rushing into the streets, while others took to social media to report what they’d seen and heard. Some Venezuelan civilians and members of the military were killed, said Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, without giving a number. Trump said some U.S. forces were injured in Venezuela but he believed none were killed.
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Video obtained from Caracas and an unidentified coastal city showed tracers and smoke clouding the landscape as repeated muted explosions illuminated the night sky. Other footage showed cars passing on a highway as blasts illuminated the hills behind them. The videos were verified by The Associated Press.
Smoke was seen rising from the hangar of a military base in Caracas, while another military installation in the capital was without power.
The strike followed a months-long Trump administration pressure campaign on the Venezuelan leader, including a major buildup of American forces in the waters off South America and attacks on boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean accused of carrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels — the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes in September.
As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes was 35 and the number of people killed at least 115, according to the Trump administration. Trump said that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and has justified the boat strikes as a necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S.
Maduro has decried the U.S. military operations as a thinly veiled effort to oust him from power.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who is expected to assume Maduro’s role, is currently in Russia, according to four sources familiar with her movements. Her brother, Jorge Rodríguez, the head of Venezuela’s National Assembly, is said to be in Caracas.
Speaking on state television, Delcy Rodríguez said the government does not know where Maduro is being held and demanded that Trump provide proof that Maduro and his wife are still alive.
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(YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)
(AP & YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
Your browser does not support the video tag.
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Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on “narco-terrorism” conspiracy charges, but the Justice Department released a new indictment Saturday of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, accusing them of a role in narco-terrorism conspiracy.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi vowed in a social media post that the couple would “soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.” Trump said the couple were aboard the U.S. warship Iwo Jima and headed to New York.
Early Saturday, multiple explosions rang out and low-flying aircraft swept through the Venezuelan capital. Maduro’s government accused the United States of attacking civilian and military installations, calling it an “imperialist attack” and urging citizens to take to the streets.
The attack lasted less than 30 minutes and the explosions — at least seven blasts — sent people rushing into the streets, while others took to social media to report what they’d seen and heard. Some Venezuelan civilians and members of the military were killed, said Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, without giving a number. Trump said some U.S. forces were injured in Venezuela but he believed none were killed.
Your browser does not support the video tag.
Video obtained from Caracas and an unidentified coastal city showed tracers and smoke clouding the landscape as repeated muted explosions illuminated the night sky. Other footage showed cars passing on a highway as blasts illuminated the hills behind them. The videos were verified by The Associated Press.
Smoke was seen rising from the hangar of a military base in Caracas, while another military installation in the capital was without power.
The strike followed a months-long Trump administration pressure campaign on the Venezuelan leader, including a major buildup of American forces in the waters off South America and attacks on boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean accused of carrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels — the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes in September.
As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes was 35 and the number of people killed at least 115, according to the Trump administration. Trump said that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and has justified the boat strikes as a necessary to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S.
Maduro has decried the U.S. military operations as a thinly veiled effort to oust him from power.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who is expected to assume Maduro’s role, is currently in Russia, according to four sources familiar with her movements. Her brother, Jorge Rodríguez, the head of Venezuela’s National Assembly, is said to be in Caracas.
Speaking on state television, Delcy Rodríguez said the government does not know where Maduro is being held and demanded that Trump provide proof that Maduro and his wife are still alive.
Your browser does not support the video tag.
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(YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)
(AP & YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
“Somaliland’s engagement with the State of Israel is purely diplomatic,” the foreign ministry said, adding that the relationship is being conducted “in full respect of international law and the mutual sovereign interests of both countries.”
The dispute comes days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel would formally recognize Somaliland, a move that makes Israel the first UN member state to do so. The announcement triggered condemnation from Somalia, criticism from several Middle Eastern and African governments, and a rebuke from the European Union.
Israel’s statement made no mention of any quid pro quo, and did not reference refugees, basing rights, or security arrangements.
The controversy also intersects with a broader, faltering debate over the future of Gaza’s civilian population. Plans floated earlier this year for the voluntary migration of Gazans — an idea initially embraced by parts of Israel’s government — have largely collapsed amid international resistance. U.S. President Donald Trump, who raised the concept in February, has since cooled on it, and most countries have refused to accept Palestinians from Gaza. Only Indonesia has expressed any willingness to consider resettlement, according to reports.
Still, Somaliland’s location continues to fuel speculation about the strategic implications of closer ties with Israel. The territory sits along the Gulf of Aden, directly across from Yemen, where the Houthis control large swaths of territory. The Houthis began attacking Israel and international shipping in late 2023, prompting Israeli airstrikes, before pausing operations following an October ceasefire in Gaza.
Regional analysts have suggested that diplomatic relations with Somaliland could give Israel greater access to the Red Sea and improve its ability to monitor or respond to threats emanating from Yemen. The Houthis’ leader warned last week that any Israeli presence in Somaliland would be considered a military target.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
The endorsement came from Erika Kirk, who assumed leadership of the organization following the September assassination of her husband, conservative activist Charlie Kirk. In her opening remarks at the summit, she explicitly endorsed Vance’s potential candidacy, signaling that the group’s political infrastructure could be mobilized behind him in 2028.
Despite Vance’s strong positioning, other Republicans appear to be laying markers. Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, both of whom challenged Trump in the 2016 GOP primary, have recently been more vocal in expressing differences with the administration. Additional figures frequently mentioned as possible 2028 contenders include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Whether Republicans face a competitive primary in 2028 may hinge on the success of Trump’s second term, the state of the economy, and GOP performance in the 2026 midterms.
Democrats: A Wide-Open Field Takes Shape
For Democrats, the 2028 nomination contest is expected to be far more crowded. Former Vice President Kamala Harris, the party’s 2024 nominee after then-President Joe Biden exited the race, drew attention with a forceful speech at the Democratic National Committee’s winter meeting in December. In her remarks, Harris criticized the political status quo and urged Democrats to begin articulating a vision beyond the midterms and the Trump presidency.
Harris is expected to maintain a visible national presence in the coming year as she campaigns for Democratic candidates ahead of the midterms. She has also expanded her book tour for 107 Days, her account of the 2024 campaign, with scheduled appearances in early-voting primary states, including South Carolina.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom also attracted attention at the DNC winter meeting, which was held in Los Angeles. While he did not address the general session, Newsom held meetings with delegates and party leaders, including chairs from New Hampshire and Nevada—two states central to the Democratic presidential nominating calendar.
Newsom’s profile within the party has risen over the past year, driven by his high-visibility confrontations with Trump and his role in California’s response to Republican-led congressional redistricting efforts. Still, both Newsom and Harris face skepticism from some Democrats who question their general election viability in 2028.
They are unlikely to have the field to themselves. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker was also active at the DNC meeting, and more than a dozen other Democrats are widely viewed as potential contenders. That list includes Govs. Josh Shapiro, Andy Beshear, Wes Moore, and Gretchen Whitmer; Sens. Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, Ruben Gallego, Mark Kelly, and Chris Murphy; Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ro Khanna; as well as former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and former White House chief of staff and Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel.
With competitive midterm races expected nationwide in 2026, political observers anticipate that many of these potential contenders will remain active on the campaign trail, balancing efforts to help their parties win congressional seats while positioning themselves for a possible 2028 run.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
