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Israel’s government has officially approved the 2026 state budget following a brief cabinet meeting held Friday. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opened the session by stating that the budget would pass that same day and praised the ministers and the finance minister for what he described as a focused and constructive approach.

Netanyahu told the cabinet that the budget brings meaningful benefits to the country, including tax reductions, support for active-duty and reserve IDF soldiers, and accelerated development for northern and southern communities affected during the war. He stressed that the government is stable and has no intention of heading to early elections, declaring: “This government will serve out its full term.”

The Finance Ministry and Defense Ministry reached an agreement setting the defense budget at 112 billion shekels — approximately 30 billion shekels less than what the Defense Ministry originally demanded at the start of negotiations.

Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich welcomed the compromise, saying the government is committing massive resources to strengthen the army while still ensuring that Israel’s economy remains on a path toward growth and relief for citizens.

Ministers also approved Smotrich’s dairy reform plan during the meeting. The prime minister and most cabinet members supported the reform, with Agriculture and Food Security Minister Avi Dichter casting the sole opposing vote. The proposal will now move to the Knesset for legislation.

Netanyahu noted that the budget includes several major initiatives: tax cuts — including reductions to income tax — decreased regulation, streamlined government systems, and significant investment in communities in the north and south that suffered during the conflict. He said the budget also expands assistance, grants, and benefits for IDF soldiers in both regular service and reserves, along with increased support for their families.

Shortly after the meeting ended, the Prime Minister’s Office released a confirmation statement announcing that the government had approved the 2026 budget.

{Matzav.com}

Derek Chauvin is again attempting to overturn his conviction, filing a new appeal that asks a Minnesota court to throw out the verdict in the death of George Floyd and allow him to be retried. The request, submitted last month in Hennepin County District Court, argues that significant legal and evidentiary problems undermined the fairness of his 2020 trial.

Central to the filing is Chauvin’s argument that the medical testimony used against him was fundamentally flawed. His attorneys assert that the four physicians who evaluated the medical examiner’s findings relied excessively on video footage that captured officers restraining Floyd — including the widely seen recording in which Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes as Floyd repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe and bystanders pleaded with officers to stop. According to the appeal, “This led to many errors throughout, as improperly qualified experts opined on events in the various videos in this case. This served to deprive Chauvin of his right to due process.”

Chauvin contends that he has now brought in outside medical experts from the Forensic Panel who are prepared to testify that the physicians used during the trial relied on methodology that “is not generally accepted in the scientific community,” as reported by Fox News.

The appeal also takes aim at testimony offered by Minneapolis police supervisors who said that the knee-to-neck restraint was outside department policy. Chauvin’s lawyers counter that dozens of officers dispute that claim. As Fox News summarized, “Chauvin also disputed testimony from three Minneapolis police supervisors, who swore the tactic of placing a knee on a suspect’s neck as a restraint was inconsistent with city police policy,” adding that the filing includes statements from “34 current and former Minneapolis police officers” asserting that the maneuver was part of their training.

This is not Chauvin’s first effort to revisit the outcome of his trial. A previous appeal seeking a new proceeding was rejected in 2023. He is currently serving both a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights and a separate 22½-year sentence for second-degree murder, housed at a low-security facility in Big Spring, Texas.

Prosecutors, in their closing arguments at trial, maintained that Chauvin betrayed the ethics and responsibility of his position during the incident, asserting that he chose “pride over policing” while restraining Floyd for those nine minutes.

{Matzav.com}

A sweeping series of border-enforcement announcements this week signaled an intensified effort by federal authorities to deter illegal entry on every front. At the center of the rollout is a newly declared $5,000 fee that will be imposed on anyone 14 or older who entered the country without inspection, accompanied by a renewed crackdown on sea routes and a celebration by federal officials of seven consecutive months without Border Patrol releases into the U.S. interior.

In outlining the new financial penalty, Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks stressed that the rule is grounded in 8 U.S.C. §1815 and applies across the board — to those who crossed unlawfully days ago or decades ago, and whether or not they are currently tied up in immigration court. He noted that additional charges may apply under 8 U.S.C. §§2339 and 1324, signaling an expansive enforcement net.

As part of the same enforcement push, CBP’s Air and Marine Operations division issued an unambiguous warning aimed at people considering illegal maritime crossings. Their message was stark: “If you cross the border illegally, you will be caught, deported, and banned from ever returning to the United States. Don’t take to the sea!” Officials pointed to a steep rise in smuggling operations using ocean routes and vowed to block unlawful entry from the water just as aggressively as on land.

The Department of Homeland Security added to the week’s developments with a pointed declaration highlighting President Trump and Secretary Kristi Noem’s record: seven months running without a single Border Patrol release into the nation’s interior. DHS touted the milestone as evidence of a fortified enforcement strategy, describing this period as the “most secure border in history.” The agency credited interdepartmental coordination for achieving what it characterized as unprecedented control of migrant flows.

Even with that record in hand, the administration is pushing further. Banks revealed that construction of additional border barriers has resumed in the Rio Grande Valley Sector, marking a new round of wall expansion in an area long overwhelmed by illegal crossings. The move underscores that physical infrastructure remains a centerpiece of the administration’s strategy.

The combination of the new penalty, fresh maritime enforcement messaging, and DHS’s border-security declaration reflects a coordinated signal: illegal entry will meet firm consequences, and border controls are tightening at every point of access. That theme was echoed again when Banks described the fast-rising wall sections in Texas. “Solid steel wall panels are now standing tall in Harlingen, TX — marking the beginning of 17.4 miles of unyielding progress,” he said. “Impedance and denial aren’t just the goals — they’re the MISSION. THE BORDER IS STILL CLOSED.”

{Matzav.com}

The last defendant in a widely publicized hate-fueled attack in Times Square has now received his punishment, bringing an end to a case that drew national attention. Manhattan prosecutors announced that Salem Seleiman, 30, will spend two years behind bars for his role in the brutal assault on Joey Borgen.

The confrontation unfolded in 2021 as tensions surrounding the Israel–Gaza conflict spilled into the streets. Borgen had been on his way to a pro-Israel demonstration when a group of six men surrounded him near an anti-Israel rally and set upon him in an attack that was recorded and quickly circulated online.

Authorities say Seleiman was the final member of the group to face sentencing. He acknowledged his involvement earlier this year, entering guilty pleas to second-degree assault and to third-degree assault as a hate crime.

In a statement addressing the outcome, District Attorney Alvin Bragg condemned Seleiman’s conduct. “Salem Seleiman took part in the repugnant and bias-motivated assault of a Jewish man who was peacefully attending a rally,” Bragg said. “The victim was targeted based on his religion and did nothing to warrant physical violence.”

Investigators described a horrifying scene in which Borgen was forced to the pavement and repeatedly punched, kicked, sprayed with chemicals, and struck with a crutch, all while the assailants hurled slurs, calling him a “filthy Jew” and “dirty Jew.”

Borgen has since relocated to Israel, leaving New York not long after the criminal proceedings began. Seleiman, meanwhile, fled the state following the attack. Detectives tracked him down in Florida, where he was arrested in May before being extradited back to Manhattan to face charges.

Officials continue to warn that anti-Jewish hate crimes remain disproportionately high in New York City, underscoring persistent concerns about the safety of the Jewish community.

{Matzav.com}

A sweeping shift in national vaccine guidance for infants set off intense debate on Friday, as the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to push back the first hepatitis B shot for babies whose mothers test negative for the virus. For more than three decades, federal guidance has emphasized administering the vaccine within the first 24 hours of life. Now, with an 8–2 vote, the committee endorsed delaying that dose until two months of age for infants born to mothers confirmed negative.

The vote also endorsed a second change: Instead of automatically giving a newborn the hepatitis B shot, the new language advises “individual decision-making in consultation with a health care provider” for babies whose mothers have tested negative. The shift has stunned a wide range of medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, which argue that easing the universal birth recommendation erodes vital protections for infants and undermines decades of solid data demonstrating safety and effectiveness.

These decisions landed on the second day of ACIP’s December convening — a meeting marked by confusion, procedural hiccups, and unusually sharp disagreements. Thursday’s scheduled vote had to be postponed after committee members said they couldn’t clearly see the latest draft of the ballot language and were unsure how many questions they were supposed to address. Technical failures added to the disorder, prompting concerns about transparency and accuracy.

When the panel reconvened Friday, the deliberations grew more charged. Members — all appointed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — opened with a reading of the proposed text. One of the strongest objections came from Restef Levi, a mathematician with no medical background, who declared that experts had “never tested (the vaccines) appropriately” and insisted that the committee should refrain from recommending any timeline at all. His remarks quickly prompted pushback from longtime vaccine specialists.

Among the most vocal critics was Dr. Cody Meissner, a respected pediatrics expert who previously served on the FDA’s vaccine advisory panel. He and ACIP member Dr. Joseph Hibbeln repeatedly warned colleagues that the committee had been handed four versions of the proposal in less than a week. Hibbeln argued that “no rational science has been presented” to justify altering a schedule that has protected millions of infants for more than three decades. As Meissner cast his vote against revising the guidance, he offered a pointed reminder: “We’ve heard ‘do no harm’ as a moral imperative. We are doing harm by changing this wording.”

Hepatitis B poses life-altering risk to young children, leading to liver disease, cancer, and early death. Universal newborn vaccination has been recommended since 1991, leading to a 99% drop in pediatric infections. Experts warn that weakening the first-dose recommendations removes a crucial safety net in cases where prenatal testing is missed — a problem the CDC estimates affects roughly 16% of pregnant women each year.

Soon after the main vote, ACIP took up another contentious proposal: whether parents should test their children after the first dose to see if it provided a sufficient antibody response. The panel narrowly endorsed encouraging such discussions between families and physicians, though even supporters acknowledged the data remain thin and some wording was unclear.

If approved by the CDC director, these measures could influence not only clinical advice but also insurance coverage. ACIP recommendations often set the benchmark for what private insurers must cover. A shift in timing or structure could therefore have financial implications for families.

Friday’s debate followed a tumultuous Thursday session in which several members criticized the limited or contradictory data presented on vaccine safety. Meissner took particular issue with one presentation that suggested safety information on the birth dose was sparse — a claim contradicted by decades of published research documenting no increase in infant death, fever, sepsis, autoimmune disease, multiple sclerosis, or other serious reactions.

Frustration spilled into the public comments as well. Dr. Jason Goldman, representing the American College of Physicians, condemned the approach taken during the proceedings, calling the meeting “completely inappropriate” and accusing ACIP of “wasting taxpayer dollars by not having scientific, rigorous discussion on issues that truly matter.” He reminded the panel that the hepatitis B birth dose has never been mandated nationwide and that families already retain the right to make individualized decisions with their doctors.

This is not the first time ACIP has confronted procedural turmoil. At its September meeting, confusion over ballot wording led members to vote down funding for a combined measles-mumps-rubella-chickenpox vaccine for toddlers, reverse themselves minutes later, and then shift course again the following day.

The public health stakes remain stark. Newborns who contract hepatitis B at or around birth face a 90% chance of developing chronic infection, often culminating in cirrhosis, liver cancer, or premature death. Past research has shown that limiting early vaccination only to babies whose mothers test positive results in missed cases — with devastating consequences.

For years, critics of vaccination have targeted the hepatitis B birth dose, including Kennedy, who inaccurately alleged in a June podcast that the shot was a “likely culprit” in autism. Extensive research has disproven such claims, consistently showing that the vaccine has one of the strongest safety records in modern medicine. Numerous studies confirm that delaying the dose offers no measurable safety benefit.

The American Academy of Pediatrics reiterated this point in strong terms. Dr. Sean O’Leary emphasized that the vaccine administered at birth is “one of the most well established safety records of any vaccine,” adding that early protection is essential to preventing chronic illness and liver cancer. “We’ve been using it for a long time. It’s one of our best tools to protect babies from chronic illness and liver cancer.” He warned that even a single missed infection can have lifelong consequences: “This is a situation where one missed case is too many.”

{Matzav.com}

A Brazilian scholar who admitted to firing an air rifle outside a Brookline synagogue on Yom Kippur is now leaving the United States after being taken into custody by federal immigration authorities earlier this week.

The Department of Homeland Security announced that Carlos Portugal Gouvea, 43, agreed to return to Brazil rather than proceed through deportation proceedings. “It is a privilege to work and study in the United States, not a right,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said, adding, “There is no room in the United States for brazen, violent acts of anti-Semitism like this. They are an affront to our core principals [sic] as a country and an unacceptable threat against law-abiding American citizens.”

Gouvea had pleaded guilty Nov. 13 to one misdemeanor count tied to the Oct. 2 episode outside Temple Beth Zion, admitting to the unlawful use of the air rifle. During the encounter, which unfolded on the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, he told police he had been “hunting rats.”

Authorities said he had fired twice before being approached by the synagogue’s private security team, who engaged him in what the police report described as a “brief physical struggle.” He then retreated into his nearby home, according to details reported by Brookline.News.

When officers questioned him afterward, he continued to insist that his purpose had been to target vermin, although investigators determined that one of the shots had struck and broken a car window.

Prior to the incident, Gouvea had been serving as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School under a J-1 visa. That visa was revoked by the State Department shortly after the shooting, and Harvard subsequently placed him on administrative leave. The school did not announce any further disciplinary steps.

Under the plea arrangement, additional accusations—including disorderly conduct, vandalism, and disturbing the peace—were dismissed.

The clash outside the synagogue occurred just days after President Trump said that Harvard had tentatively resolved a dispute with his administration regarding $2.4 billion in frozen federal research funds, a standoff that grew out of controversies connected to antisemitism and the aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel.

{Matzav.com}

A federal vaccine advisory committee voted on Friday to end the longstanding recommendation that all U.S. babies get the hepatitis B vaccine on the day they’re born. A loud chorus of medical and public health leaders decried the actions of the panel, whose current members were all appointed by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy […]

A Beis Din ruling in Bnei Brak has handed a decisive victory to Satmar in a high-profile dispute with guesthouse owners in Meron, determining that lodging contracts for a major Shabbos gathering will remain unchanged and that concealing the identity of the renters to prevent price-gouging was entirely legitimate, Matzav.com has learned.

The financial saga began ahead of a massive Shabbos Hisachdus in Meron, where the Satmar Rebbe of Kiryas Yoel, Rav Aharon Teitelbaum, was scheduled to spend Shabbos together with thousands of chassidim who had arrived in Israel. Demand for accommodations in the area surged, prompting Satmar organizers to secure dozens of guesthouses and rental units near the kever of Rabi Shimon bar Yochai.

To prevent extreme price inflation, Satmar enlisted an outside production company and instructed it to quietly reserve every available unit in the Meron region without disclosing that the Rebbe and thousands of followers would be arriving. Organizers feared that revealing this information would trigger massive price hikes from property owners.

After the reservations were finalized, however, one guesthouse owner discovered who the tenants really were and claimed that he could have charged far more had he known. He sought to cancel the agreement entirely. Several additional landlords joined him, filing a formal claim against both Satmar and the production company, alleging that essential information had been withheld during the booking process.

The case was brought before the Beis Din Tzedek of Bnei Brak, founded by Rav Nissim Karelitz zt”l and widely regarded as one of the most respected monetary botei din in the chareidi world. The panel consisted of Dayanim Rav Shalom Mordechai HaLevi Segal, Rav Binyomin Yechiel Posen, and Rav Mordechai Silman, highly experienced arbitrators in financial disputes. The ruling attracted unusual public interest due to the scale of the rentals involved, which included dozens of apartments and lodging complexes.

In their clear and unequivocal ruling, the dayanim upheld the original contracts in full, determining that the guesthouse owners had no basis to void the agreements. The fact that demand later proved higher than anticipated, they ruled, does not constitute any form of “mistaken transaction” and does not justify canceling a freely signed agreement. They emphasized that fluctuating market conditions are not grounds for retroactively altering a deal.

The ruling stated that “there is no flaw whatsoever in the conduct of the community and of the defendants,” adding that renters are not obligated to disclose information that might encourage unfair price gouging. The dayanim further wrote that “they are entitled to act wisely in order to obtain lodging services at reasonable prices.”

As a result, all rental agreements remain binding, leaving the disappointed Meron property owners required to honor the original rates.

{Matzav.com}

A tense exchange of messages and public statements followed a startling moment at a Manhattan charity gala, prompting NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch to send a personal apology to the incoming mayor’s team — an apology Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani acknowledged on Thursday while signaling he intends to move forward without dwelling on the episode.

During his Cocoa Chat community event, Mamdani addressed the controversy directly, noting that Tisch had reached out after her brother publicly referred to him as an “enemy” of the Jewish people. “The commissioner apologized to my team for those remarks, and I look forward to being a mayor for each and every New Yorker, including Jewish New Yorkers,” Mamdani said.

Mamdani underscored that the friction created by the comment would not derail his professional relationship with Tisch, whom he has decided to retain as head of the NYPD despite their policy differences. He reiterated that he does not intend to let the distraction impede his administration’s priorities.

“My focus in my conversations with Commissioner Tisch is on delivering public safety and doing so in tandem with justice for New Yorkers across the five boroughs,” he said. “The apology was one that she conveyed to the team. I appreciated it, and my focus is back on delivering.”

The NYPD also issued a statement through spokesperson Brad Weekes, amplifying Tisch’s reassurance to the public. “I understand the fear in the Jewish community. My sincere belief is that the mayor-elect will live up to the commitment he’s made to be a mayor for all New Yorkers, including the Jewish community.”

The apology was prompted by comments made the previous night by Benjamin Tisch, billionaire CEO of Loews Corporation, during the Met Council’s annual gala at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Attendees told the New York Daily News that Tisch’s decision to brand Mamdani an “enemy” stunned the room, especially given that Commissioner Tisch had recently agreed to continue serving under the incoming administration.

One witness described the crowd’s reaction succinctly: “It was just like, ‘wow, he’s actually going to go there.’” Benjamin Tisch has offered no public explanation or follow-up since the event.

Mamdani — a democratic socialist and outspoken critic of Israel’s policies — has repeatedly denied accusations that his political positions amount to antisemitism, even as he has faced sustained attacks from groups aligned against him. The Tisch family as a whole invested heavily in efforts to defeat him during the 2025 mayoral race, donating over a million dollars to super PACs supporting Andrew Cuomo, according to the Daily News. Commissioner Tisch did not participate in those donations.

In an earlier interview with the outlet, Mamdani said of their policy disagreements: “The two of us will not shy away from the fact that we hold disagreements on certain issues… but I also believe that these disagreements are not only reconcilable, but they are the sign of a healthy partnership to come.”

The uproar arrives at a pivotal moment for the incoming administration, with Mamdani set to take office on January 1 — just weeks away from the start of his term and his effort to set a steady tone amid early political turbulence.

{Matzav.com}

The Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation changed little in September, likely easing the way to a widely expected interest rate cut by the central bank next week. Prices rose 0.3% in September from August, the Commerce Department said Friday, in a report that was delayed five weeks by the government shutdown. It matched the […]

Leading Israeli rabbonim have issued a strongly worded public letter condemning a new employment trend in which chareidi women have begun working in a particular field. The letter, titled “And He Shall See No Unseemly Thing in You, and Turn Away From You,” warns that such work is inappropriate and violates long-standing standards of tznius.

The rabbonim expressed alarm over reports from Tzefas that chareidi women have recently begun working as drivers in public transportation. “With great concern we have heard about a new phenomenon taking place here in our holy city of Tzefas, where chareidi women are serving as drivers in public transportation,” the letter begins.

They stressed that, historically, “many of the great leaders of Israel have prohibited women from driving vehicles altogether and viewed it as a serious breach in the boundaries of modesty.”

The letter then intensifies its tone, arguing that becoming public-transportation drivers represents a further decline. “It never occurred to us that they would descend even more steps backward, to serve as drivers in public transportation. In truth, this is not fitting even for non-Jewish women, and even the more refined among them would not degrade themselves with such a lowly job — and all the more so, infinitely more so, for chareidi women,” the rabbonim wrote.

They added that several severe halachic and modesty concerns are intertwined with this type of work, saying some individuals “do not feel the seriousness of the prohibitions involved. This contradicts entirely the Torah’s guidelines for modesty.”

The letter also warns of spiritual consequences, stating: “Woe to us on the Day of Judgment, woe to us on the Day of Rebuke, if we do not erect a wall around this matter, so that it should not be seen or found among the daughters of Israel, lest judgment befall us because of it.”

In their concluding appeal, the rabbonim urge immediate withdrawal from the profession. “We hereby call upon those who have already been tempted into this degrading job to abandon this improper path immediately and seek other forms of employment in accordance with modesty and halacha. We ask that all who are able do everything within their power to stop this destructive development from spreading among the Jewish people.”

The letter is signed “in pain and fear for the suffering of the holy Shechinah.”

{Matzav.com}

U.S. Consumer Spending Slows in September • Consumer spending rose 0.3% in September, down from 0.5% in August. • The slowdown shows weaker economic momentum heading into the fourth quarter. • Demand softened due to a weak labor market and higher living costs. • Recent strength came mainly from wealthier households benefiting from stock market […]

A Mercedes driver in Romania lost control of the vehicle, causing the car to go airborne. Despite the dramatic crash, he reportedly sustained only minor injuries.

EU Fines X €120 Million Under the Digital Services Act • The European Commission has fined X €120 million for breaching transparency rules under the Digital Services Act. • Regulators said X used a deceptive design for its “blue checkmark” system. • The Commission also cited a lack of transparency in the platform’s advertising repository. […]

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards carried out two days of drills in the Gulf, firing Qadr-series ballistic and cruise missiles and using drones to strike mock “enemy” bases.

Pentagon Sets 2027 Deadline for Europe to Take Over NATO Conventional Defense • The Pentagon told European delegations in Washington that the United States wants Europe to take over most of NATO’s conventional defense capabilities by 2027, including intelligence, air defenses, and missiles. • U.S. officials warned that if Europe cannot meet that timeline, the […]

The suspect arrested in the DC pipe-bomb investigation told the FBI during interviews that he believed the 2020 election was stolen, giving investigators an early indication of a possible motive behind the bombs placed near the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee headquarters on January 5, 2021.  

Hassett: The president has a proven track record on affordability and healthcare…

PamBondi on how the FBI found Brian Cole Jr. and what investigators are learning now.