Feed aggregator

The 2026 global passport rankings have been released, confirming that Singapore once again holds the top position, offering its citizens the widest international mobility of any country in the world.

Holders of a Singapore passport can travel to 192 destinations without needing a visa. Close behind, Japan and South Korea are tied for second place, with each passport providing visa-free access to 188 countries.

A group of five European nations occupies the third spot. Citizens of Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, and Luxembourg can each enter 186 countries without a visa.

The United Kingdom is ranked seventh in the new index, with its passport allowing entry to 182 countries. Overall, European nations continue to dominate the upper tier of the rankings, reflecting the strong global standing of their travel documents.

The United States places tenth on the list, with Americans able to visit 179 countries visa-free. Israel is ranked 18th, with access to 165 destinations.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Afghanistan sits at the bottom of the index in 101st place, as its passport permits visa-free travel to only 24 countries.

Syria follows just above Afghanistan, with access to 26 countries. Iraq’s passport allows entry to 29 destinations, while citizens of Yemen and Pakistan can travel visa-free to just 31 countries.

The United Arab Emirates stands out for its dramatic rise over time, having added 149 visa-free destinations since the Henley Passport Index began tracking changes in 2006. In the 2026 rankings, the UAE places fifth overall.

{Matzav.com}

Israeli police arrested Yaakov Kassman, the operator of a news hotline that reports on arrests of draft evaders by military police, accusing him of inciting thousands to take to the streets and confront law enforcement during violent riots that erupted about a month ago on Bar-Ilan Street in Jerusalem. According to police, Kassman was the […]

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday that Iran’s governing structure is approaching collapse, arguing that the Islamic Republic is reaching its final stage amid expanding nationwide protests and a harsh security response.

Speaking with reporters during an official visit to India, Merz said any government that survives only through coercion has already forfeited its legitimacy. “If a regime can only keep itself in power by force, then it’s effectively at the end,” he said. “I believe we are now seeing the final days and weeks of this regime.”

Merz went on to say that Iran’s leadership does not command genuine public support, stressing that it is not grounded in free and democratic elections. “The population is now rising up against this regime,” he said.

Demonstrations began spreading across Iran in late December, fueled by worsening economic conditions, including runaway inflation, a collapsing currency, and sharp increases in food prices. Protests have been reported in many cities, in what analysts describe as the most extensive unrest Iran has seen in years.

Authorities in Tehran have answered the protests with force. A senior Iranian official has acknowledged that roughly 2,000 demonstrators have been killed, according to reports cited by Reuters, though human rights activists say the actual figure may be higher. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reports that more than 10,700 people have been arrested. Witnesses have also accused security forces of fatally shooting civilians who were not actively participating in the demonstrations.

President Donald Trump has strongly condemned the Iranian government’s response and has warned of repercussions. Earlier this week, he said the United States would impose a 25% tariff on imports from countries that continue doing business with Iran. He has also warned that Washington could step in if Iranian authorities persist in using deadly force against peaceful protesters.

Trump recently said that Iran’s leaders have indicated an interest in talks, but he warned that additional steps could be taken if the violence continues. Iranian officials, meanwhile, have cautioned that any US military action would trigger a severe response.

{Matzav.com}

Chabad-Lubavitch has secured a sprawling, 300,000-square-foot campus in the heart of Los Angeles. West Coast Chabad announced Tuesday that it has acquired a 16-story property at 9911 West Pico Boulevard that will become the Chabad Campus for Jewish Life, the largest Jewish center in North America. The roughly $100 million campus was donated by real […]

A report released Tuesday by Iran International asserts that more than 12,000 people were killed in Iran amid a recent wave of nationwide protests, with the majority of fatalities said to have occurred during two back-to-back nights late last week.

The outlet reported that the unrest has unfolded alongside a sweeping clampdown on information, including internet disruptions, the silencing of media outlets, and intimidation designed to block the flow of information and obscure the extent of the violence used against demonstrators.

In the face of those restrictions, Iran International said it launched a large-scale effort to corroborate fragmented accounts of killings and repression emerging from across the country.

According to the report, information was collected from a broad network of sources, among them individuals with proximity to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, figures within the presidential office, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel stationed in several cities, eyewitnesses, relatives of victims, reporters operating on the ground, and medical staff.

Iran International’s editorial board stood by the reported death toll, stating that the number was established through a “rigorous, multistage process conducted in accordance with established professional standards.”

“In the largest killing in Iran’s contemporary history, carried out largely over two consecutive nights, Thursday and Friday, Jan. 8 and 9, at least 12,000 people were killed,” the editorial board said in its conclusion.

The demonstrations mark the latest surge of unrest in Iran, fueled by widespread frustration over economic collapse, systemic corruption, political repression, and the clerical regime’s reliance on force to crush opposition.

Protests have erupted repeatedly across the country in recent years, often met by security forces employing mass detentions, live fire, and sweeping internet blackouts to restore control.

Iran’s government has a well-documented record of responding violently to public dissent, including during the protests of November 2019, when human rights organizations estimated that hundreds, and possibly thousands, of people were killed.

Officials have consistently rejected independent casualty estimates, curtailed outside reporting, and pressured victims’ families in an effort to prevent information about deaths from becoming public.

As details of the latest crackdown surfaced, U.S. officials told CNN that President Donald Trump has weighed military options aimed at assisting Iranian protesters, including potential strikes on security units in Tehran involved in suppressing demonstrations.

Trump has also offered explicit public backing for the protest movement. Writing on Truth Social on Tuesday, the president said, “Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!

“Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!”

Iranian authorities have not independently verified the reported death toll and continue to depict the unrest as the result of foreign interference rather than a grassroots uprising driven by domestic grievances.

{Matzav.com}

Drawing Tomorrow!! Win HUGE $100.000.00!!!  JUST $36 ONLY!!!   Drawing Tomorrow!! Win HUGE $100.000.00!!! ENTER NOW — FOR JUST $36 ONLY!!! JUST $36 ONLY!!! ENTER NOW — FOR JUST $36 ONLY!!! Drawing Tomorrow!!! Win HUGE $100.000.00!!!  JUST $36 ONLY!!!   Drawing Tomorrow!! Win HUGE $100.000.00!!! ENTER NOW — FOR JUST $36 ONLY!!! JUST $36 ONLY!!! ENTER […]

President Donald Trump on Tuesday publicly encouraged Iranians to take control of their country’s institutions, announcing that he has suspended all contact with Iran’s leadership as long as security forces continue to violently suppress protests.

In a series of posts on social media, Trump warned that those responsible for killing demonstrators would face consequences, rejecting Tehran’s claims that it has been maintaining dialogue with Washington during the unrest.

“Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price.”

He followed by declaring a complete freeze on diplomatic engagement with Tehran until the bloodshed ends.

“I have canceled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” he added.

Human rights groups say the violence has already claimed hundreds of lives. Since the demonstrations erupted, Iranian forces are believed to have killed at least 646 protesters, with fears that the final toll will be far higher. Reuters has reported that as many as 2,000 people may have been killed, citing an unnamed Iranian official.

Amid the escalating crisis, the White House confirmed on Monday that Trump is considering military action against Iran in response to the crackdown.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that while diplomacy remains the administration’s preferred course, the president is prepared to act forcefully if he believes it is required. She said Trump “has shown he’s unafraid to use military options if and when he deems necessary.”

Leavitt stressed that the president is deeply disturbed by the images emerging from Iran’s capital and beyond.

“He certainly doesn’t want to see people being killed in the streets of Tehran. And unfortunately that’s something we are seeing right now,” she added.

Iranian authorities have responded to the protests with lethal force and widespread repression, including shutting down internet access across large parts of the country to prevent photos and videos from reaching the outside world.

The current uprising marks the most serious challenge to the Islamic Republic since the nationwide demonstrations that followed the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran’s morality police.

International leaders have also weighed in, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz suggesting that Iran’s ruling system may be nearing collapse.

“I assume that we are now witnessing the final days and weeks of this regime,” he told reporters during a visit to India on Tuesday.

Merz said the government’s reliance on violence signals its weakness rather than strength. “When a regime can only maintain power through violence, then it is effectively at its end. The population is now rising up against this regime,” he added.

{Matzav.com}

The United States has formally designated three branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Tuesday, marking a major step under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in November 2025. The move targets the group’s chapters in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt.

“Today, as a first step in support of President Trump’s commitment to eliminate the capabilities and operations of Muslim Brotherhood chapters that pose a threat to the United States as described in Executive Order 14362, the United States is imposing terrorist designations against the Lebanese, Jordanian, and Egyptian chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood,” Rubio said.

According to Rubio, the State Department is taking action against the Lebanese branch by formally classifying it as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity, while also applying the same designation to its leader, Muhammad Fawzi Taqqosh. At the same time, the Treasury Department is imposing SDGT designations on the Egyptian and Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood chapters due to their alleged role in providing material support to Hamas.

“These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilization wherever it occurs. The United States will use all available tools to deprive these Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism,” Rubio said in closing.

President Trump’s executive order issued in November launched the formal mechanism for identifying and designating specific Muslim Brotherhood branches as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Those designations carry significant consequences, including sanctions, asset freezes, and strict limits on funding, sharply constraining the groups’ ability to operate internationally.

{Matzav.com}

A moving gathering took place tonight at the Chabad House in Yerushalayim’s Nachlaot-Rechavia neighborhood, where Rabbi Goldberg and Rabbi Marzel led a special ceremony marking the printing of the Tanya. Among those present were Eitan Mor, who was previously held hostage in Gaza, and Itzik Gvili, the father of Ran Gvili, who was killed after being taken captive.

Mor, who had been living in Nachlaot when he was abducted, arrived together with Gvili to an emotional reception from neighborhood residents, who greeted them with calls of “Am Yisrael Chai.” During the evening, Mor spoke candidly about his experiences in captivity and reflected on how they intersected with the teachings of the Tanya’s author.

He shared that before his abduction, his mother had often reminded him of the idea that “The mind rules over the heart.” Mor explained that after he later described his ordeal in Gaza to her, she told him, “‘In retrospect, you used that principle exactly there,’” noting how it had guided him during moments of danger.

Mor went on to describe a harrowing incident that occurred on the 33rd day of the war, while he was being moved through Gaza City. At one point, he said, he was left alone in a classroom inside a school. A man suddenly entered, shouted at him in Arabic, and Mor felt a wave of fear overwhelm him.

“In that moment, I used the Tanya’s teaching,” he said. “I told myself: don’t listen to your heartbeat. Think. I decided to pretend I was crazy. I started stammering without words, and that’s what saved me. He simply told me to go back to sleep and left.”

Looking back, Mor said the experience made clear to him how deeply those ideas had shaped his response. “In retrospect, I acted exactly as the Tanya teaches,” he said. “And I realized that even people who don’t know the Tanya live by its principles without knowing it. It’s a great joy to return to Nachlaot. Thank you all-and may Ran return quickly, amen.”

{Matzav.com}

Israel’s Holocaust Museum has accused Russia of Holocaust distortion over its decision to establish a new annual memorial day to commemorate the Nazi “Genocide of the Soviet People” while omitting any mention of their Jewish victims.

The new memorial day, which was signed into law by Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, will go into effect this year.

“Yad Vashem condemns this latest attempt to manipulate the historical facts of Nazi persecution for current political purposes,” Israel’s Holocaust Museum said in a Thursday post on X. “This new Russian law effectively erases the distinct Jewish dimension of the Shoah, despite the fact that they were the primary target of Nazi genocide.”

The Jerusalem Holocaust museum noted that while millions of Russians were killed during World War II, many of them in targeted murders, “the Holocaust is defined by the comprehensive campaign aimed at the total eradication of Jewish existence and the murder of six million Jewish men, women, and children, and as such must be recognized and remembered.”

The statement also added that the designated memorial date—April 19—set by the new Russian law has “profound significance” in Holocaust remembrance, as it marks the start of the famous uprising of the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943.

Around 27 million Soviet citizens died in World War Two, including about 8.7 million military casualties, the highest death toll of any nation.

Israeli academics said on Monday that Yad Vashem was right to speak out.

“It is good that this statement came out, only too bad it did not come sooner because we are in the midst of a continued process of Putin’s manipulation of World War Two,” said Samuel Barnai of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “Like every other narrative, the Jewish Holocaust has to be sacrificed for the narrative of Soviet victory. where the victims are the Soviet nation.”

“The Russian law on the so-called genocide of the Soviet people is an outright fiction as the term ‘genocide’ has a narrow legal definition,” Leonid Smilovitsky, Senior Research Associate at Tel Aviv University, told JNS. “It was adopted by the Putin regime 80 years after the end of World War II to serve as a tool of political rhetoric to justify Russia’s current actions related to Ukraine and the Holocaust.”

“It is a strategy of ‘victimhood nationalism’ undertaken by the Russian government to portray Russia as the primary victim of Nazism,” Konstantin Pakhaliuk, Associate Researcher at Ruppin Academic Center, said in an interview with JNS. “The idea first emerged last decade, and since the aggression against Ukraine, it is now used to say that throughout history, Russians were always the victims of the West.”

He added that the new memorial day enacted by Russia was not a straightforward denial of the Holocaust as a Jewish genocide but a distortion of history to downplay the Jewish tragedy and to highlight the Soviet one.

“Its primary purpose is entirely political,” he said. JNS

{Matzav.com}

A jury has convicted a former Navy SEAL with neo-Nazi beliefs of transporting fireworks across state lines with plans to shoot explosives at police during last year’s “No Kings” protest in San Diego, federal prosecutors said. Following his conviction on Monday, Gregory Vandenberg was ordered held in custody until his sentencing hearing, which has not […]

Built for communities that need messages seen and answered, Evant helps shuls, schools, and mosdos reach people through SMS and voice—on every phone, including kosher phones. Trusted by 275+ organizations like Aish and Chabad, Evant powers reminders, alerts, and outreach that boost turnout and engagement—simply, reliably, and compliantly. https://api.jewishadgroup.com/N1GnVr https://api.jewishadgroup.com/IhCVda

TRUMP: “We have a bad Fed Chairman… He’s bad because his interest rates [are] too high… What he also did, he’s renovating a small building — it’s the most expensive construction job in history, and it’s only a renovation!”

The Canadian government has updated its travel advisory for Iran, urging citizens to avoid all travel and advising those already in the country to leave immediately if it is safe to do so.

Ahead of the Fifth Annual Chinuch Conference of the Ha’azinu Center, set to take place this Thursday, Rosh Yeshiva and Torah leader HaGaon HaRav Dov Landau addressed the growing unrest surrounding the draft, offering firm direction to mechanchim, mashgichim, and yeshiva bochurim. In a question-and-answer session released ahead of the conference, Rav Landau was asked […]

Reporter: You said to Iran this morning that help is on the way. What did you mean by that? What kind of help? Trump: You’re gonna have to figure that one out. I’m sorry.

President Trump tours a Ford factory in the Detroit area prior to speaking at the Detroit Economic Club, where he is also expected to address Iran, including the ongoing protests and killings by Iranian security forces across the country.

The Democratic National Committee will spend millions of dollars to cement control of voter registration efforts that have traditionally been entrusted to nonprofit advocacy groups and individual political campaigns, a shift that party leaders hope will increase their chances in this year’s midterm elections. The initiative, being announced on Tuesday, will begin in Arizona and […]

Mazel Tov! The joy and bliss when an engagement is announced. The excitement is palpable. What a time of complete happiness & simcha! As the myriad details need to be arranged and the hectic whirlwind sets in, for some of these smiling families the smiles begin to falter, the dance slowly slips off-beat. The reason […]

The State and Treasury departments on Tuesday formally designated Muslim Brotherhood chapters operating in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon as foreign terrorist organizations, a sweeping move by the Trump administration that escalates Washington’s long-running confrontation with the Islamist network. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the action marks the opening phase of a broader campaign to […]