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Andy Thomson has officially been declared the winner of the Boca Raton mayoral election after both machine and manual recounts confirmed the results of the closely contested race.

The final tally showed Thomson prevailing by an extremely narrow margin of just five votes.

Election officials conducted the recount in the Boca Raton mayoral contest on Friday.

According to the updated results, Thomson edged out challenger Mike Liebelson after the manual review of ballots. The final count showed Thomson receiving 7,572 votes, while Liebelson finished with 7,567. A third candidate, Fran Nachlas, placed far behind with 3,967 votes.

In a separate contest in Lake Worth Beach, voters narrowly rejected a ballot measure known as Question 5. The referendum failed by only two votes, with 1,640 residents voting against it and 1,638 supporting it.

Question 5 asked Lake Worth Beach citizens: Since the City no longer operates its own police or fire departments, should the section of the City Charter that refers to those departments be removed to avoid confusion?

Meanwhile, in the race for a seat on the South Beach Town Council, five candidates competed for the position. Francesca Atardi led the field in the machine count with 262 votes, with Adrian Brucet and Sandra Beckett trailing behind.

Election officials said that differences between the machine totals and the manual recount were caused by overvotes and undervotes, which slightly altered the numbers but did not change the overall results.

{Matzav.com}

The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday that the brother of the man who carried out a vehicle attack at a Jewish preschool in Michigan held a senior position in Hezbollah as a weapons commander.

Ayman Muhammad Ghazali, 41, was killed Thursday after ramming a vehicle into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan.

According to a statement released by the IDF on Sunday morning, Ghazali’s brother, Ibrahim Muhammad Ghazali, oversaw weapons operations within a specialized division of Hezbollah’s Badr Unit.

The Israeli military said this branch of the Lebanese terror organization was responsible for firing hundreds of rockets at Israeli civilians during the recent conflict with Iran.

Just days before the Michigan attack, several members of Ghazali’s family were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon. A local official told the Associated Press on Friday that two of Ghazali’s brothers, along with a niece and a nephew, died in the March 5 strike in the town of Mashgharah.

The relatives were reportedly gathered for their evening meal marking the end of the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when the strike occurred.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, Ghazali entered the United States in 2011 after marrying an American citizen and later obtained U.S. citizenship during President Obama’s administration in 2016.

On Thursday, Ghazali drove approximately 38 miles from his home in Dearborn Heights, a Detroit suburb with a large Muslim population, to Temple Israel — one of the largest Reform synagogues in the United States. The complex includes a synagogue building as well as a school and early childhood center.

After crashing his vehicle, which investigators said contained fireworks and containers of gasoline, Ghazali exchanged gunfire with an armed security guard. Authorities said he eventually died after fatally shooting himself when the burning vehicle trapped him inside.

All 140 children, teachers, and staff members inside the synagogue complex escaped unharmed, a result credited to the swift actions of the synagogue’s security personnel.

“If they had not all done their jobs almost perfectly, we would be talking about an immense tragedy here with children gone,” US Sen. Elissa Slotkin (Dem., M-17) told a news conference Friday.

In Dearborn Heights, a mosque hosted a memorial service last weekend for Ghazali’s relatives who were killed in Lebanon.

The mosque’s imam, Hassan Qazwini, said he had encountered Ghazali only once and condemned the attack on the synagogue.

“Islam forbids holding innocent people accountable for acts done by others,” Qazwini told AP.

“The unjustified Israeli attack on civilians in Iran and Lebanon gives no blank check to anyone attacking synagogues, civilians and peaceful communities,” he said.

{Matzav.com}

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu responded Sunday to a wave of online rumors and conspiracy theories circulating on social media that falsely claimed he had died and that a recent video appearance of him was generated using artificial intelligence.

The speculation spread rapidly after internet users shared a still image from a video of Netanyahu, arguing that one of his hands appeared distorted and appeared to show six fingers — a mistake often associated with AI-generated images and video.

WATCH:

אומרים שאני מה? צפו >> pic.twitter.com/ijHPkM3ZHZ

— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) March 15, 2026

During a conversation in which he was asked directly about the claims, Netanyahu was told: “On the internet they’re saying you’re dead.” The Prime Minister answered humourously, using the term “dead” as the Israeli slang for in-love: “I’m dead for coffee, for my people. They behave fantastically.”

Netanyahu also addressed the allegation in a playful manner by raising his hands toward the camera and joking, “Want to count my fingers?” — a sarcastic reference to the supposed evidence cited in the viral conspiracy theories.

{Matzav.com}

A home in Petach Tikva was severely damaged last night after being struck by a fragment from an Iranian cluster missile during a barrage of ballistic rockets fired toward Israel. For homeowner David Zuaretz, the attack was particularly shocking because the same house had already been hit earlier this year.

Zuaretz said the residence had only recently been repaired following damage sustained during June’s Operation Rising Lion. “Just four months ago, we finished renovating the house after the last missile hit it,” Zuaretz told TPS.

Although the building suffered major structural damage, the family escaped injury after following safety instructions issued by Israel’s Home Front Command. “We heard the siren, and we entered the protected room,” David recounted. “Suddenly, we heard a very loud explosion. When they said that we could go out, we saw the ruin. The shrapnel hit the house and ruined the roof, the pergola, and the shingles.”

Surveying the destruction outside his home, Zuaretz spoke openly about the strain of living under repeated missile attacks. “We can’t live like this, constantly going in and leaving the shelters,” he said painfully. “This war must end once and for all, so that we won’t have to renovate our houses every few months.”

{Matzav.com}

The Israel Defense Forces released extensive new information about Operation Roaring Lion in Iran, outlining how the campaign was prepared, how the opening strike was carried out, and the operational progress made since the fighting began.

According to the military, months before the launch of the operation, the Intelligence Directorate invested major efforts in preparing for the campaign, incorporating lessons learned from earlier confrontations with Iran. The army stressed that planners approached the operation with the clear understanding that Iran possesses substantial military capabilities and cannot be underestimated.

The military said the campaign now underway in Iran is being executed according to a detailed operational framework that had been carefully developed in advance. Thousands of personnel from Military Intelligence and other IDF units, including both regular and reserve forces, participated in building the plan. Officials added that the overwhelming majority of targets struck during the current operation were newly identified by Military Intelligence after Operation Rising Lion, the result of years of intelligence gathering and analysis.

The IDF also reported that Hezbollah’s capabilities were drastically reduced following Operation Northern Arrows. According to the army’s assessment, roughly 90 percent of the organization’s weapons arsenal was destroyed, weakening the group significantly. Combined with Israel’s defensive preparations, that damage has provided the military with increased operational freedom in both Lebanon and Iran.

Israeli security officials had anticipated the possibility that Hezbollah could enter the conflict, prompting extensive preparations and adjustments to operational plans ahead of time. The army said it remains ready for both defensive and offensive action along the northern border.

As part of the broader preparation for the campaign, Israel also deepened coordination with the United States. The IDF said both countries worked to align intelligence assessments and operational understanding through a series of meetings and visits by senior military officials to the United States in recent months.

Military officials also highlighted the impact of Operation Rising Lion, stating that the earlier campaign prevented Iran from immediately advancing its nuclear program and significantly reduced the threat posed by its ballistic missile arsenal. According to the IDF, without that earlier operation Iran would currently possess more than a thousand additional missiles.

The army said the opening strike of Operation Roaring Lion was designed and executed as a surprise attack. Although Iranian authorities had maintained a heightened state of alert in recent months, the IDF said it successfully caught the regime off guard and dealt major blows to key Iranian capabilities.

The military explained that the initial phase of the campaign aimed to significantly weaken the Iranian regime’s military power, reduce the threats it poses, and create conditions that could potentially allow the Iranian public to challenge and topple the regime.

During the first wave of strikes, numerous senior figures in Iran’s government and security establishment were killed. According to the IDF, this was made possible through close intelligence monitoring of the Iranian Defense Council and other strategic targets, enabling the military to identify a moment when several senior officials were gathered in specific locations simultaneously.

At the current stage of the operation, the military said its focus has shifted to systematically targeting the regime’s centers of power, including command headquarters, control centers, Basij facilities, and units responsible for suppressing internal dissent.

The IDF noted that Operation Roaring Lion differs from Operation Rising Lion in scope and purpose. While the earlier operation concentrated on neutralizing an immediate threat, the current campaign allows Israel to target a broader range of Iran’s strategic military capabilities.

In the initial days of the fighting, Israeli forces concentrated on striking Iran’s ballistic missile infrastructure in an effort to reduce the number of launches toward Israel. According to the military, more than two weeks into the conflict, the volume of missiles fired at Israel has declined significantly compared with the earlier Operation Rising Lion.

The IDF also reported that it achieved air superiority over much of Iran’s airspace within just 24 hours of the campaign’s start, allowing Israeli aircraft to operate widely across the country. As part of the early strikes, the military destroyed 120 detection components and 100 air defense systems.

According to the army, a majority of Iran’s missile launchers have now been struck, with roughly 85 percent of the regime’s detection capabilities damaged. In addition, about 70 percent of Iran’s launchers have been rendered unusable.

Israeli strikes against Iran’s military industries also caused substantial damage to the country’s missile production capabilities. The IDF said the attacks have effectively halted Iran’s current ability to manufacture missiles, while continued strikes are aimed at preventing the production chain from recovering.

In recent days, Israeli forces have also targeted the command structure overseeing Iran’s missile operations. Strikes were carried out against command officers, missile bases, and alternative command locations and residences. According to the military, these actions have further reduced the volume of missile launches toward Israel.

The army said its operations across Iran are being conducted in an organized and methodical manner, focusing on regime security bodies such as the Revolutionary Guards and other internal security forces. According to the IDF, more than 2,200 components tied to the Iranian regime have been destroyed so far.

Security officials reported signs of severe damage within Iranian forces, including thousands of deaths and tens of thousands of wounded among regime personnel. They also pointed to declining morale, along with reports of soldiers refusing orders or abandoning their positions.

The campaign has also targeted the Quds Force, with Israeli operations directed at the organization both inside Iran and in other regional arenas.

In the nuclear sphere, the military said it is attempting to damage the entire infrastructure supporting Iran’s nuclear program. Officials stated that the goal is to inflict broader harm than what was achieved during Operation Rising Lion.

The IDF stressed that the operation is not constrained by a fixed timetable. Instead, it will continue until the defined objectives are achieved. Officials explained that dismantling a threat that has been developing for decades requires sustained military pressure and sufficient operational flexibility.

At the same time, the military continues to gather intelligence to detect and prevent terrorist attacks, with particular attention on developments in Iran and Lebanon while maintaining surveillance throughout the wider Middle East.

The IDF also said Iran has adopted a broader strategy of attacking multiple countries in the region, particularly Gulf states. Although Tehran claims that its strikes target only American interests, Israeli officials say civilian infrastructure has also been hit, including hotels, commercial hubs, and densely populated areas.

Looking ahead, the IDF said the next phase of the campaign will focus on expanding the gains already made by continuing to target Iran’s missile capabilities and its military-industrial infrastructure.

{Matzav.com}

Iranian authorities announced the arrest of 20 individuals in the country’s northwestern West Azerbaijan province who are accused of cooperating with Israel by allegedly providing sensitive information about military and security assets. According to Iran’s Tasnim news agency, the province’s prosecutor’s office said the suspects were detained for allegedly sending location details of Iranian military […]

Average gas prices across the United States have surged to $3.70 per gallon, marking an increase of nearly 24 percent since the war with Iran began on February 28, according to new data released by AAA. The sharp spike comes as global oil prices continue climbing amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. Brent crude […]

The United States told the International Court of Justice, the principal judicial arm of the United Nations located in The Hague, last week that it intends to intervene in South Africa’s case against Israel and to defend the Jewish state against that country’s charges of genocide.

“To avoid any doubt, the United States affirms, in the strongest terms possible, that the allegations of ‘genocide’ against Israel are false,” wrote Reed Rubinstein, legal adviser of the U.S. Department of State. “They are also unfortunately nothing new.”

Washington “recalls that international fora have been misused to level false charges of ‘genocide’ against the State of Israel since at least May 19764 as part of a broader campaign, including U.N. General Assembly resolution 3379, to delegitimize the State of Israel and the Jewish people and to justify or encourage terrorism against them,” Rubinstein wrote. “Sadly, that effort remains ongoing.”

Pro-Hamas entities, including the Iranian regime, “were already falsely charging Israel once again with ‘genocide’” just days after the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, Rubinstein wrote.

Earlier in the month, Paraguay filed a brief in the case and said that it wasn’t picking side in the case but that the court must not expand the definition of “genocide.”

Rubinstein made a similar point.

 

“The United States submits that the court should maintain its standard for inferring intent,” he wrote. “Lowering the standard risks broadening the application of the term ‘genocide’ such that it no longer carries its original weight and meaning, and invites attempts to misuse the Genocide Convention as a gateway for bringing extraneous disputes before the court.”

He added that under the convention, a charge of genocide, including during a war, requires proof that the offender intends to wipe a people out at least in part.

“If it might reasonably be inferred from a pattern of conduct that the perpetrator acted without such intent, the standard has not been met,” he wrote.

AIPAC thanked U.S. President Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, U.S. secretary of state, for “standing with Israel and soundly rejecting the outrageous case brought against our ally at the ICJ.”

“America must continue to be a voice of moral clarity in rejecting this baseless charge against our democratic ally,” the pro-Israel group said.

Marc Zell, chairman of Republicans Overseas Israel, called the U.S. intervention “powerful.”

“The United States has submitted to the International Court of Justice in The Hague a position opposing attempts to distort international law and the political exploitation of international judicial institutions, within the framework of the false proceeding initiated by South Africa against Israel,” he wrote.

“The United States emphasized, in the most resolute manner, that South Africa’s accusations are not only false but also intended to hurl false accusations against the State of Israel, as part of a broader campaign whose purpose is to undermine the legitimacy of the State of Israel and the Jewish people and to encourage terrorism against them,” Zell wrote.

“The State of Israel appreciates and values the stance of its friends alongside truth and historical justice, and especially the steadfast support of the United States in all arenas,” he added.

Also on Thursday, Namibia, Hungary and Fiji said that they would intervene in the case. Namibia supported South Africa’s case, while Hungary and Fiji defended the Jewish stated.

“The court has never been called upon before to define the scope of the convention in the context of intense urban warfare,” Fiji wrote. “The war between Hamas and Israel raises specific issues concerning combatants embedded within civilian infrastructure, the use of civilian shields, civilians directly participating in the hostilities, civil-military dual use objects and especially combatant strategies employing massively amassed civilian shields.”

“This situation comes before the court as a novel problem in application of the Genocide Convention,” it said. “It is, therefore, important that intervening states be given the fullest opportunity to present their views on these matters.”

“It is Fiji’s concern that a more lenient and expansive interpretation of the Genocide Convention, as proposed by South Africa and certain states and NGOs, will endanger future peacekeeping operations and participation by states in legitimate urban warfare operations by diminishing the incentive for states to assist therein,” it said.

“For example, if a state were willing in principle to participate in an international peacekeeping force, for instance to disarm a terrorist organization, but were thereby to become vulnerable in this scenario to genocide charges brought by the organisation’s supporting states, then the peacekeeping state would be reluctant to volunteer its military forces,” it added. “This outcome would impair both peacekeeping operations and could seriously impair the integrity and purpose of the Genocide Convention.”

Fiji also warned that “several interventions in this case urge the court to dismantle the accepted principles of treaty interpretation by introducing the novel notion of a so-called holistic approach to treaty interpretation.”

“In Fiji’s view, that holistic approach goes considerably beyond settled law of treaty interpretation and is especially dangerous to the international rule of law when dealing with the crime of genocide,” it said. “The approach departs from ordinary meaning of the terms of the Genocide Convention. It exhibits disregard for the international rules for treaty interpretation and the arrogation of a novel framework for genocide determinations.”

It added that the court shouldn’t necessarily take reports from U.N. bodies or nongovernmental organizations at face value. The latter, it said, “vary greatly in their missions, staffing, resources, partiality, political engagements, relationships with interlocutors, institutional integrity and familiarity with international law as it applies to use of military force by states.”

“The substance of NGO reports must be treated with great caution rather than accepted as ‘conclusive’ evidence,” it said.

“Amnesty International has been influential in promoting the ‘holistic approach’ to inferred genocidal intent and its approach is adopted in interventions made to the court in this case,” Fiji said. “However, the court should be aware that such reports can be based on a cherry-picked selection of statements made by a small number of public figures such as politicians without providing reliable contextual information whether they had command, control or influence over the missions and conduct of the military forces.”

“The making of unauthorised and ad hoe public comments by individual politicians is not uncommon in liberal democracies which uphold the freedom of political expression,” it added.

Further, terrorists and armed combatants cannot be considered “protected groups” under the Genocide Convention, according to Fiji.

“Thus, elements of the Gazan population comprising such armed groups as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Izz al Din al Kassam brigades and al Quds brigades are not protected,” it said. “Nor are their weapons dumps and other war materiel, command and intelligence operations, data centers, propaganda and psychological operations, storage infrastructure and support personnel, whether official or volunteer, irrespective of the size of such armed groups.”

“Even where they number in the tens of thousands, numbers that are comparable to armed forces of many states, these personnel cannot be qualified as merely civilians,” it said. “Nor are they generalizable as a national, ethnical, racial or religious group within the meaning of a protected group under the Genocide Convention.”

Hungary said that the circumstances of the case must be examined, in particular the “heinous terror attacks perpetrated by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.”

“When interpreting the Genocide Convention, it cannot be dismissed that the circumstances referred to in the current case are during an armed conflict, where a non-state actor, the terrorist organization Hamas, has consequently been using civilian infrastructure, families and children as human shields,” Hungary wrote.

“The acts of Hamas need careful examination when taking into account civilian casualties and the relevant consequences that these actions might have on the fulfilment of obligations of international humanitarian law, a legal framework that is distinctively broader than the Genocide Convention,” it said.

Hungary added that “recent attempts to broaden the interpretation of the crime of genocide risk diluting the specific normative function of the convention, blurring its boundaries with other international obligations, and eventually undermining the framework of the convention.”

The day before the other filings with the court, the Netherlands and Iceland told the court they intend to intervene in support of South Africa’s allegations against Israel.

The pro-Israel Dutch politician Geert Wilders said that the Netherlands filing was “unacceptable.”

“I immediately introduced a motion of censure about this in our Dutch parliament yesterday,” he wrote. “We should support Israel instead of intervene in this crazy, anti-Israel case.” JNS

The IDF released footage of an airstrike targeting a drone storage facility in western Iran, followed by a second strike on Iranian soldiers who fled the area.

Aerial footage shows massive wildfires sweeping across Nebraska, with more than 500,000 acres scorched in only a few days as the blazes continue burning out of control.

Israeli military officials say the IDF’s campaign against Iran is advancing faster than expected but is expected to continue for at least three more weeks as thousands of targets remain. So far, more than 1,700 assets tied to Iran’s military industry have been struck, and the IDF estimates that 4,000–5,000 Iranian soldiers have been killed, […]

Reports in Lebanon say Hezbollah is demanding that authorities prevent a man it claims worked with Israeli intelligence from leaving the country after he reportedly took refuge inside the Ukrainian Embassy in Beirut. Hezbollah officials accuse the embassy of trying to help him exit Lebanon.

Pakistan said Sunday it targeted militant hideouts in Afghanistan’s Kandahar region overnight, as the fighting that erupted between the two neighbors late last month showed no signs of abating. The cross-border fighting, which has included Pakistani airstrikes in the Afghan capital, Kabul, is the deadliest yet between the two South Asian nations. Islamabad has referred […]

The IDF on Sunday disclosed that intelligence findings have linked Hezbollah terror activity in Lebanon to last week’s attack at a synagogue in Michigan. According to the information, the terrorist who carried out the attack in Michigan was the brother of a Hezbollah commander eliminated by the Israeli Air Force during Operation Roaring Lion. The […]

Six people were injured after a fire engulfed a home in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn early this morning around 3 a.m., with two people reported in critical condition.

Kevin Hassett: It’s completely unacceptable that a government that would murder 40,000 of their people just a few months ago would be blackmailing countries to let stuff through (Strait of Hormuz). President Trump thinks that is unacceptable…and we’re going to fix it fast.

As Israel’s military continues its campaign against Iran and Hezbollah, quiet diplomatic efforts are also underway behind the scenes as regional leaders begin discussing what a possible post-war arrangement in Lebanon could look like. According to reports, Ron Dermer, one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s closest confidants and a longtime senior adviser, recently traveled to […]

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro ’s kidney function has improved but he will remain in an intensive care unit because of pneumonia, a hospital in the capital, Brasilia, said on Sunday. The 70-year-old former leader has also been given more antibiotics since Saturday, according to a statement by his doctors. Bolsonaro, who governed between 2019 […]

How a baalas teshuva brought the discipline of global commodities trading to the shirt worn in yeshiva every day. By: David Ramberg When people look at a white dress shirt — especially the kind worn every day by boys in yeshiva — it seems like one of the simplest products in the world. Just a […]

Israel’s Home Front Command announced that certain regions of the country will begin moving out of strict lockdown conditions, allowing schools, workplaces, and limited gatherings to resume beginning Monday morning.

According to the updated guidance, the changes will take effect on Monday, March 16, 2026, at 6:00 a.m. Several areas will shift from a restricted activity level to a partial activity level as part of a gradual easing of security restrictions during the ongoing conflict.

The most significant change involves the gradual return of educational institutions and economic activity in the affected regions. Schools, workplaces, and public gatherings will be permitted, provided that participants can reach a properly designated protected space within the required response time for each locality.

The regions scheduled to receive the eased restrictions include the Shomron and Yehuda areas, the Beit She’an Valley, the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea region, communities surrounding Gaza, Western Lachish, Western Negev, Southern Negev, and the Arava.

Under the “partial activity” classification, educational institutions may reopen if an accessible standard protected space is available. Public gatherings will be limited to up to 50 people outdoors and up to 100 people indoors, provided they are located near a protected area.

Workplaces in these regions will also be allowed to operate as long as they meet the required protective safety standards.

Home Front Command officials emphasized that the current nationwide restrictions remain in effect until the new guidelines take effect Monday morning. As a result, major population centers in central Israel, Yerushalayim, and northern parts of the country will remain under the stricter regulations for the time being.

Authorities urged the public to continue following life-saving safety instructions and to stay updated through the National Emergency Portal and the Home Front Command mobile application for any further changes.

{Matzav.com}